Each day, I am impressed with my surgical nursing colleagues as I observe how they expertly navigate each day, meeting a myriad of challenges, with grace, kindness, and clinical excellence.
The pediatric surgical nursing field is clinically broad, making excellence challenging as well as inspiring. That is not to say we are a jack-of-all-trades, master-of-none. In fact, the opposite is true. I see nurses who practice with depth and expertise over a broad range of conditions and therapies. Depending on the particular clinical setting, academic medical center, community hospital, inpatient, or outpatient, the clinical acuity will vary, but the patient's needs and diagnoses are the same. This is true regardless of practice role. Bedside nurses, nurse practitioners, and clinical specialists display an impressive skill set unique to the general surgery field. Not only is a broad range of clinical skills needed, children themselves are unique with specific physiology, patterns of disease, and, therefore, special requirements. They do not exist in isolation and require care in the context of their family. Coordination of care is important and presents its own challenges. Meeting patient needs often requires working with other disciplines to care for the whole child. This requires a view of the bigger picture and takes both time and a commitment to the child and their family. Although there are subspecialties within pediatric surgery such as neurosurgery, orthopedic surgery, cardiac surgery, and more, which require specialized knowledge and depth of practice, general surgical nursing requires both depth and breadth of knowledge that makes this a particularly challenging field.
APSNA values and recognizes the unique role of pediatric surgical nursing. In 1991, an inaugural breakfast of pediatric surgery nurses was held that preceded the first annual APSNA meeting in 1992. Diane Jakobowski and Gail Garvin, APSNA's founders, are credited with having the vision and skills necessary to turn their idea into reality. Thanks to these individuals, today, APSNA is thriving, celebrating, educating, and collaborating with surgical nurses from around the world. From our annual scientific meeting and Journal of Pediatric Surgical Nursing, Pediatric Surgery NP Competency Framework, newly revised family information sheets, and upcoming online Webinars, we are working to honor, support, and educate pediatric surgical nurses nationally and internationally. Our Board of Directors met in October for our annual fall meeting, and I am in awe of these capable individuals and the leadership they offer to our organization. I am honored to be a part of a community that is committed to our membership and the health and success of our organization.
The board would like to thank you for your membership.