Greetings SPN Members!

HAPPY PEDIATRIC NURSES WEEK!

Featured Product of the month: Pediatric Gastroenterology Nursing Assessment-Based Certificate Program

Check out September's featured product, the Pediatric Gastroenterology Nursing Assessment-Based Certificate Program. Follow the link below to log in to SPN's Online Education Center and learn more! 

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DIVERSITY, EQUITY, AND INCLUSION TASK FORCE UPDATES

SPN recognizes the importance of creating and supporting a culture of diversity, equity, and inclusion across our organization, nursing, and the pediatrics specialty. In order to advance SPN's strategic DEI objectives, the Board of Directors convened a DEI Task Force in 2020.

The task force began by creating an organizational diversity, equity, and inclusion statement. They then developed, administered, and analyzed a membership survey to understand the characteristics of the membership and perceptions of the organization with respect to diversity, equity, and inclusion.

What I learned from attending a Mental Health First Aid Course

By: Tina Spagnola, MSN, RN, NPD-BC, NE-BC, Director of Programs, Society of Pediatric Nurses

The number of patients with behavioral health needs has been on the rise, and this is well-documented. It is also evident that stress, burnout, and depression are impacting our healthcare professionals. In a study conducted by Melnyk et al. (2022), it was found that 79% of nurses reported their mental health worsening due to the pandemic. Additionally, an earlier study by Melnyk et al. (2018) established a correlation between mental health stresses and increased medical errors.

HEALTHCARE POLICY AND ADVOCACY COMMITTEE UPDATES

SPN continues to advocate for you and our patients, and it is our stance that every child deserves access to medical care and consultation. As we shared last year, the Healthcare Policy and Advocacy Committee set in motion SPN’s partnership with a coalition of 20+ other medical societies to advocate the necessity of medical access for all children, especially those children who are currently under threat of losing access such as those seeking gender affirming care.  Currently, legislation in the following states is being brought forward in a variety of different paths to block access to medical care. We’ve included a list of those states and a relevant news article regarding the legislation within that state. If this is a topic of interest for you, we encourage you to:

• Continue to educate yourself on the individual bills and lawsuits within the state of interest by reviewing the actual bill, available legal proceedings, and a variety of news articles.
• Then review SPN’s State Advocacy Resources for guidance on grassroot level advocacy.

STATE-BY-STATE INFORMATION

• Alabama: Justice Department Challenges Alabama Law that Criminalizes Medically Necessary Care for Transgender Youth
• Arkansas: Judge rules Arkansas ban on gender-affirming care for transgender minors violates US Constitution
• Georgia: Georgia's ban on gender-affirming care for minors takes effect July 1
• Kentucky: Kentucky’s ban on gender-affirming care takes effect as federal judge lifts injunction
• Idaho: Idaho governor signs bill banning gender-affirming care for transgender minors
• Oklahoma: Oklahoma governor signs gender-affirming care ban for kids
• Florida: Florida families face confusion after gender-affirming care ban temporarily blocked
• Texas: ACLU plans to sue Texas over ban on certain medical treatments for transgender kids

Greetings SPN Members!

The Latest Gun Violence Data

SPN is seeking 5-6 volunteers to serve on a taskforce that will develop criteria for our new pediatric unit recognition program. We anticipate this project to start in August 2023 and go through January 2024. The ideal volunteer will be passionate about pediatric nursing, work in a clinical setting, and be available 3-4 hours a week to work on this project (both via email, individual work and taskforce calls). On this exciting project you will be using the framework of the Pediatric Nursing Excellence Model and determining how pediatric units can demonstrate these competencies. SPN believes all of our pediatric nurses deserve to be recognized for the amazing work they do every day and on this taskforce you will have a direct impact on that recognition. If you are our ideal volunteer, please fill out the response form so we can start this important initiative!

*All selected taskforce volunteers will receive a 50% discount for their unit to apply for the finalized recognition program.

Volunteer now

Greetings SPN Members!

This past month, I had the privilege of representing SPN with Jenni Baird, SPN President-Elect, at the Emotional Safety Summit II hosted by our Association of Child Life Professionals (ACLP) colleagues. I am so grateful for the work ACLP has spearheaded and for the invitation for a seat at the table for this important discussion.