Building skills and celebrating the NP of the yr at NCNP

The National Conference for Nurse Practitioners (NCNP), sponsored by Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, publisher of The Nurse Practitioner Journal, continues on the Las Vegas Hilton. NCNP kicked off on Wednesday, May 11, with a keynote address on the implications of health care reform for nurses, delivered by Dr. Eileen T. O’Grady, RN. Dr. O’Grady is a visiting professor on the Graduate School of Nursing at Pace University in New York, where he teaches health policy. Her energizing presentation outlined the numerous opportunities nurses have under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010, including funding for nurse-managed education and clinics.

Also during NCNP, conference chairwoman Margaret A. Fitzgerald, DNP, FNP-BC, FAANP, presented the Nurse Practitioner of the Year Award to Margaret L. Campbell, PhD, RN, FAAN, assistant professor at Wayne State University. Dr. Campbell is notable for her contributions not only to nursing but in addition to health care through her pioneering work within the specialty of palliative care.

Through Saturday, May 14, nurses will take part in hands-on workshops to develop skills in common office procedures, orthopedic procedures, dermatological procedures and suturing. Participants will even update their practice through quite a few sessions on the newest evidence-based diagnostic and therapeutic recommendations for acute and chronic look after patient populations starting from children to the elderly. More information in regards to the National Conference of Nurse Practitioners could be found at www.ncnpconference.com.