Dakota Nursing Edition 36 : Page 4
Message From The Executive Director
On behalf of the Board of Nursing, I would like to send our autumn greetings to all of our Dakota Nurse Connection readers. As I write this message, I am lamenting the end of summer. The wind is howling outside my office window and I can see the naked branches of the trees waving back and forth. It is almost like they are waving good bye to us until next spring. I have said my farewells and now it is time to move on and reflect on the happenings of the past few months and look forward to what is yet to come.<br /> <br /> We would like to take this opportunity to update you on a few of the changes that have taken place at the Board of Nursing and also to give you a progress report on some of the activities that have occurred over the past few months.<br /> <br /> First of all, we have had some changes in our office staff. Nancy Bohr, Nursing Program Specialist for the Board made a decision to retire on May 31, 2011, after eight years of employment with us. Nancy handled the communication with all of the nursing education programs and directed the work of the approval of the unlicensed education programs. We wish her the best in her retirement years and thank her for her years of service to the Board of Nursing.<br /> <br /> We are very pleased to announce that we have hired Stephanie Orth, RN;MS, as the new Nursing Program Specialist. We are delighted to have her join our Team. We are equally as excited to let you know that her office will be located in Spearfish, SD. Since we are a statewide office, it made sense for us to have a presence on both the west and east sides of the state. Stephanie's contact information is posted on our website and also listed in this issue of the Dne.<br /> <br /> Secondly, we have two new Board members to introduce to you. Nancy Nelson, RN, from SturgiS, SD and Mary Schmidt, LPN, from Sioux Falls received appOintments to the Board by Governor Daugaard on July 1,<br /> <br /> 2011. They will replace the positions that were vacated by Linda Bunkers, RN, from Dell Rapids, and Pat Wagner, LPN, from Sioux Falls. We welcome them to the Board and thank Linda and Pat for their years of service to nursing regulation in South Dakota. We will feature each of these Board members in our DNC publication in future issues.<br /> <br /> We continue to move forward with our "'Virtual Nursing Care for Children with Diabetes in the School Setting" grant project. Thanks to an additional grant award from the Department of Health, we have added more participants to the program and have virtual nursing hubs at both Avera and Sanford Medical Centers. We have 27 students enrolled in the pilot project. It is exciting to be a part of a project that can actually enhance the presence of the nurse in settings where a nurse is not present. Our Grant project is due for completion in December of 2012. We will be posting a video clip on our website in the near future that will allow you to see the project in action.<br /> <br /> We are expecting to move forward with other state agencies to enact legislation requiring finger print based criminal background checks for Certified Nurse Practitioners and Certified Nurse Midwives in the 2012 Legislative Session. We will keep you posted on this topic.<br /> <br /> We are pleased to be able to reprint the NCSBN White Paper: "'A Nurse's Guide to the Use of Social Media'. It is important that social media be utilized in an appropriate manner especially as it relates to the professional work of nurses. Instances of inappropriate use of social media have resulted in disciplinary actions by Boards of Nursing across the country. This issue has surfaced in South Dakota so you will want to know how to avoid any potential problems.<br /> <br /> We will be in touch with you again next quarter. Please feel free to contact our office either by phone or e-mail for any questions or concerns that you have regarding nursing regulation.
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