December Director Notes

2023 Highlights and Giveback
By: Terri Schmitt PhD, APRN, FNP-BC, FAANP
Executive Director, NPACE

As I started writing this month’s Director’s Notes I almost stole a great opener from Charles Dickens, “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times”, which seems to sum up the continued struggles of healthcare practice in the United States. The struggle bleeds over into our work at NPACE where we work to help support nurse practitioners throughout their careers. NPACE as an organization rode into 2023 looking to dial up our focus on helping NPs fill their cup, improve patient outcomes, focus more on themselves, better navigate this ever-stressful world of healthcare practice, and work to give back to others who are expanding healthcare access or improving outcomes.  In reflection, we were honored to meet these goals in amazing new ways! Below is a brief list of some of the important work NPACE took on in 2023:

• Give Back: In 2023 NPACE gave back through grant-funded live programs and over 3000 registrations for our free on-demand grant-funded programs in learning areas like COVID treatment and drug interactions, Parkinson’s disease, and Alzheimer’s fundamentals. We also gave away free courses during Nurse’s Week and NP Week on topics of NP health, wellness, and motivation. If you have not, check out our free CE page here.
• A focus on NP faculty: In 2023 NPACE gave away nearly 30 free live conference seats to full-time nurse practitioner faculty and we continued our partnership with NONPF in now offering the new faculty development learning in individual modules covering topics like exam writing and dealing with difficult clinical situations.
• Working with partners to give back: Through our partnerships with key organizations, we have provided additional CE at events and on-demand, as well as being able to provide disease state updates.
• Give back to expand healthcare access: Part of our new mission in 2023 was to work with on-ground partners to raise awareness and funding for organizations that are improving health in their communities like H.U.G.S. of Savannah that provides therapy and mental health counseling regardless of income or the Boys and Girls Club of Metro South is changing the health of many youths in the communities it serves. This year we gave these organizations time to share their work with attendees, and booth space, and raised over $11,000 to help support these organizations.
• Give Back to NP students: In 2023 we worked to expand our relationship with our amazing distribution partner APEA  to provide more continuing education that new and student NPs may need directly. We proudly continued to offer our advanced cardiac assessment series for free to both faculty and students to help supplement classroom teaching.
• Helping meet NP practice needs beyond the same old education: This year one of our biggest goals was to offer free wellness activities at each live event and to our virtual audience. Any time, any place, you can find a session on breathing or yoga for free through our learning center. Our in-person attendees could be a part of the beautiful communities we travel to through our work with local restaurants, attractions, and activities. We published event ‘things to do’ pages and worked to incorporate onsite activities like receptions overlooking the ocean, s’mores by the fire, clam bakes, and fun activities like kickboxing class. Beyond resting and fun, we focused on unique topics and trialed innovations like our workshop on starting your own NP-owned business or learning on how to encourage patients’ past vaccine hesitancy. NPACE built new important bundles for ongoing NP learning like our DEA MATE act bundle and various skills bundles like x-ray reading and suturing.
• Acute Care NP education: In 2023 we held our first Acute Care nurse practitioner track and the response and feedback were wonderful. Thank you to all who helped us dream, execute, and attend the event. We will be taking a swing at working to help meet the needs of this special group of NPs again in 2024 in our Boston event. 
• We highlighted NP practice: By launching a new podcast series the Friends of NPACE Podcast, we established a new avenue for highlighting nurse practitioner practice and topics as well as a new path for providing continuing education credit. In November, NPACE petitioned the state of Massachusetts for a proclamation of Nurse Practitioner Week, which we read at our November conference. NPACE proudly worked with several state organizations to provide an outlet for reaching new members through free booth space and discounts to our in-person events. We also continued our important blog publication addressing current practice topics.

Overall, the work of NPACE throughout 2023 continues to be impressive and rewarding. In 2024 we plan on continuing with growth in the above areas while answering new challenges nurse practitioners are facing. We will strive to continue to innovate new learning paths and support NP practice while working to help reduce burnout and compassion fatigue. 

For each of you who were a part of our 2023 through attendance, joining us virtually, or providing important feedback, thank you! Your participation and voice help us be better, do better, and dream bigger. For those of you who missed out, there is always room for you to join us in 2024. Please feel free to reach out on social media through our Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, LinkedIn, or Twitter. Send us a private message or tag us to follow you back! Please consider joining us somewhere in our 2024 conferences. We are incredibly thankful for this year and all it has brought and taught us. To each of you reading this, I know how difficult and draining the practice landscape continues to be. Thank you for continuing to practice, teach, mentor, and push forward to provide high-quality healthcare to your communities.

Terri Schmitt PhD, APRN, FNP-BC, FAANP,
Executive Director, NPACE
https://www.npace.org/