Balance in my life has meant different things at different points throughout my nursing career.

Recently, I was speaking to a colleague about my career goals.

As you’ve likely heard, AMSN made the difficult decision to hold its annual convention fully virtually this year for the second year in a row. It was a difficult decision and one the Board of Directors didn’t take lightly.

It certainly is disheartening and maddening to see the fourth COVID wave marching through our communities, our towns and cities, and our states, not to mention other areas of the globe.

Then, of course, the complete opposite is how did this nurse ever get chosen to be a nurse leader. Throughout my nursing career, there have been many different types of leaders I have worked with. Some leaders stand out more than others. I have often pondered, is this a born trait, or can it be learned? What can I do to be a better leader?

As you have likely heard or seen, the much-anticipated Future of Nursing 2020-2030 report "Charting a Path to Achieve Health Equity" was released last week by the National Academy of Medicine (NAM).

The federal agency charged with carrying out $140 million worth of programs for nurse and health care professional mental health following the COVID pandemic should incorporate and engage medical-surgical nurses in their implementation, says a May 21 letter from AMSN to the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), part of the U.S.

As nurses, we understand the word trauma and the implications of the resulting damage. I would guess you immediately envisioned a trauma bay in an Emergency Department, with someone with catastrophic injuries swarmed by a team of professionals working in orchestrated chaos to preserve life.

AMSN’s tagline is Compassion, Commitment, Connection, and we know medical-surgical nurses display these traits every day. Medical-surgical nurses show empathy and compassion to patients and their family members every shift they work.

AMSN first spoke out on issues of DEI with an anti-racism pledge in June 2020. We committed to doing more and we have been working to make that happen. I wanted to provide an update on the work we have been doing and our next steps. Before I do that, though, I thought I would share some data on why this work remains critically important for AMSN.