Happy Holidays! I can’t believe it’s December 29th, and I am writing my last blog as ENA President. It’s hard to put into words what this year has been like. I continue to be humbled that I had this opportunity to serve and represent all of you as president of our professional association. Absolutely the best part of my journey was working with our members to ensure they had the tools, knowledge, resources and skills they need to stay safe and practice safely in an emergency care environment.
As I reflect on my blog posts, JEN editorials and ENA Connection articles in 2014, I can’t help but believe that a focus on patient safety and safe practice is essential to our everyday work. We need to speak up when things aren’t right. We need to learn to respectfully hold our peers and each other accountable. When we bypass procedures and processes meant to keep us and our patients safe, we need to speak up and call each other out. We need to be each other’s wingman, support each other, lean on each other, and continue our journey towards zero errors in the ED.
Standing up for our right to practice in a safe environment is also key. Stop accepting that violence is part of our job in the ED. Start asking what you can do to help stop the epidemic of violence we experience. For those of you who have implemented solutions and changed culture…get out there and share the great work you have done. We all have something to learn, and we need to commit to lifelong learning as emergency nurses.
Changes and transitions are part of our daily practice now. Embrace those changes as they mean we have an opportunity to do things better and strive for better outcomes. It’s perfectly okay to question, however when the change is rolled out, dive right in and don’t sabotage. Give new things, processes and procedures a try. You might find they actually work. And if they don’t, work to find better processes and solutions.
I am ending this year with a big transition of my own, I am taking a big step in my journey by taking a new job in a new role and moving to Ohio. At the end of three crazy whirlwind weeks of packing, moving, traveling to Chicago twice and one 9 hour road trip to Cincinnati, I am confident I am headed to where my heart will sing. I want you all to find your passion, and run towards it with wild abandon.
Serving as the ENA President has been a life changing experience for me. It has changed the way I think about my practice, how I care for my patients, and how I support and mentor those around me.
Thank you to the 2014 ENA Board of Directors and the amazing ENA staff for the tremendous work we accomplished in 2014. As I transition the role of president to Matt Powers, I look forward to his leadership in 2015. Thanks to all of you for your comments, thoughts, ideas, success stories, support, questions and feedback this year. You helped shape our journey now and into the future of ENA. Emergency nurses rock!
Have a wonderful holiday season, and a safe and happy New Year!
ENA President's Blog 
Happy holidays to you and congratulations on a wonderful year as ENA President!
Thank you for your leadership as ENA President this year. Congratulations on your new role in Cincinnati.
Thanks, Deena, for a job well done.