Thanks to the foundation
established by the prior leaders of GNCCARN, your current Board of Directors continues to work towards the purpose and objectives
of the chapter with the intent of meeting the needs of chapter members. This is how the board and committee activities relate
to the chapter purpose.
According to GNCCARN by-laws:
It shall be the purpose of
the Chapter to advance the quality of rehabilitation nursing service throughout the community through the following objectives:
1. To offer educational opportunities which promote an awareness and interest in rehabilitation
nursing and improve the expertise of personnel on all levels:
· We have an active education committee, chaired by Marie Welch, which plans and/or
supports programs held in various sites across NC. There is always new information in these reasonably-priced programs and
networking opportunities are endless…
· We have reviewed and revised Guidelines for Host Facilities to provide direction
to rehabilitation settings that may be new at volunteering their sites for programs.
· We are exploring “learner-directed” programs that will allow members
to obtain educational credit at their own convenience.
· We have established a Scholarship Committee to develop criteria, accountability,
and evaluation of the application. With reduction in education funds at some facilities, this will allow members/prospective
members to attend local and/or regional conferences.
· We will be using the responses of our recent survey of members’ educational
needs and preferences to plan future programs.
2. To facilitate the exchange of ideas in rehabilitation programs:
· We will be meeting with board members of the Charlotte Area Chapter of ARN to
discuss the future needs of rehabilitation nursing in NC, while helping them celebrate their 10th anniversary as
a chapter.
· With the establishment of a web site—gnccarn.org ---rehabilitation nurses can access contact persons and links to rehabilitation settings throughout the state.
3. To represent and promote the objectives of ARN:
· We have revised our by-laws to be congruent with those of ARN. Some
of the major changes have been to include electronic and telecommunications as vehicles for voting and/or committee meetings.
· We have approved a budget to include scholarship money, as well as funds for travel
for committee members in the hope of attracting new members to chapter committees.
Although
CMS has yet to make a decision on the 75% rule, they have published a new IRF-PAI training manual that will go into effect
April 1, 2004. This manual can be accessed by going to their web site: http://cms.hhs.gov/providers/irfpps/irfpai-manual040104.asp
