Sixty percent of American adults live with at least one chronic condition, according to a Rand study. These conditions range from diabetes and asthma to arthritis, fibromyalgia, irritable bowel syndrome, and more—and they require daily management.

We sat down with Crystal Saulsberry, MSN, Assistant Academic Chair for Nebraska in the School of Nursing at Purdue University Global, to discuss how rehabilitation nurses can teach patients how to manage a chronic condition.

If you are an ARN member or a Rehabilitation Nursing Journal (RNJ) subscriber, you should have received your March/April 2020 issue in the mail. Check out a preview of three great articles that will be gracing the pages of this issue, or visit the journal online to read the full issue. 

 One in four American adults is living with a disability that affects their major life activities, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports. Rehabilitation nurses play a vital role in helping these people live happier, healthier lives.

We sat down with Lisa Riecke, MSN, faculty member in the School of Nursing at Purdue University Global, to discuss how acute care nurses can make a difference in their patients' lives.

Do you want to advance your professional development and practice? ARN offers financial assistance scholarships to member nurses who are interested in advancing their education.

Do you have an exceptional peer who goes above and beyond to advance the practice of rehabilitation nursing and enhance the care of rehabilitation patients? Recognize a rehabilitation nurse by nominating them for an ARN Role Award!

Peer review is the foundation of publication in scholarly journals. The quality of an article is only strengthened through a rigorous double-blind peer-review process. Double-blind peer review means the reviewers don't know who the authors are, and the authors do not know who the reviewers are. The editor is the only one who knows both the author(s) and the reviewers. Rehabilitation Nursing Journal (RNJ) reviewers number close to 100 and are most likely to be Association of Rehabilitation Nurses (ARN) members. In addition there are a fair number of reviewers who are not ARN members who are experts in their fields and volunteer their time to RNJ.

Have you been reading the Rehabilitation Nursing Journal? If not, pick up your copy today to get up-to-date on the industry insights and dynamic data that is influencing the practice of rehabilitation nursing today! ARN Members receive a free subscription.

I can't believe it's February already and the groundhog didn't see his shadow, so spring is right around the corner. We've been very busy at ARN!

ARN's 2020 Conference is in the Works

The Conference Planning Committee is well underway developing an exciting and engaging annual conference program for REACH 2020. We hope to include content that many of you have suggested on your past conference evaluations. If you'd like to be a part of the education, please consider submitting an abstract to present a paper, poster, or case study in San Antonio this coming October. The REACH call for abstracts is now open. You are all doing fantastic work in your rehab settings, and presenting at REACH is a great way to showcase your innovative work.

Strategic Planning

Last month, the board, a few members-at-large, and ARN staff met to engage in an energetic and forward-looking strategic planning session led by a nationally renowned consultant, Mary Byers. We participated in 2 days of discussion, exploration, and visioning for our future. We hope to have the final version of the plan available later in the spring and are excited about our opportunities on the horizon. More to follow!

Leadership Development

We are also re-energizing the Nominating and Leadership Development Committee, led this year by our past-president extraordinaire, Michele Cournan. We are striving to implement leadership development for those elected and create a leadership pathway for those interested in getting more involved with ARN. If you are looking to get more involved with ARN, keep an eye out for the annual call for nominations and volunteer opportunities later this year. Our current committees are underway. With the new strategic plan, new committees or volunteer opportunities may arise. We want to ensure we utilize our best resources–you, our members, to reach our goals.

ARN is excited to invite submissions to the 2020 Fellow Designation program—the most distinguished level of membership and a public hallmark of professional esteem!

This honor can be achieved by nurses who have demonstrated outstanding leadership in rehabilitation nursing, provided notable contributions, have notable service to ARN, and demonstrated commitment to the specialty of rehabilitation nursing.

Applications are being accepted February 1 through July 1, 2020 (new, extended deadline). The 2020 FARN class will be honored at the ARN REACH Annual Meeting in San Antonio, TX, October 21–23.

Encompass Health recently announced a new membership with the Association of Rehabilitation Nurses (ARN), and I couldn't be more excited about the opportunities this will bring to our nurses. Not only does it allow us to provide ARN membership to individual nurses at each of our hospitals across the country, as well as attendance to the 2020 REACH conference, the alliance of our organizations shows commitment to enhancing the expertise of rehabilitation nursing.

CHICAGO (November 6, 2019): The Association of Rehabilitation Nurses (ARN) just released the 8^th edition of The Specialty Practice of Rehabilitation Nursing: A Core Curriculum. The latest edition of the Core has 25 chapters of content from across the breadth of the specialty compiled and reviewed by 66 experts. There is no more comprehensive reference on the specialty of rehab nursing.  

Alcohol and substance use disorder has been around for centuries, but is a growing concern in the United States today with significant effects on economic, social, and healthcare systems. The estimated cost of addiction to illicit drugs alone in the U.S. is over $600 billion per year (Herman & Roberto, 2015). Short term use can cause changes to blood pressure, heart rate, and mental status, while cardiac arrest or stroke has been known to occur even after just one use (NIDA, 2017). Not everyone who partakes in alcohol or drug use will become addicted, but when addiction does occur, it is due to changes in normal brain activity which ultimately leads to long-lasting drug-induced neuroplastic changes. 

The Association of Rehabilitation Nurses (ARN) – Past-President Stephanie Vaughn, PhD RN CRRN FAHA, and current ARN President Michele Cournan, DNP RN ANP-BC FNP CRRN – have been asked by the World Health Organization (WHO) to participate as the only designated nurse members of WHO's recently organized Competency Framework Steering Group. 

Recently, my 11-year-old son and I visited an Urgent Care about what I suspected was a urinary tract infection. The doctor asked my son basic questions related to his symptoms, including something about pain in his testicles. My son looked at me quizzically and I explained to the doctor that my son doesn't have testicles. He's transgender, born with female anatomy. To my great relief, the doctor nodded his acknowledgment and continued the conversation. My son, too, breathed a sigh of relief. We'd gotten through the tricky part. 

Tune into ARN's next live webinar, Essential Steps in Using & Training Apps, on June 13. Michelle R. Wild, MA, will show you how apps can be used as a cognitive resource in rehabilitation, as well as how to use apps to conduct systematic instruction training.

In recognition of Stroke Awareness Month, ARN wants you to know about President-Elect Barbara Lutz, PhD RN CRRN PHNA-BC FAHA FNAP FAAN, for the Stroke Article of the Year Award she received at the American Heart Association International Stroke Conference, in Hawaii, in February earlier this year!