We had coffee with the ARN President - here's what you missed

On March 14, the Association of Rehabilitation Nurses (ARN) invited all members to attend "Coffee with the President," a casual chat where ARN Board of Directors President, Maria Radwanski, MSN RN CRRN CMGT-BC FARN, asked members questions, gave organization updates, and opened a safe space to share stories.

An update on current and upcoming ARN projects

New ARN CRRN Prep Curriculum

As we hope you've been enjoying the ARN Learning Center since 2021, ARN recently began working with a learning strategist consulting company who recently conducted focus groups, reviewed ARN Learning Center content, and interviewed board members and committees to determine improvements or additions to the library for continuing education (CNE). They created a learning strategy recommendation and the first phase of this strategy is to develop a more robust CRRN exam preparation curriculum.

The ARN CRRN Prep Curriculum will include 3 main parts:

1. A guide to becoming a CRRN (which will include videos and an exam guide)
   
2. CRRN Prep Course: Self Study, which will include a microlearning video library as well as a Knowledge Base [content to come from the Core, will be a Rehab Wiki])
   
3. CRRN Prep Course: Instructor Led, including live virtual course options and a course "In-a-Box" that can be sold to facilities, chapters, and more to use for their own groups
   
   

Digitizing the Core Curriculum

We're sure you've heard this before, but it's really happening! ARN is working on digitizing the Core Curriculum book.

The digital Core Curriculum will:

• Be more accessible and affordable for all rehabilitation nurses on the computer or on their phones
  
• Be far less costly to produce and more sustainable to keep revised, which is an environmental win
• Keep information relevant as revisions and updates will be made in real time as needed, rather than waiting for a 5-year renewal cycle

​
Engagement and Leadership Opportunities Project

To create growth within the organization and make leadership opportunities more accessible, the Nomination and Leadership Development Committee (NLD) will be focusing on a 2024 leadership project that will include:

• A webpage dedicated to showing all the ways that you can volunteer and engage with ARN
  
• A flowchart graphic to provide information needed for every volunteer opportunity such: time commitment, experience requirements, responsibilities of the role, etc. 

Review of upcoming ARN events and opportunities for members 

Request for Grant Proposals
Request for applications for all three grant opportunities opened March 1st and will close June 1st. You can review all the grant information on our website. The grants include funding of up to $10,000 for the following:

• ARN Quality Improvement Project Program Grant
• Collaborative ARN and Agnes Marshall Walker Foundation Research Grant
• Collaborative ARN and Sigma Foundation for Nursing Research Grant
  
  

Call for Board of Directors and Nominations and Leadership Development Committee is now open
The call for nominations for five (5) open positions on the opens on March 15th and closes on April 15th. Learn more about the positions and qualification requirements here. 

2023 ARN Rehabilitation Nursing Conference
ARN is proud to provide you with new and innovative conference attendance options, curated with your personal and professional schedules in mind. Receive your CNE from inspirational live sessions and on-demand recordings when you attend both virtually and in-person in the picturesque New England setting of Providence, RI. Register with Early Registration pricing before April 5.

Members had a safe place to chat rehabilitation

The presentation closed out the session with providing some answers to a few more questions that people had which centered on how to foster a team building atmosphere at work, how to encourage more staff to join ARN, and how to create more engagement within ARN Local Chapters.