WCAPN - News

Nominations Open for Pinnacle Award

31 Aug 2017 11:30 AM | Anonymous member

WCAPN recognizes that there has been and will be individuals that dedicate time, knowledge and skills to advance the role of the Advanced Practice Registered Nurses in Wyoming in profound ways.

The WCAPN Pinnacle Award was designed in August 2016 to have the ability to acknowledge individuals who have contributed to the advancement of APRNs. Award recipients are individuals who have demonstrated an extraordinary dedication and long-term contribution that has influenced the APRN role in Wyoming and made a lasting impression on the profession.

Any WCAPN member in good standing can request the WCAPN board to consider an individual for the Pinnacle Award. The person who is being considered for the Pinnacle Award does not need to be a member of WCAPN or an APRN.

Do you know someone that you would like to be named 2017 Pinnacle Recipient? To make a nomination, send one to two pages of typed information about the person to be considered that explains how the person has impacted APRNs in Wyoming. Please be sure to include your name, email, address and phone number along with the nominees contact information. The request for consideration needs to be submitted electronically to WCAPN Executive Director, Tobi Moore tobi@wcapn.org by 5:00 p.m. Tuesday, September 12, 2017.

The Pinnacle Award will be given during WCAPN annual meeting on October 14, 2017 in Casper, Wyoming.

The 2016 Pinnacle Award Recipients were Ann Enlow, FNP-C and Marsha K. Siegel, EdD, FNP-BC.

Death Certificates

22 Jun 2017 3:10 PM | Anonymous member

With the passing of SF0021 in March 2017, starting on July 1, 2017 APRN's and PA's will be able to sign medical death certificates in the state of Wyoming.

WCAPN is exploring the possibility of providing online education around how to complete a medical certificate of death. Would you be interested in this type of education? If so send an email to the WCAPN office at tobi@wcapn.org

Call for Board Members

22 Jun 2017 3:04 PM | Anonymous member

Deadline has been extended to Thursday, August 31, 2017

Download the "Consent to Serve"

The WCAPN Nominations Committee is seeking interested WCAPN members who wish to serve in a leadership role on the Board of Directors. These leaders will be elected in September 2017 by the members through a statewide ballot for a term of two years. The term of office will begin following the annual meeting on October 14, 2017. The positions are as follows:

President Elect
Treasurer
(2) Member at Large

The position of President-elect will serve for three years serving as President-elect during year one, serving as President during year two, and serving as Past President the third year. The President-elect serves primarily in a learning role by assisting the President in the business of WCAPN.

The President-elect will assume the duties of President in the fall of 2018. The President presides over Board and meetings. Represents (or designates representative of) the WCAPN in business, legislative, and other related activities. Directs (or appoints leadership for) activities of the council including educational, legislative, and public presentation. Appoints committees and leadership of committees, and directs activity/purpose of committee.

The Past President serves in a support/mentoring role for the Board. May assume temporary leadership position in the temporary absence of the President.

The Treasurer serves as the custodian of WCAPN funds in collaboration with the Executive Director. Examines monthly financial reports, monitors and evaluates financial affairs, and provides insight and direction regarding financial goals. The Treasurer provides an annual financial summary report for The Board and General Membership at the fall Annual Membership meeting.

Members at Large serve as representation of the general membership to advise, participate, and contribute to Board on all matters of the organization

Currently the WCAPN board meets four times a year. Two of those meetings are fact-to-face and the other two are by conference call.

All interested candidates for office must be a current WCAPN member. Each candidate needs to complete a Consent to Serve form. The form along with a headshot of yourself needs to be sent to the WCAPN office by August 31, 2017.

Elections will occur in Septembers and the winners will be announced at the annual meeting on Saturday, October 14, 2017 in Casper.

If you have any questions or need further information contact the Nominations Committee: Linda Stone-Soukup lstonesoukup@gmail.com or Marti Mueller martimue@netzero.net

Call for Presenters is Open

24 Mar 2017 11:49 AM | Anonymous member

The Wyoming Council for Advanced Practice Nursing (WCAPN) invite you to participate in the upcoming Advanced Practice Forum on October 13 and 14, 2017 at the Ramkota in Casper, Wyoming.

The Wyoming Advanced Practice Forum is designed to support the professional practice and learning needs of nurse practitioners, clinical nurse specialists, advanced practice nurses, physician assistants and other interested health care providers by providing a variety of evidence-based educational topics.

Presentation proposals should have a focus on pharmacotherapy, clinical topics, innovative practice settings and other topics related to advanced practice nursing.

The deadline for submissions is April 30, 2017. Click here to download the “Call for Presenters” that outlines further details

WCAPN Gets a New Look

16 Mar 2017 12:20 PM | Anonymous member

While Advance Practice nurses change health behaviors one patient at a time, the goal of the Wyoming Council of Advanced Practice Nursing is to encourage awareness of the thousands of people in our profession. We will do this by growing our communications, membership, and reach both inside and outside of the state of Wyoming.

To continue our recent momentum, we are rebranding WCAPN with an updated logo for use on our website, social media, and other association materials. More than just an updated logo, this is our commitment to growing the association. With our ever-changing profession, it is more important than ever that WCAPN continues to serve as the state’s leader for APRNs.

Another change in WCAPN is the renaming of our annual fall conference. For the past, several years the annual conference has been titled WCAPN Pharmacotherapy Conference. In reviewing conference feedback and requests from membership, we felt it was in the best interest of the association, but more importantly for Wyoming APRNS, to provide an educational conference designed to support the professional practice and learning needs of all nurse practitioners, clinical nurse specialists and advanced practice nurses by providing a variety of evidence-based educational topics. While pharmacotherapy will still be a content focus, we will also be broadening the content to focus on the clinical topics, innovative practice settings and other topics related to advanced practice nursing. Thus, our annual conference will be the Advanced Practice Forum.

The inaugural, Advanced Practice Forum, will be held, October 13-14, 2017 at the Ramkota in Casper. Interested in presenting at the upcoming Advance Practice Forum?

WCAPN Co-sponsors Legislative Reception

03 Jan 2017 5:21 PM | Anonymous member

WCAPN, in partnership with the Wyoming Nurses Association and the Wyoming Hospital Association, will be hosting a Nursing and Legislative reception on Thursday, February 9, 2017 at the Little American Hotel in Cheyenne starting at 6:30 p.m.

Because of WCAPN sponsorship, WCAPN members may attend reception only on the 9th at no cost. To register for the reception only email Tobi Moore at tobi@wcapn.org your RSVP.

The Wyoming Nurses Association (WNA) annual Nurses Day at the Legislature theme this year is Opioid Crisis – Your Practice, Your Responsibility. This issue is at the forefront of our profession and this event will present timely information on the topic. The one-day conference will be on Thursday, February 9, 2017 at the Little America Hotel, Cheyenne, Wyoming. WCAPN members are invited to attend the entire one day conference. To register for the entire one day conference, click here.

February 9th will be packed with education sessions, networking, exhibitors and dialog with legislators. There will be 6.25 contact hours provided and it promises to be a day you will want to join everyone in Cheyenne.

Click here to view the entire agenda for Thursday, February 9, 2017.

A block of hotel rooms has been reserved at Little America Hotel, please call them directly at 1-800-445-6945 and ask for the Wyoming Nurses Association group rate under the block code "0217Wyomin". The rate is $109 for deluxe room or $120 for a preferred double queen.

2017 Strategic Plan

20 Dec 2016 5:25 PM | Anonymous member

During the December 14, 2016 WCAPN Board of Directors meeting the board approved the associations 2017 strategic plan. View the new plan!

NP Week in Wyoming

21 Nov 2016 5:28 PM | Anonymous member

To commemorate National Nurse Practitioner week, a State House of Representative member, a State Senator, and six nurse practitioners joined Governor Matt Mead for reading and signing a proclamation recognizing November 13-19th, 2016 as Nurse Practitioner week in Wyoming. Before signing the proclamation, Governor Mead asked the nurse practitioners to speak on behalf of their profession. Many aspects of the importance of nurse practitioners in Wyoming were shared. Nurse practitioners ensure access to health care for rural Wyomingites, serving in communities where patients would otherwise not receive care unless they traveled long distances. Nurse practitioners also serve in critical access hospitals, helping to stabilize patients with life-threatening conditions before they are transferred to other facilities. Having full practice authority in Wyoming allows nurse practitioners to practice independently, which in turn helps lower healthcare costs by increasing access to affordable care. By growing the nurse practitioner supply and supporting the nurse practitioner role, Wyoming can continue to help its citizens meet their healthcare needs. Furthermore, data from multiple research studies provides overwhelming evidence that NPs provide high quality care that results in patient outcomes equivalent to physician-delivered care.

2016 Proposed Bylaw Amendments

14 Sep 2016 3:01 PM | Anonymous member

On behalf of the WCAPN Board of Directors, submitted to the membership are seven (7) proposed bylaw amendments. These amendments include various items as well as substantive changes that reflect our ongoing commitment to this organization as it continues to evolve.

Current paid members will vote on these proposed amendments at the upcoming WCAPN Annual Meeting, which will be held on Saturday, October 15, 2016 at 12:15 p.m, in the South Ballroom at the Ramkota, Casper, Wyoming.

A summary of all seven (7) proposed amendments to the bylaws are outlined below.

Amendment 1:
Article 3 – Membership

Section 1: Regular membership now includes both active and retired APRNs either practicing or living in the State of Wyoming.
Section 2: Student members will now hold the right to vote.
Section 3: Affiliate membership has consolidated associate membership and organization/corporate members. These will not have voting privileges, will not be permitted to hold office or chair a committee. However, these members will be privileged to serve on a committee, lending their experience and expertise at the invitation of the Board.

Amendment 2:
Article 4 – Dues

Notification of any proposed change to dues is to be delivered to the general membership at least 30 days prior to the Annual Membership meeting. Notification was 90 days but in light of the interactive website and other forms of electronic communication, the notification time can be reduced. Any dues adjustments approved by the general membership will take effect immediately.
Dues will not be prorated and will be due annually on September 1st.

Amendment 3:
Article 5 – Board

Section 2: The board will compose of 11 members. Members at large will now be elected from and by the general membership and not appointed by the Board. The transition of the new elections for member at large will commence with the 2017 fall election. The Executive Director and AANP State Rep are now ex-officio (non-elected) members of the Board.
Section 3: Rather than state a minimum number of meetings, the amendment will incorporate the Annual Membership meeting and the annual Strategic Planning meeting with a general statement that other meetings can and will take place either as the need arises or as part of the strategic planning process. Meetings can be face-to-face or via electronic means.

Amendment 4:
Article 6 – Duties and Roles of Board

Section 1: The President will no longer work with the Treasurer to complete the Federal Tax returns each year.
Section 3: Clarification to the role of Immediate Past-President to a supportive role for the benefit of the entire Board.
Section 4: The secretary will no longer maintain a permanent record of minutes. That is a part of the Executive Director contracted role.
Section 5: Revised wording to shift the primary oversight of funds to the Executive Director and the role of treasurer now is one of monitoring, reviewing, and approving financial goals and transactions.

Amendment 5:
Article 7 – Ex-Officio Board Members

Section 1: Refines the role description for the Executive Director with reference to the current Executive Director contract.
Section 2: Defined new status of AANP State Representative as an ex-officio Board member. Leads the legislative activities and actions of WCAPN.

Amendment 6:
Article 9 – Annual Elections

Call for nominations now being accomplished by Executive Director posting electronically to membership.

Amendment 7:
Article 10 – Committees

Section 2: Places all committees, other than the conference committee at the discretion of the Board on an as needed basis.

To download the complete document outlining all seven (7) amendments, click here

If you have further questions or comments, please direct them to the WCAPN Board of Directors, contact information for the board can be found at www.wcapn.org

High Insulin Dose Study

26 Aug 2016 3:54 PM | Anonymous member

The atypical insulin resistance study seeks to explore various characteristics associated with persons who have type 2 diabetes mellitus who use large doses of insulin - defined as a total daily insulin dose of greater than 1.5 units/kg – and analyze them against persons with type 2 diabetes using smaller doses of insulin.

Study eligibility – must be over the age of 21, must have type 2 diabetes for at least five years and use insulin daily, you may be not pregnant.

Visit www.highdoseinsulin.org to submit a contact form and request information

Primary investigator: Alicia LePard, MSN, FNP, GNP, ACNP, BC-ADM, CDE or email alepard@highdoseinsulin.org