ACNP 2009 Clinical Conference Award Winners Announced

2009 ACNP Nurse Practitioner Student Scholarship Award

Terrie Spohn, BSN, RN of Firth, Nebraska was presented the 2009 ACNP Nurse Practitioner Student Scholarship Award on October 9 at the 2009 ACNP National Clinical Conference in Albuquerque, New Mexico.  This award recognizes an individual NP student who has made an outstanding contribution to the profession through his or her studies and activities in the community and has been graciously funded by Elsevier.

            Terrie has been appointed by the Governor of Nebraska to the Board of the Nebraska Center for Nursing.  She also serves on the Nebraska Nurse Practitioner Legislative Committee as a student representative and a member of Nebraska Nurses Association’s Political Action Committee.  Terrie actively worked on two legislative bills that were introduced into the Nebraska Unicameral Legislature this past session and served as a resource for to her peers and practicing NPs on the issues related to these bills. 

            Terrie is a Family Nurse Practitioner Student at the University of Nebraska where she has maintained a 3.7 GPA and has obtained Special Student Status in Creighton University’s Doctor of Nursing Practice program.  She has also volunteered with an inter-professional, student-run free clinic that provides STD testing.  In a community service project conducted last fall Terrie, along with a group of health profession students, developed a proposal for a student-run mobile primary health clinic.  This project was selected as one of six finalists through a peer selection process. 

2009 ACNP State Affiliate Award

            The 2009 ACNP State Affiliate Award was presented to the California Association for Nurse Practitioners (CANP) on October 9 at the ACNP National Clinical Conference in Albuquerque, New Mexico, in recognition of their work to introduce Senate Bill (SB) 294 into the California state legislature. The award is presented annually to a State Affiliate that has made a significant contribution to legislation, policy, or regulation which promotes nurse practitioner practice.

SB 294 was drafted to clarify Nurse Practitioner standardized procedures and allow NPs to order Durable Medical equipment, order home health, and sign disability forms.  After identifying these as the primary barriers to health care delivery and their practice, CANP has held strong against formidable obstacles.  Once SB 294 stalled, the lobbying efforts of CANP resulted in merging this bill California State Senator Yee’s SB 819.  On October 11, SB 819 was signed into law by Governor Schwarzenegger.  With this passage, CANP has ensured a solid policy and regulatory foundation that enables the nurse practitioners of your state to continue to provide accessible, high quality health care. 

Jill Olmstead, Immediate Past President for CANP, and Karen Ayers, VP of Finance for CANP were present to accept the award and speak on CANP’s motivation behind the passage of SB 294. 

2009 Sharp Cutting Edge Award

            The 2009 Nancy Sharp Cutting Edge Award was presented to Michael Loughran, Executive Vice President of the Healthcare Division at Nurse Services Organization (NSO) on October 9 at the ACNP National Clinical Conference in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

The Sharp Cutting Edge Award was initiated in 1996 in honor of Nancy J. Sharp, MSN, RN, FAAN, an exemplar in the world of organizational leadership for more than two decades.  The recipients of the Sharp Cutting Edge Award have, like Nancy, demonstrated effective efforts "above and beyond" the ordinary role responsibilities called for in their position and on behalf of the nurse practitioner community.

Michael’s primary responsibility is to direct the administrative and marketing processes for the Nurse Practitioner market segment.  With more than twenty year of insurance industry experience, Michael’s expertise and background focuses on marketing and client relationships for over a million allied health healthcare customers.  Michael has worked with the Healthcare market, with a continuous focus on nurses and nurse practitioners for nearly seventeen years. He has expertly developed the Nurse Services Organization brand and led the team that has positioned NSO to be the premier provider of malpractice insurance to Nurses and Nurse Practitioners.

Michael received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Philosophy from St. Charles Borremeo College.  He is a member of the Direct marketing Association and was granted the Professional Direct Marketer designation from the Bloch School, at the University of Missouri at Kansas City.