President and Founder

July 4th, 2011

Dear Colleagues,

 

I want to start by saying “thank you” to the American Academy of Nurse Practitioners and their members, who made our membership campaign an unbelievable success. We enrolled thousands of members and more membership applications are coming in daily!  Through this event, NADNP surpassed its expectations and became the largest NP dermatology organization in the nation. In addition, we became international with some members from Guam, Canada, and New Zealand!  While you are waiting for your membership card, the board of NADNP would like for you to take the time to think about what you would like to see from this organization. We will continue to strive to make our organization the most valuable dermatology resource for all of its members. Creating the first dermatology organization dedicated to nurse practitioners was a first step toward making this happen. In addition, we will continue to work with sponsors who recognize how important all of our NP members are to their corporate goals. The “True” facts are that NPs, along with our MD, DO, and PA colleagues, are major decision makers and patient educators. Regardless of practice setting, most NPs are diagnosing, prescribing and treating various dermatologic diseases!

 

We recognize the experience, professionalism, and extensive talents of our membership.  The board would like to extend an invitation to our members to come forward and express your interests in forming committees and chapters in your region. It is our mission to be a resource to all NPs who have the opportunity to assess and educate patients regarding skin cancer. We want to lead the way toward best practice for everyone who diagnoses and treats dermatology disease in their patient population. We will ask that our dermatology specialist NP members help us serve as a resource to our non-specialist members.  All nurses know that it is about the patients and improving outcomes. Nurse practitioners have proven how valuable we are in health care. We can all learn from one another and we need to stand united, not divided. Boundaries in practice should be bridged by the experts in the specialty fields.  We must embrace our fellow colleagues and continue to improve as clinicians, while serving the needs of our whole community.

 

As I was developing the first Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) dermatology residency program at the University of South Florida in 2006, my literature review confirmed the deficit in NP dermatology research, education and competency for all nurse practitioners with regards to skin cancer assessments. I discussed the importance of this in my article “The Development of a Standardized Dermatology Residency Program for the Clinical Doctorate in Advanced Nursing Practice”. As I continue my education as a PhD candidate, my dissertation focuses on impacting knowledge, attitudes and practice of NPs regarding skin cancer assessments. When my research proposal won a nurse scientist research grant award through the American Cancer Society, it reinforced my beliefs about how important all NPs are to our organization. Adult, peds, family, occupational health, acute care, Women’s Health and psych NPs who are serving in primary care or other practice settings are an intricate part of winning the war on the skin cancer epidemic. I explain this so you know how the foundation, the mission and vision of this organization came to be. I am so happy to see that others are following in my foot steps and are helping to improve NP skin cancer assessment skills. I welcome all PhD, DNP, and MSN prepared NPs to join me in advancing clinical and research efforts in dermatology.

 

My best to all of you,
Dr. Debra Shelby, DNP, FNP-BC, DNC
President and Founder, NADNP