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The Irish Association of Advanced Nurse and Midwife Practitioners AGM 2024

By Melissa Hammond - 01st Jan 2025

This year’s Irish Association of Advanced Nurse and Midwife Practitioners (IAANMP) annual general meeting (AGM) was chaired by Melissa Hammond and held online via Zoom on 5 December 2024.

Members reviewed the past year’s themes and discussed the vision for this year under the headings of education, collaboration, engagement, and promotion of advanced practice. Treasurer Audrey Butler presented a statement of accounts for audit, and an opportunity was given for any member to query them before being signed off by the current committee.

Committee members and roles

Committee members L-R: Vincent Melvin; Roisin Lennon; Caroline Fraser (Vice Chairperson); Trisha McKeown; Dona Comar (Secretary); Melissa Hammond (Chair); Mary Gillespie; Kathleen Canavan; Gemma Smyth; Susan McKenna

Committee members who will be retaining their position in the coming year are as follows:

  • Melissa Hammond is staying on as Chairperson and as a committee member, representing primary care
    and general practice.
  • Caroline Fraser will remain in the position of Vice Chairperson, representing acute care as an Emergency Registered Advanced Nurse Practitioner (RANP).
  • Dona Comar, RANP in Emergency, will remain a committee member.
  • Gemma Smith, candidate (c) ANP will remain a committee officer representing learning disability nursing.
  • Kathleen Canavan, RANP for
    Surgery Robotics and Cardiothoracics (also works in private practice) will remain as a committee officer.
  • Roisin Lennon, Registered Advanced Midwife Practitioner (RAMP) and midwife representative will remain a committee officer.
  • Susan McKenna, RANP, is staying on and representing diabetes (also works in private practice).
  • Fiona Colbert, RANP in Cardiology, lead on ionisation radiation, and chair of Irish Nurses and Midwives’ Organisation advance practice section  will also remain as a committee officer.

Biographies for each committee member can be viewed at www.iaanmp.com.

Outgoing committee members

We would like to extend a huge thank you to those officers that are leaving the committee this year: Audrey Butler, Trish McKeown, Deirdre Gleeson, and Mary Gillespie. They each have spent many years and much time on the IAANMP committee, and we will miss them very much.

They have been a great support as well as advisors to the newer members of the committee. Each has taken on key roles and committed so much of their expertise and knowledge to the association in the interest of supporting and promoting advanced practice, and we are sorry to see them go. We wish them all the best in their future endeavors and hope to keep in contact.

Call for new committee members

As we strive to advance the mission and goals of IAANMP in this, our 20th year, we are excited to announce an opportunity for you to get involved and make a difference by joining our committee. We are a passionate team of nurse and midwife practitioners aiming to promote, support, and lead advanced practice in Ireland.

Are you passionate about driving positive change in the nursing profession and contributing to the success of the IAANMP? If you are interested in contributing your time and expertise, please send an email with your CV to iaanmp@gmail.com.

We look forward to welcoming new committee members, and will host our first committee meeting of the year in early January 2025, where we will plan out roles and responsibilities for the year ahead.

Incoming committee members

To strengthen the association and bridge the gap between academia and clinical practice as nursing/midwifery leaders, Dr Emily Lockwood, Lecturer in General Nursing and Advanced Nursing Practice, South East Technical University (SETU), will be assisting the association in a research capacity.

Dr Lockwood has over 30 years of experience in clinical nursing, nursing management, advanced nursing practice, education, project management, and holds a PhD in research, having explored self-determination theory to examine the impact of advanced nursing practice.

She has lectured and published widely on the topic areas of the impact of advanced nursing practice. An invited member of the International Council of Nurses Nurse Practitioner/ANP Alumni and a international invited plenary speaker of AN/MP implementation and clinical autonomy in Ireland, China, Saudia Arabia, Hamburg, UK, Berlin, Finland, and Norway.

Dr Lockwood has been a RANP in paediatric and adult emergency nursing for more than 20 years, is a registered nurse prescriber of medications and ionizing radiation, and a registered general nurse. It is a great privilege for us to have Emily assisting the IAANMP regarding research and academic advice.

Dr Emily Lockwood
Dr Theresa Lowry Lehnen

We are also delighted to have Dr Theresa Lowry Lehnen join our committee. She is general practice employed and manages the nurse-led medical centre at SETU Carlow campus. Dr Lowry Lehnen is qualified as a general nurse, coronary care nurse, cANP in general practice nursing, registered nurse prescriber, and teacher of science and nursing studies.

She holds a PhD and is a registered teacher with the Teaching Council of Ireland. She qualified and worked in coronary and intensive care for over 15 years, before moving to the primary care sector, where she specialised in general practice nursing, and has continued to work for 25 years.

Dr Lowry Lehnen has authored five published nursing, health, and psychology books, and is a regular contributor to medical, nursing, and pharmaceutical journals and newspapers, with over 300 clinical articles published in recent years. She will be a great addition to our team as a committee officer, and it will be fantastic to have Theresa’s expertise on our committee.

We look forward to a new and exciting year with the association and this diverse and passionate committee.

Engagement

The IAANMP has successfully established national links with key stakeholders in policy and the board of registration, and international links with the ICN advanced practice network. Wehave regular meetings and engagements with the Nursing Board and the Department of Health on an advisory level as the national association.

We are delighted to let you know that Dona Comar, our committee officer, has been nominated and has accepted to support the implementation of the Department of Health Expert Review Body Report recommendations 24 and 25. The Department of Health Expert Review Body Report on Nursing and Midwifery (2022) assigned responsibility to the HSE, Higher Education Institutions, and the Health Research Board to progress the implementation of recommendations 24 and 25, as outlined in Table 1.

24 The HSE, in partnership with the Higher Education Institutions and the Health Research Board, to develop a nationally agreed clinical academic career framework* for nurses and midwives.

*A formal clinical academic career framework allows nurses and midwives to continue in a clinical role while at the same time undertaking research to improve patient outcomes.
25 ONMSD, with the Higher Education Institutions, to further develop joint nursing and midwifery clinical-academic appointments across acute and community settings.

TABLE 1: Recommendations 24 and 25

NMBI update

The Nursing and Midwifery Board of Ireland (NMBI) is running a pilot of the NMBI Competence Framework, and is seeking IAANMP members to take part. The pilot scheme will run throughout 2025, before being audited in 2026, with a full roll-out planned for 2027. If you would like to get involved, please contact us at iaanmp@gmail.com.


Authors

Melissa Hammond, Chair of IAANMP

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