Madigan Conference unites civilian, military nurses

Story by: Rayna Holley

More than 200 nurses from around Puget Sound gathered at Madigan Army Medical Center Feb. 8, for the Lt. Col. Juanita Warman Nursing Excellence Conference. The primary objectives of the conference were to keep nurses up to speed on the newest techniques and research in the industry as well as create a networking environment for civilian and military nurses. “The exciting part for me is we have clinic nurses here, inpatient nurses, all the disciplines coming together in one place and seeing these great speakers and developing a nursing vision of what we want patient care to look like,” said Shannon Baker, Madigan Patient Caring Touch System coordinator. This year’s keynote speaker was Ms. Kathleen Vollman, a critical care clinical nurse specialist, educator and consultant. Vollman’s lectures focused on creating empowered work environments for nurses. During her presentation she discussed how nursing cultures have changed over the years and the importance of patient advocacy. “I loved our speaker, she talked about taking back nursing and looking at nursing from our point of view. Because we don’t just give pills, we don’t just put on a bandage, it’s the whole patient approach,” said Baker. Sgt. Bradley Foster, Madigan nurse and physical exam board liaison officer, attended Vollman’s lecture and said he will put the training he received in to action. “My whole job is to be an advocate for patients. Mrs. Vollman reinforcing the ideas behind what an advocate actually does is going to help me every day.” Nurses at this year’s symposium also attended seminars on how to care for burns, the challenges of substance abuse in Army as well as pain management. Those registered received seven contact hours towards continuing education. The conference was named after Lt. Col. Juanita Warman, an Army reservist and psychiatric nurse practitioner who specialized in treating post traumatic stress disorder and traumatic brain injury. Warman and 12 others were shot and killed at Fort Hood on November 5, 2009. She is buried at Arlington National Cemetery.