During its December 2019 conference call, the ONS Board of Directors conducted annual reviews of positions, policies, and performance. Here are the outcomes that affect ONS members.
Positions
The ONS Board completed its annual review of the Society’s position statements and made decisions and changes to ensure all remain accurate and relevant. The Impact of Nursing Workforce Issues on Quality Cancer Care position statement will be retired and relevant content merged into the Oncology Nursing Specialty position statement currently under development. The Board also asked for edits to the new position statement to make the language consistent throughout the document. They plan to approve the statement on the January conference call, which will occur after this issue of ONS Voice goes to press.
ONS will also endorse the American Nurses Association’s Principles for Nurse Staffing document.
Awards
The Board revised the eligibility criteria for the Team Achievement Award so it better adheres to the spirit of recognizing a small clinical team. They also approved renaming the Honorary Member Award to the President’s Award and selected a recipient for 2020.
Additionally, the Board developed language for the awards policy to identify how the awards will be given if the scores end in a tie. The policy applies to all awards except the Lifetime Achievement Award and President’s Award.
ONS Board Self-Evaluation
The Board conducted an annual internal evaluation of its performance and reviewed the results. Overall the data were positive; however, a few areas had a slight drop in ratings. Because the Board is committed to improvement, it will implement an action plan for each of those categories.
For more information on the discussions held and decisions made during the December conference call, refer to the Board minutes at ONS.org.