By Valerie Kiper, DNP, RN, MSN, NEA-BC Assistant Professors of Nursing/RN to BSN Program/Texas Tech Health Sciences Center It’s been said that leaders are born; but as we know, these skills can also be learned. Leaders do more than organize, direct, delegate, and have vision; they use interpersonal skills to help others achieve their highest potential. Leadership is about relationship building. A recurrent theme in the literature is that leadership involves influencing the attitudes, beliefs, behaviors, and feelings of other people. This results in a feeling of being genuinely valued and respected—a basic way to achieve self- actualization and establish a trusting culture. Leadership is the foundation that brings an organization’s mission and vision to fruition.

In September, a representative from the Johnson and Johnson Services, Inc. contacted Texas Team Co-lead Cole Edmonson regarding their interest in providing funding for an effort that would support nurses in their post-traumatic stress response to natural disasters such as Hurricane Harvey. Dr. Edmonson reached out to the president of TONE, Paula Webb and TNA ED Cindy Zolnierek to follow up on the opportunity. An initial proposal outline was drafted and submitted. Later, a more developed proposal to implement an educational self-help toolkit to address moral distress and promote moral resilience was fleshed out. The proposal was accepted and a grant of $95,200 was awarded in January 2018. Cindy Zolnierek is the PI and Paula Webb the co-PI on the grant.

Minority Nurse Patient Safety is often a top priority for all nurses. Find out how communication skills can play a major role when it comes to ensuring patient safety.

Chief Learning Officer Nurses have the opportunity to be leaders in the workplace, and 85 percent of women have reported some form of sexual harassment at work. Learn tips on how to put your leadership qualities to use and change the culture of your workplace.

Nurse.com A nurse practitioner reached out to a blogger to answer an important question about refilling prescription in states that neither RNs nor CMAs have prescriptive authority.

Thursday, February 22: Pre-Conference Session and Opening Reception Friday, February 23: Annual Conference & Exposition Join over 200 nurse leaders and sponsor community members February 22 - 23, 2018 at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital in Dallas, Texas for the 2018 TONE Annual Conference. As always, the conference will offer a line-up of dynamic speakers, networking opportunities and industry insight. We hope to see you there!

Optimal Staffing: Advocating With a Business Case and Innovation Presented by Dr. Seun Ross, Director of Nursing Practice & Work Environment for the American Nurses Association, and Mary Jo Assi, Press Ganey’s Associate Chief Nursing Officer This pre-conference workshop will focus on the national landscape and why there are staffing problems; models, trends and best practices; and how to understand the business case, including acuity, Press Ganey scores, the ANA cost calculator and more. Learning Objectives: • Understand the National Landscape of Nurse Staffing • Understand how to articulate the Business Case for Nurse Staffing • Applying Innovation in patient care models to improve nurse staffing

Forbes The Internet of Medical Things (IoMT) is set up to transform the way we keep people safe and healthy. IoMT has the ability to provide healthcare providers with data to identify issues before they become urgent in an effort to allow for earlier intervention.

CNN The flu season this year has affected many Americans as hospitals have seen an increase in flu patients. There have been 74,562 confirmed cases this season, not including those individuals who may have had the flu but did not visit a doctor.

News Medical Life Sciences "There are simply are not enough physicians comfortable with treating transgender patients," according to Joshua D. Safer, MD, FACP, associate professor of medicine at Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM).

Patient Engagement HIT Concierge medicine requires patients to pay a monthly fee for their doctor. The concierge medicine payments do not include emergency department visits, out-of-network care or special visits. It does, on the other hand, include all primary care and preventive care services and is the same regardless of how often a patient visits their doctor.

The Baytown Sun Two nurses were recognized as winners of the December 2017 DAISY Awards.