Second, TOADN stays informed and shares information with the membership. Thanks to this newsletter, email contacts, and our web presence, we are able to communicate with those who need and want to know what we are doing about current events and issues related to nursing.

Third, we have made a commitment to award scholarships to five ADN students each year.

What can we expect in the year ahead?

Although we don't yet have a standing committee on "prognostication," TOADN will definitely have to maintain its presence on existing committees, taskforces, councils, and coalitions as we continue to work on educational issues, the nursing shortage, and threats to scope of practice such as those endorsed by the New York Department of Education. We recognize the need for evidenced-based education and the need for ADN-driven research. This newsletter introduces a bold step by TOADN to support research focused on the impact of associate degree nursing on the health of Texans.

The organization will absolutely need to be a part of new initiatives like the competency validation system proposed by TNA (http://www.texasnurses.org/nursingissues/hod2005/proposed_res_05.htm#2) and other plans, projects, and schemes on the horizon.

What does all this mean?

• We must rethink our purpose. TOADN must choose which audience it can best serve. Like many other state chapters, TOADN has tried to address the needs of educators, students and practicing AD nurses. Like many other chapters, TOADN does not have the resources to meet the distinct needs of these three groups. As we face the future, TOADN must direct its limited time, money, and expertise to the issues it is most passionate about and best equipped to address - those surrounding nursing education.
• We must be proactive. We need to redesign ADN education before some other group forces us into changes that we cannot support. We must partner with other community colleges and align ourselves with BSN programs in our region to maximize all of our efforts and benefit from our diverse strengths and resources. TOADN must support research, encourage publication, and generally promote ADN education and practice to the citizens and policy-makers of Texas. We have got to prove that ADN practice makes a difference outside of the educational setting.
• We must expand our membership. In order to survive as an organization, we must increase the number of both our agency and individual members. More members mean strength in numbers, depth of talent, and sharing the work that needs to be done.

It is up to each of us to help TOADN meet its purpose and advance the status of the Associate Degree Nurse in education and in practice. Together we can do it!

--Jere Hammer