Madigan hosts nursing excellence conference for base, local nurses

By Mrs. Tawny M Dotson (Army Medicine)February 15, 2011

Lt. Col. Juanita Warman Nursing Excellence Conference
1 / 2 Show Caption + Hide Caption – A poster tribute to Lt. Col. Juanita Warman is displayed at the entrance to the Nursing Excellence Conference named after her at Madigan Healthcare System Feb. 11. The conference was attended by more than 200 Army, Air Force and local civilian nurses... (Photo Credit: U.S. Army) VIEW ORIGINAL
Lt. Col. Juanita Warman Nursing Excellence Conference
2 / 2 Show Caption + Hide Caption – (Photo Credit: U.S. Army) VIEW ORIGINAL

More than 200 Army, Air Force and civilian nurses converged on Madigan Army Medical Center at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Wash., Feb. 11 for the Lt. Col. Juanita Warman Nursing Excellence Conference.

The conference, in its second year, was at capacity and free for nurses in the greater Puget Sound area. In fact, nurses from the local community and JBLM attended the event, which provided more than six continuing nursing education credits to those in attendance. The conference aimed to keep nurses aware of emerging trends such as advanced wound care dressing, post traumatic stress disorder and care, and the patient centered medical home concept.

"This conference keeps nurses up to speed on new techniques and the latest in research," said Maj. Michael Wissemann, a Madigan nurse and planner for the event. "We hope the invitation to community nurses helps to bridge the gap between military and civilian medicine. The intent is to create an environment to network and create a better understanding between military and civilian nursing."

This year the conference was named after Warman, who was an Army reservist and psychiatric nurse practitioner who specialized in treating post traumatic stress disorder and traumatic brain injury. She was killed at Fort Hood during her processing for deployment to Iraq.

"Lt. Col. Warman was a beloved nurse at Madigan. It's important that we've named the conference after her and recognize her nearly two decades of service," said Wissemann.

Col. (Dr.) Elizabeth Bridges was the keynote speaker and addressed caring across the continuum. Her presentation centered on how every person in the care process counts from the battlefield to the local hospital.

"She gave me more of a perspective on my link of the chain and where I fit into patient care," said Cpl. Gregory Gillen, a licensed practical nurse at Madigan Healthcare System who attended the conference.

The conference was planned by a team of nurses at Madigan for nearly a year. Their work was clearly fruitful as the conference was full with 240 registrations a few weeks before the event. This year's conference chair was First Lt. Stacie Owen, a nurse on Madigan's 6th Floor.

"It's really cool to see it all come together finally because it was a long planning process," said Owen. "I've really gained a lot of experience in planning the conference and I hope everyone learned a lot about the most recent developments in nursing through the event."