Q: What do you want your tenure to be known for?

A: We're working a lot on web-based education and more options to reach people with certification training. This will be a way for them to increase their confidence in their leadership abilities.

Q: That's a relatively new area of emphasis, isn't it?

A: The role of the director of nursing has changed so much in the last 10 years — five years, even. There's more emphasis put on leadership ability and how to lead the department. We want to put more emphasis on teaching our membership how to learn leadership skills, not just focus on the clinical.

Q: What will be a new focus?

A: This big thing for us this year will be getting a hold of the QM (quality measures) reports that start coming out in April and understanding them, and learning to use them to implement improvements in our facilities.

Q: How about QAPI [quality assurance and performance improvement] activities?

A: It's a pilot in some states, but we're looking to get ahead of it before it becomes mandatory. We want to train the membership on how to improve the quality assurance programs in their facilities.