22nd Annual AONP Conference in Review

Success! The AONP Annual Conference took place October 19 – 21, and it was the best yet. It was a wonderful time learning from amazing speakers and networking with nurse practitioners and NP students from across the state. Attendance was high, with almost 400 attendees, and we are thankful for all who attended! We loved seeing everyone connecting over lunch at the food trucks and between sessions.

The four pre-conference workshops covered diverse topics, including basic principles of suturing and a diabetic boot camp. The plenary sessions were led by medical professionals from diverse disciplines, and each session’s content was rich and informative. A few of the many topics discussed were diabetes, cardiovascular health, antibiotics and infectious disease.

Katherine Hoebelheinrich, MS, APRN, shared her firsthand experience with nurse practitioners in Nebraska working to secure full practice authority. She led the statutory Scope of Practice Credentialing Review that preceded NNP’s successful legislative initiative for full practice authority. 

Hoebelheinrich’s encouragement to Oklahoma’s nurse practitioners was to get to know our legislators and to tell our stories to illustrate the problems facing our profession and our patients. If you are interested in connecting with and supporting legislative candidates, be sure to read last month’s blog. 

Her address, along with the other speakers, continued to build our momentum toward the upcoming legislative season. David Holland, a past-president of AONP, reminded attendees “this is a great time to reach out to the candidates. Many don’t know the first thing about FPA. Educate them, gain their support.”

We look forward to pushing toward full practice authority and allowing nurse practitioners to work at the full scope of their education. You can watch Katherine Hoebelheinrich’s full presentation in the video below.