Communities of Interest: The "Hidden Gems"
Jun 25, 2024, 08:31 AM
By Leigh Bak, MSN, APRN, ACNS-BC, CDCES
ADCES® Board Member & Member Affiliates Liaison
Any of you who have spoken to me about ADCES membership know that I think our dues provide us with the biggest bang for our proverbial buck professionally. And for me, the real “hidden gems” in ADCES membership are the Communities of Interest or COIs.
Regardless of your professional licensure, whether your role is in inpatient, outpatient or research, whether you work for a large health system or yourself, there is a COI for YOU! COI membership is as individual as you are, and joining doesn’t cost you any more in annual dues. You can choose to join one or a dozen COIs, but please don’t opt out entirely.
The newest kid on the block is ADCES’s Entrepreneurship COI. This fledgling COI, chaired by Sarah Hormachea and co-chaired by Baleana Watts-McGilberry, has only been in existence for six months and already boasts 109 members; Is one of them YOU? I am not an entrepreneur (I work for a large academic medical center within an even larger health system), but I joined this COI because of the enthusiasm it generated right from the start. And like many things in life, even if it doesn’t relate directly to me, I can gain knowledge from exposing myself to new information and a fresh perspective.
One of Sarah’s early posts for the Entrepreneurship COI focused on the “Get Coached” Model to problem solve. Entrepreneurs often must solve problems for themselves; no HELP Desk to call for IT issues; no Finance Department to call when your expenses are going to exceed your revenue generation. The idea behind the post was that you can solve any problem, big or small, by using the model. And who doesn’t have problems to solve? I know that I do and read with interest the Get Coached Model Guide and learned how my thoughts produce feelings which lead to action (or inaction) which in turn create results. No one can control my thoughts but ME, and if I controlled (or changed) my thoughts, I could change my results. What an epiphany!
If you're an entrepreneur, consider joining the Entrepreneurship COI. Or check out ADCES's extensive list of Communities of Interest and join one or two that sound interesting to you. I'm sure you'll agree that they are indeed the hidden gems of ADCES membership!