Agenda

Named one of Forbes’ Top Futurists, Heather McGowan is a globally recognized keynote speaker, bestselling author, and future-of-work strategist who helps organizations unlock human potential to thrive amid constant change. With clients ranging from Google and JPMorgan Chase to FedEx and Kaiser Permanente, Heather transforms how leaders think, adapt, and lead.

Blending powerful storytelling, data-driven insights, and practical optimism, Heather equips audiences to Solve Tomorrow’s Problems™ by asking better questions today. Her groundbreaking ideas have been featured in The New York Times, and her books, The Adaptation Advantage and The Empathy Advantage, are must-reads for future-ready leadership.

From designing award-winning products to shaping innovative education models, Heather’s career proves that true innovation starts with human-centered thinking. She inspires action, ignites curiosity, and turns change into opportunity.

Eligible for 1 Professional Development Unit

The purpose of this presentation is to share information regarding Acid Base balance and associated Arterial Blood Gas Interpretations. The goal of this session is to help any interested educators who need a refresher on Acid Base Balance. By better understanding the fundamentals of nursing theory, we can enhance our skill set and knowledge bank as professors.

Eligible for 1 Contact Hour or 1 Professional Development Unit

Despite a growing body of evidence, educators are uncertain about placing learners into the role of the observer. Everyone wants learners to have a great learning experience, and there are concerns that learning is passive in this role. This session will take a deep dive into the literature, frameworks, and evidence supporting the role of the observer's active learning that occurs in simulation. Attendees will leave with active ways to integrate observers into the simulation!

Eligible for 1 Contact Hour or 1 Professional Development Unit

The ‘next generation’ NCLEX was built to address the incidence of medical errors in new nurses. The NCLEX is used by most state boards of nursing for the purpose of identifying candidates who meet a minimum/acceptable level of safety as a new nurse. This session will discuss one study where a comparison was made between success with ‘next generation’ cases (using the CJMM) and the incidence of medical errors.

Eligible for 1 Contact Hour or 1 Professional Development Unit

Discover how leveraging your unique personality can transform patient care, strengthen communication, and boost professional satisfaction. This session explores the therapeutic use of self in nursing, blending emotional intelligence with personality insights to enhance competence, resolve conflict, and create more authentic, effective healthcare relationships.

Eligible for 1 Contact Hour or 1 Professional Development Unit

In today’s healthcare environment, shaped by rapid technological change, financial pressures, and workforce challenges, compassion is often viewed as a soft skill rather than a strategic advantage. Caring Science reframes compassion as an essential innovation that strengthens resilience, enhances patient outcomes, and fosters a culture of equity and healing.

This panel will bring together leaders, educators, and practitioners to explore how Caring Science can be integrated into practice, leadership, and education. Panelists will share strategies for embedding compassion into organizational culture, highlight measurable impacts on both patients and providers, and discuss how this approach addresses burnout, equity, and systemic change. Attendees will leave with practical insights for making compassion a catalyst for transformation in modern healthcare.

Eligible for 1 Professional Development Unit

Conflict is neither good nor bad. How leaders respond and manage that conflict determines the impact on the organization. The skill of managing these opposing ideas or interests will determine the success of the relationships among the team members. This workshop will hone your conflict management leadership skills.

Eligible for 1 Professional Development Unit

This session empowers nursing faculty to enhance student engagement in online courses by building confidence in generative AI use. Faculty will learn practical strategies like prompt literacy to create interactive, ethical, and engaging learning environments.

Eligible for 1 Contact Hour or 1 Professional Development Unit

Heard about AI but don't know where or how to begin? Join our discussion covering the appropriate, ethical uses of AI in higher education. We'll cover some of the issues facing educators and students, demonstrate how one can begin to explore the fascinating world of AI-enabled tools, and discuss the potential for misuse, bias, and errors that may arise from their use.

Eligible for 1 Contact Hour or 1 Professional Development Unit

Helping students learn how to learn clinically is critical to preparing students for today’s healthcare environment. From reading clinically to responding clinically and even clinical-based collaboration, the classroom needs to replicate the reality in which learned content/concepts will be utilized.

Eligible for 1 Contact Hour or 1 Professional Development Unit

Learn how workforce development grants are being used to create debt-free, institution-led pathways in nursing and allied health. This session offers practical strategies for improving access, equity, and student success—without requiring faculty to write grants—by aligning academic goals with fundable, student-centered initiatives.

Eligible for 1 Contact Hour or 1 Professional Development Unit

This session focuses on practical, research-informed strategies for supporting student mental health in educational environments. Drawing on my experience as an administrator in higher education, I will explore ways to foster resilience, connection, and emotional well-being —a key foundation for academic success.

Eligible for 1 Contact Hour or 1 Professional Development Unit

Healthcare educators face growing demands across teaching, supervision, and student support. This session introduces AI as a practical teaching assistant, offering time-saving, evidence-based strategies. Using the “Prompt, Check, Tweak” framework and a healthcare-specific Prompt Guide, participants will gain tools to confidently create effective, ethical AI prompts for everyday teaching tasks.

Eligible for 1 Contact Hour or 1 Professional Development Unit

The session will showcase nurses’ professional role as leaders, practitioners, scientists, and transferors of knowledge in advocacy for the nursing profession and its impact on advancing healthcare. The Watson Caring Science will be integrated to emphasize the importance of the practice of loving kindness for self and each other in promoting the delivery of safe patient care. Participants will learn to write haiku poetry as a form of mindfulness activity.

Eligible for 1 Contact Hour or 1 Professional Development Unit