Emergency Nurses Association receives top ASAE honors

DES PLAINES - The Emergency Nurses Association has earned a 2016 ASAE Power of A Silver Award for its surprise Mass Casualty Incident Training Drill, executed at the Emergency Nursing 2015 conference in Orlando last fall.

ASAE honored the program, which advocated for patient safety and excellence by immersing nurses in a realistic mass casualty incident, forcing them to think on their feet during a mock active shooter situation. Of the more than 2,500 general session attendees, 60 emergency nurse volunteers tended to the "victims"- 90 local volunteer actors, including EMT students and amputees, who displayed lifelike wounds and acted out injuries. Attendee response to the drill was overwhelmingly positive and has since been made available to the public on ENA's YouTube channel.

ASAE's Power of An Awards, the industry's highest honor, recognize the association community's valuable contributions on the local, national and global levels. The Power of An Awards reward outstanding accomplishments of associations and industry professionals for their efforts to enrich lives, create a competitive workforce, prepare society for the future,

drive innovation and make a better world.

"There's no denying mass casualty incidents are on the rise. We needed to provide conference attendees with a comprehensive mass casualty incident training educational event unlike anything ENA previously executed," said

ENA Interim Executive Director and Past President Matthew F. Powers, MS, BSN, RN, MICP, CEN. "Our conference attendees rose to the occasion and performed exceedingly well in an all-too-realistic drill, and we're proud to make the video of that session available to the public for free."

ENA is reinventing its mass casualty incident training education this year at Emergency Nursing 2016 September 13-17 in Los Angeles. Joseph G. Kotora Jr., DO, MPH, FACEP, Regional EMS Medical Director for the Navy, will share best practices for responding to a mass casualty incident during the Opening Session on Sept. 15.