OACNS - Oklahoma Association of Clinical Nurse Specialists

07/25/2025

📣 Attention CNS students and novice CNSs transitioning to professional practice - consider joining CNS ELEVATE!

07/23/2025

Please come out for a great night and event!!

📣 You’re Invited!
Join us for the OACNS August 2025 Board & Membership Meeting in Tulsa!

📅 Date: August 12, 2025
🕕 Time: 6:00 PM
📍 Location: Ruth's Chris Steakhouse – 8330 Riverside Pkwy, Tulsa, OK 74137
🎤 Speaker: Leah Dawn Melton, APRN-CNP, BC-ADM
🤝 Who Should Attend: All OACNS members, leadership, and board members
🎯 Focus: Strategic planning, updates, collaboration, and networking
💼 Sponsor: Gvoke

🔗 RSVP by August 5, 2025 to secure your spot!
👉 https://oacns.org/product/oacns-august-2025-membership-event/
Let’s gather, connect, and shape the future of advanced practice nursing in Oklahoma—together.

07/22/2025

Our neighbors in Texas are hosting a two-day conference in Plano August 22-23!
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/txcns-blazing-hot-topics-for-texas-healthcare-providers-tickets-1384598775209?aff=oddtdtcreator

07/22/2025

Registration is now open for the 2025 Diabetes Care Summit, co-sponsored by OU Health’s Harold Hamm Diabetes Center and the Association of Diabetes Care & Education Specialists. Join us Friday, September 5, 2025 at Rose State College in Oklahoma City. As the region’s premier continuing education (CE) diabetes conference, this program is designed for physicians, advanced practice providers, nurses, pharmacists, dietitans and diabetes educators.

Visit our site to learn more about the Oklahoma region's premier, annual continuing-education (CE) conference for diabetes.

07/12/2025

I got 60 reactions and 9 replies on my recent top post! Thank you all for your continued support. I could not have done it without you. 🙏🤗🎉

👏 Congratulations, Dr. Susan Dresser and team on this important publication!
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1541461225000904

07/07/2025

👏👏👏

Exciting News!

Dr. Diana Sturdevant, Research Assistant Professor will be inducted as a Fellow of the American Academy of Nursing. The new class of fellows will be recognized for their contributions to health and health care at the Academy’s annual Health Policy Conference in October in Washington D.C. https://aannet.org/news/703938/American-Academy-of-Nursing-Announces-the-2025-Class-of-New-Fellows.htm

Diana Sturdevant, Ph.D., GCNS-BC, NEA-BC, APRN, CWS, FAAN is a Research Assistant Professor at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Fran and Earl Ziegler College of Nursing. A specialist in long-term care and dementia care, her work focuses on improving quality of life for older adults and advancing the geriatric workforce. She leads a statewide person-centered dementia care training initiative through the Oklahoma Dementia Care Network and serves as site Principal Investigator for a National Institute on Aging-funded communication project in nursing homes.
Dr. Sturdevant has received national recognition for her leadership in reducing antipsychotic medication use in long-term care and has held multiple advisory roles at the state level. She is recognized as a Distinguished Educator in Gerontological Nursing by the National Hartford Center for Gerontological Nursing Excellence (NHCGNE) and a Fellow of both the National Gerontological Nursing Association and the Gerontological Society of America. Additionally, Diana was recently recognized in the 4th class of veteran VIPs in the annual McKnights Women of Distinction Awards program. This program and the Veteran VIP category honors women who have more than 15 years of experience and have made an impact on senior living, skilled nursing or home care fields.
Dr. Sturdevant earned her BSN from Oklahoma Wesleyan University and both her MS (as a Gerontological Clinical Nurse Specialist) and PhD in Nursing from the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Fran and Earl Ziegler College of Nursing.

Congratulation Dr. Sturdevant!!! We are incredibly proud of you and honored that you are a part of our faculty! The University of Oklahoma OU Alumni Association

07/02/2025

Join me in defending this vital program

06/29/2025

06/27/2025

🚨 Are you ready to shape the future of CNS practice? The call for abstracts and professional posters for the Annual Conference is now open — and the deadline will be here before you know it: September 4, 2025 at 11:59 PM ET.

This is your opportunity to contribute to a national conversation on both clinical and non-clinical topics. We’re seeking dynamic, evidence-based submissions on a wide range of subjects — from pharmacology and patient safety to electronic health records, ethics, billing, documentation, and innovations across physiological systems and patient populations.

📍 Notifications by late November
📣 Student poster call coming soon

Join us in San Diego, March 9–12, 2026 to connect, learn, and lead... and of course COLLABORATE!

🔗 Learn more and submit your work today via Proposal Space: https://brnw.ch/21wTImj

06/27/2025

Download and share!

https://nacns.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/How-CNSs-Make-a-BIG-Difference-in-Health-Care-Final-.pdf?fbclid=IwQ0xDSwLLlF9leHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHiNa4nbEkS1AI6cK3wRdxtOW6piircN-_cRWbmds2kgiuTuAIRwy9ma-hNxN_aem_lvU64tFsJA4SuR5VJzzA-w

Clinical nurse specialists (CNSs) 🩺 improve care, save lives, and drive better outcomes — and we’ve got the data to prove it.

Our infographic illustrates how CNSs make a measurable difference across health care settings, from lowering readmission rates to saving millions in costs. We hope CNSs will download and share it widely — especially with nurses considering next steps in their career. CNSs are needed now more than ever.

📥 Download the infographic and help amplify the impact of the CNS role: https://brnw.ch/21wTJnX

06/23/2025

📣 You’re Invited!
Join us for the OACNS August 2025 Board & Membership Meeting in Tulsa!

📅 Date: August 12, 2025
🕕 Time: 6:00 PM
📍 Location: Ruth's Chris Steakhouse – 8330 Riverside Pkwy, Tulsa, OK 74137
🎤 Speaker: Leah Dawn Melton, APRN-CNP, BC-ADM
🤝 Who Should Attend: All OACNS members, leadership, and board members
🎯 Focus: Strategic planning, updates, collaboration, and networking
💼 Sponsor: Gvoke

🔗 RSVP by August 5, 2025 to secure your spot!
👉 https://oacns.org/product/oacns-august-2025-membership-event/
Let’s gather, connect, and shape the future of advanced practice nursing in Oklahoma—together.