Dear Reader,

After our successful meeting in Ft. Worth in April, planning is under way for our fall meeting, September 23-26 in Tampa Bay. Mark your calendars now!

In addition, our spring 2010 meeting is planned for Washington, DC and will include an opportunity to meet with key legislators in the nation’s capitol. Stay tuned for more details…

Best regards,
HPN Board of Directors

PS Sondra Fleming’s keynote presentation from the Ft. Worth meeting is available for viewing/download via the HPN site.

Contents

1. Submit your updates to the HPN Workforce Information Repository
2. HPN membership reaches 76 institutional members
3. This month's featured profession: Diagnostic medical sonography
4. What's happening in 2009? Health events calendar now updated
5. HPN awards HOSA scholarship

1. Submit your updates to the HPN Workforce Information Repository

As a benefit to its members, HPN has developed a central repository of key health care-related workforce documents. In order for this initiative to be successful, however, we will need your help in populating this repository!

We are looking for workforce-related reports, white papers, and other public domain documents produced by leading health professions associations, accrediting agencies, educational institutions, federal and state workforce analysts, and licensing and certification bodies.

The repository will strive to only include current documents (those published within the last five years). Please submit documents directly through the HPN Web site. Submissions should include the following information:

• Name of the document
• Brief one- to two-sentence description of the document
• Author/sponsoring organization
• Month and year of publication
• Hyperlink to the document

2. HPN membership reaches 76 institutional members

The number of organizations represented by the HPN has reached 76, with the recent approval by the HPN board of the following organizations:

Full members:

• American Optometric Association Commission on Paraoptometric Certifications
• Certification Board for Music Therapists

Affiliate members:

• MRI Optimize Consultants
• Sports Performance Solutions 

3. This month's featured profession: Diagnostic medical sonography

This month’s featured profession on the HPN Web site is diagnostic medical sonography.

A diagnostic medical sonographer is a highly-skilled professional who uses specialized equipment to create images of structures inside the human body that are used by physicians to make a medical diagnosis. The professional responsibilities include, but are not limited to:

• Talking with the patients to identify their symptoms
• Performing the sonogram and obtaining diagnostic images
• Analyzing images and patient information
• Using independent judgement in recognizing the need to make adjustments to the sonogram
• Providing an oral or written summary of the technical findings to the physician for medical diagnosis
• Working with physicians and other health care providers
• Providing quality patient care

Many sonographers also assist in electronic recordkeeping and computerized image storage. Sonographers may also have managerial or supervisory responsibilities.

Learn more about diagnostic medical sonography.

Also, be sure to consult the American Medical Association’s chart of health care career income ranges, for salary in this and other health professions fields.

To suggest another field for the Featured Health Professions site, or to make updates to existing listings, contact Linda Whaley and Leslie Dean.

4. What's happening in 2009? Health events calendar now updated

The HPN site now includes a list of annual events honoring various health professions.

It includes everything from National Athletic Training Month (in March) to National Health Information & Technology Week (November 1-7).

Check it out now! (And let us know if we missed your profession.)

5. HPN awards HOSA scholarship

The HPN awards an annual scholarship to a deserving student member of HOSA. The 2009 scholarship recipient is Samantha Brooke Wideman of Bolton High School, Arlington, TN.

In addition, HPN, through the Consumer Awareness Committee, is involved in the HOSA national conference, June 24-27 at the Opryland Hotel in Nashville, Tennessee.

The HPN will exhibit at the meeting and hold what has proven to be a popular annual event among the 6,000 delegates, advisors, and guests—a presentation on the many career opportunities in allied health.

For more information, contact Consumer Awareness Committee chair Lynn Brooks or Belinda Mahone, HPN representative from HOSA.

About us

The Health Professions Network (HPN) includes provider organizations, educators, accreditors, credentialing agencies, and administrators. The group works together in a cooperative and interactive manner on issues relevant to workforce development and the delivery of health care in the United States.

Identity Statement

The HPN is a volunteer-run association representing health care professional associations and other organizations interested in interdisciplinary communication, discussion, and collaboration. Participants meet at least annually to discuss issues relating to health care and to serve as a conduit for interdisciplinary problem solving and preparation for future health care delivery.

Vision

The HPN is the premier network of health care professions working to positively influence the delivery of quality health care.

Mission

The HPN provides a forum for collaboration among health care professions on issues of common interest. The HPN will accomplish this mission through:

• Identifying issues of common interest
• Communicating these issues to all participants
• Seeking consensus and facilitating responses
• Advocating on behalf of health care professionals to the public, professional associations, and federal and state policy makers

Values

The HPN affirms that effective collaboration among health care professions is based on the values of:

• Commitment to the HPN
• Cooperation
• Integrity
• Accountability
• Diversity
• Respect