Have you ever attended the Association for Nursing Professional Development (ANPD)  Aspire Convention? When you returned home, how did you describe the energy and connectedness you felt being with 1000 other nursing professional development practitioners (NPDPs)? You were with “your people” and could relate to day-by-day responsibilities as well as the challenges and limitations. You cheered each other’s successes, lifted each other up, and empathized shared frustrations. Imagine spreading that energy and increasing awareness to people outside that arena!

At one Magnet-designated hospital, a strategic push to increase specialty certification among medical-surgical nurses led to a dramatic rise in certification rates and a stronger culture of nursing excellence. Education, leadership support, and peer recognition played key roles in advancing professional growth and improving patient care.

Collaboration plays a vital role in helping nursing professional development (NPD) practitioners expand their expertise and enhance their practice. By adapting a "Clue"-style learning game shared by peers, one NPD professional brought energy and relevance to a skills fair at a small facility through teamwork, resourcefulness, and thoughtful customization.