“Throughout our journey as union advocates and as nurses, our goal is to achieve excellence in caring for our patients,” UFT Vice President Anne Goldman, the head of the Federation of Nurses/UFT, told more than 100 attendees at the federation’s Professional Issues Conference, held virtually on Nov. 19. She stressed the importance of nurses’ skills, abilities and knowledge in helping patients to recover.

To that end, workshops on four pertinent topics were featured and provided contact hours.

Nicola Toney, who works for the Visiting Nurse Service of New York, joins the event every year. She says she tries to learn something about COVID-19 every day.

“I work out in the community and, of course, not everyone is truthful about their vaccination status,” she said. “I look at the news every day, I look at any updates.”

The COVID workshop, which she said was crucial for her, had the latest information on monoclonal antibodies, medication management and variants.

Robert Zaloom, a cardiologist at NYU Langone Hospital—Brooklyn, spoke about congestive heart failure at another workshop.

With people living longer, congestive heart failure is a huge health issue, said Sandra Nin, a nurse at the same hospital. “These patients are in and out of the emergency room,” she said. “So it’s very important to know the signs and symptoms, what should a Visiting Nurse look for, when should they call a doctor.”

Nin said the conference workshop on the psychological impact of COVID-19 was “necessary for all of us who worked in hospitals in acute care during the crisis.” Participants learned how to recognize signs and symptoms of depression and acute anxiety, and they discussed treatments.

While patient care may come naturally to nurses, “going to a conferences that tells us it’s OK to take care of you is really needed in the nursing profession,” Nin said.

Toney doesn’t use social media much but said she learned valuable information to share with colleagues and friends who do at the social media workshop, which stressed the lasting impact and unforgiving nature of social media.

Nin stressed it’s important to be professional online. “Never bash your union, your place of work, your patients,” she said.

UFT President Michael Mulgrew told nurses that contract negotiations are their next challenge. “We’re going to push through this,” he said. “What you showed throughout this pandemic, that’s the passion, the energy, the motivation that’s going to get us to a better place.”