Conference Agenda
Day One: September 16, 2026
9:00am – 4:30pm
Columbus
Fellowship Session (7 CEs)
9:00am – 12:00pm
Meadows
IONL Board Meeting
1:00pm – 4:00pm
St. Louis
Nurse Exec Connect (2.5 CEs)
3:00pm – 5:00pm
Poster Set-Up
5:00pm – 6:30pm
Blackhawk/Toledo/Charlestown
Opening Reception
Day Two: September 17, 2026
7:30am – 9:00am
Blackhawk/Toledo/Charlestown
Breakfast, Exhibits & Registration
9:00am – 9:15am
Tunica/The “M”
Opening Remarks
9:15am – 10:15am
Tunica/The “M”
The AI Game Plan A Nurse Leader’s Playbook for Leading Adoption with Head, Heart, and Hands (1.0 CEs)
Keynote Speaker: Emily Will (GW RhythmX)
10:15am – 10:45am
Blackhawk/Toledo/Charlestown
Networking & Exhibits Break
10:45am – 11:15am
Tunica/The “M”
Driving Engagement, Delivering Change: The Power of A3 in Workplace Culture (0.5 CEs)
Speaker: Jessica Flores (Ascension St. Alexius), Alyssa Miller (Ascension St. Alexius)
10:45am – 11:15am
Columbus
Building Reliable Screening and Treatment Structures to Reduce Hospital-Acquired Sepsis Mortality (0.5 CEs)
Speaker: Nancy Kerr (Memorial Health), Brianne Holmes (Northwestern Memorial Hospital)
11:15am – 11:45am
Tunica/The “M”
Bringing Forth Your Best Leader Self (0.5 CEs)
Speakers: Margaret DeKoning (University of Chicago Medical Center), Stephanie Meletis (University of Chicago Medical Center)
11:15am – 11:45 am
Columbus
Alarm Overload: Unraveling the Complexity of Alarms in Telemetry Monitoring (0.5 CEs)
Speaker: Christopher Neidig (Northwestern Medicine), Andrea Stone (Northwestern Medicine), Manushi Desai (Northwestern Medicine)
11:45am – 12:15pm
Tunica/The “M”
Building Capacity to Address Staffing Challenges During High Census (0.5 CEs)
Speaker: Heidi Gutowski (Advocate Condell Medical Center), Sheila Roggemann (Advocate Condell Medical Center)
11:45am – 12:15pm
Columbus
Strides of Progress: Enhancing Mobility, Mentation, and Meaningful Care Through the Age-Friendly 4Ms (0.5 CEs)
Speaker: Donna Kruse (Advocate Sherman Hospital)
12:15pm – 1:15pm
Blackhawk/Toledo/Charlestown
Networking & Lunch
1:15pm – 1:45pm
Tunica/The “M”
The RN Remix: Med-Surg Roots, ED Energy, and a New Path to Retention (0.5 CEs)
Speaker: Elizabeth Murphy (Northwestern Medicine), Sarah Cummins (Northwestern Medicine), Elizabeth Murphy (Northwestern Memorial Hospital)
1:15pm – 1:45pm
Columbus
From Chaos to Confidence: The Impact of Specialized Education in the Emergency Department (0.5 CEs)
Speaker: Nicole Carlevato (Trinity Health – Loyola Medicine MacNeal Hospital), Brittani Insua (Trinity Health – Loyola Medicine MacNeal Hospital)
1:45pm – 2:15pm
Tunica/The “M”
From Graduation to Integration: Improving Practice Readiness for New Graduate Nurses (0.5 CEs)
Speaker: Veronica Bigott (Advocate Health), Veronica Zidek (Advocate Health)
1:45pm – 2:15pm
Columbus
Shared Accountability, Safer Care: A Nursing–Pharmacy Leadership Model (0.5 CEs)
Speaker: Susan Morby (Advocate Sherman Hospital), Christopher Jones (Advocate Sherman Hospital)
2:30pm – 3:30pm
Pre-function, Blackhawk/Toledo/Charlestown
Poster Session, Networking & Exhibits Break
2:15pm – 2:30pm
Tunica/The “M”
Updates from AONL
Speaker: Kim Landers
2:30pm 3:30pm
Poster Judging Session
3:30pm – 4:00pm
Tunica/The “M”
Building the Future Together: Leveraging an Academic–Practice Partnership to Support Future Nurses (0.5 CEs)
Speaker: Sonja Will (Northwestern Memorial Hospital), Sarah Buenaventura (Northwestern Memorial Hospital)
3:30pm – 4:00pm
Columbus
May the Odds Be Ever in Our Favor: Using Innovative, Gamified Education to Reduce Patient Falls (0.5 CEs)
Speaker: Lori Hintt (Advocate Sherman Hospital)
4:00pm – 4:30pm
Tunica/The “M”
From Metrics to Mindset: Rewiring Unit Culture Through Daily Improvement (MDI) (0.5 CEs)
Speaker: Adam Tiltz (Ascension St. Alexius Medical Center), John Jincy (Ascension St. Alexius)
4:00 – 4:30pm
Columbus
Simulation-Based Control Substance Diversion Response: Building Confidence, Collaboration, and Safety (0.5 CEs)
Speaker: Latania Parkes (Cook County Health)
4:30pm – 5:00pm
Tunica/The “M”
Anticipating the Future Nursing Workforce: Early Integration of DNP Learners to Improve Readiness for Leadership Practice (0.5 CEs)
Speaker: Ashley Hammond (Bradley University), Karin Smith (Bradley University)
4:30pm – 5:00pm
Columbus
Reducing Emergency Department Length of Stay Through a Multidisciplinary Throughput Collaborative (0.5 CEs)
Speaker: George Lukowski (Ascension St. Alexius), Keith Hill (Ascension St. Alexius), Gristina Bucaro (Ascension St. Alexius)
5:00pm – 5:30pm
Columbus
Cancelled | From Reactive to Ready: Transforming Ambulatory Survey Readiness Through Nurse Leadership (0.5 CEs)
Speaker: Tameka Wilson (University of Chicago Medicine), Thomas Rasha (University of Chicago Medicine), Kyra Mack (University of Chicago Medicine)
5:30pm – 7:00pm
Meet-Ups
Day Three: September 18, 2026
7:00am – 8:30 am
Blackhawk/Toledo/Charlestown
Breakfast
8:30am – 9:30am
Tunica/The “M”
Reclaiming Time, Augmenting Insight: Leading AI-Enabled Nursing Practice, Workforce Capacity, and Trust (1.0 CEs)
Keynote Speaker: Katherine Taylor Pearson (American Nursing Informatics Association)
9:30am – 10:00am
Tunica/The “M”
When Efficiency Meets Engagement: The Virtual Discharge Nurse Model (0.5 CEs)
Speaker: Maria Hamakiotis (Northwestern Memorial Hospital)
9:30am – 10:00am
Columbus
A Quality Improvement Project to Increase Documentation of Non-Fatal Strangulation in the Emergency Department (0.5 CEs)
Speaker: Savanna Suydam (MacNeal Hospital), Lindsey Garfield (Loyola University Chicago)
10:00am – 10:30am
Blackhawk/Toledo/Charlestown
Networking Break
10:30am – 11:30am
Tunica/The “M”
Legislative Updates (1.0 CEs)
Speaker: David Gross
11:30am – 12:30pm
Blackhawk/Toledo/Charlestown
Lunch
12:30pm – 1:00pm
Tunica/The “M”
Academic Partnerships Fuel Workforce Solutions (0.5 CEs)
Speaker: Christina Robbins (Northwestern Medicine)
12:30pm – 1:00pm
Columbus
Preventing the Preventable: A Quality Improvement Initiative to Eliminate Device-Related Pressure Injuries (0.5 CEs)
Speaker: Latania Parkes-Smith (Cook County Health), Carolina Miranda (Cook County Health)
1:00pm – 1:30pm
Columbus
Advancing Nursing Practice with Evidence-Based Fellowship Program to Meet the Challenges of Evolving Healthcare Settings (0.5 CEs)
Speaker: Jennifer Stringham (Advocate Sherman Hospital), Donna Kruse (Advocate Sherman Hospital)
1:00pm – 1:30pm
Tunica/The “M”
Reimagining Discharge Follow‑Up: A Digital Solution That Reduces Calls and Elevates Care (0.5 CEs)
Speaker: Ashley Holzgraefe (Northwestern Memorial Hospital), Sarah Richmond (Northwestern Memorial Hospital)
1:00pm – 1:30pm
Meadows
Leading the Science of Implementation: Designing an Implementation Nurse Scientist Role to Drive Sustainable Evidence-Based Practice (0.5 CEs)
Speaker: Jennifer Galliers (Ohio State University Medical Center), Deana Sievert (Rush Univesity Medical Center)
1:30pm – 2:00pm
Tunica/The “M”