PDFNJ and NJ State Nurses Association Honoring Nurses in May with Free Continuing Education Credit Webinar

5/24/2021

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: May 24, 2021

Contact: Natalie Golub, 973-382-4560, natalie@drugfreenj.org

 PDFNJ and New Jersey State Nurses Association Honoring Nurses in May with Free Continuing Education Credit Webinar

MILLBURN, NJ — The Partnership for a Drug-Free New Jersey (PDFNJ) and New Jersey State Nurses Association (NJSNA) are collaborating this month to honor the state’s heroic nurses by offering them continuing education on opioids for FREE throughout the month of May.

The effort coincides with National Nurses Month, held every May to recognize and appreciate the crucial work done by nurses throughout the country. The commemoration carries added significance this year.

“New Jersey nurses have always represented the state with courage and selflessness, especially over the past year as they have served on the front lines during the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Angelo Valente, Executive Director of PDFNJ. “We are thrilled to commemorate annual National Nurses Month by offering this webinar free of charge to help educate nurses, who also serve on the front lines of the opioid epidemic.”

The webinar titled, “Do No Harm: Exploring Strategies for Safer Prescribing of Opioids,” fulfills the state-mandated one hour of continuing education specific to opioids for nurses and other health care professionals. The curriculum includes information from medical, legal and law enforcement perspectives. While nurses do not prescribe opioids to patients, they serve a vital role in patient care and in pain management and benefit from continued education on opioids and the opioid crisis.

Course instructors include Lewis S. Nelson, MD, Professor and Chair of the Department of Emergency Medicine at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School; attorney Andrew E. Blustein, Partner/Director at Garfunkel Wild; and Assistant Special Agent in Charge Christopher Jakim of the Drug Enforcement Administration – New Jersey Division. The speakers provide vital information to promote safer prescribing practices to keep patients safe from opioid misuse and addiction.

“The New Jersey State Nurses Association is proud to team up with the Partnership for a Drug-Free New Jersey to help provide New Jersey nurses with this important education opportunity on opioids and the opioid crisis,” NJSNA CEO Judy Schmidt said. “Nurses play an important role in patient care, and their expertise on pain management and safe and responsible opioid use is key to helping stem the opioid crisis. It is vital for the New Jersey State Nurses Association to work together with organizations like the Partnership for a Drug-Free New Jersey to help address this epidemic.”

Nurses can visit knockoutopioidabuse.drugfreenj.org/njsaferx and use the discount code NURSES2021 at registration to take the webinar and earn their continuing education credit at no cost.

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Best known for its statewide anti-drug advertising campaign, the Partnership for a Drug-Free New Jersey is a private not-for-profit coalition of professionals from the communications, corporate and government communities whose collective mission is to reduce demand for illicit drugs in New Jersey through media communication. To date, more than $100 million in broadcast time and print space has been donated to the Partnership’s New Jersey campaign, making it the largest public service advertising campaign in New Jersey’s history. Since its inception the Partnership has garnered 188 advertising and public relations awards from national, regional and statewide media organizations.