Conference attendees gather with Boston Red Sox mascot Wally in Fenway Park.

This year’s Neuroscience nursing conference — the 17th of its kind — drew its largest external audience ever, with nurses from six institutions attending the two-day event at Fenway Park in May.

“I was amazed to see so many colleagues who work in different areas of neurosciences nursing, from intensive care to rehabilitation facilities,” said Jonathan Jehle, MSN, AGNP, of Palliative Care at Brigham Health and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. “I believe the diversity and variety of speakers makes this conference a success each year. It provides us with a great opportunity to collaborate with our colleagues from other institutions, which helps to improve neurosciences nursing across the region.”

More than 80 nurses attended the conference each day to learn about various topics in advancing neurosciences care, including treatment of stroke, epilepsy, spinal cord injuries and brain tumors. 

Jehle was among 11 Brigham Health faculty and staff members who presented. His talk, “Exploring the Posterior Cerebral Artery Circulation: A Case Study Presentation of Syndromes Associated with Posterior Cerebral Artery Stroke,” was this year’s Gulley Lecture. The lecture honors Margaret “Peggy” Gulley, a charge nurse for neurosciences intermediate care who passed away in 2010. Jehle was selected to present the lecture in recognition of his 18 years of dedication to the Neuroscience ICU.

“My hope was to reinforce the importance of the neurological exam with the neurosciences population,” he said. “Bedside nurses can detect abnormalities in the exam, leading to further work-up of this critically ill patient population.”

The conference also included presentations, lectures and case studies by experts from other organizations, two keynote speakers and a survivor of traumatic spinal injury. 

“We were honored to host so many participants this year and to cover a comprehensive range of important and timely topics,” said Shaun Golden, MSN, RN, nursing director of the Neurosciences ICU, who helps to organize the conference each year. “With the Brigham’s certification as a Comprehensive Stroke Center and its deep roots in the neurosciences, we are committed to sharing our knowledge and the advances we have made in patient care with our peers.”