The 2026 AMSN Annual Convention runs September 24 to 26, 2026, at the Palm Springs Convention Center in Palm Springs, California. AMSN is the Academy of Medical-Surgical Nurses, the professional society for med-surg nurses in the United States, with more than 13,000 members. The Annual Convention is its central in-person event, drawing bedside med-surg RNs, charge nurses, unit educators, clinical nurse specialists, nurse managers, and the academic and industry community that serves them. If you work on a med-surg unit, lead one, teach into one, or hire for one, this is your room.
This guide covers everything an attendee needs to plan a productive trip: the program structure, the schedule, the venue, the host city, what to expect from the exhibit hall, continuing education credit toward CMSRN and other certifications, registration logistics, and the practice realities your peers will be discussing in 2026. The goal is to give you a single complete reference so you can decide whether to attend, who from your team should travel, what sessions to prioritize, and how to make the trip earn its keep.
Why AMSN matters in 2026
Med-surg is the foundation of hospital nursing in the United States. It has the largest headcount of any nursing specialty, the broadest patient acuity range, and the most varied scope of practice on any given shift. It is where most nursing careers start, where the bulk of inpatient care happens, and where the operational pressure of any hospital lands hardest. When inpatient volume rises, med-surg absorbs it. When inpatient capacity tightens, med-surg holds the boarders. When ratios slip, med-surg feels it first.
In 2026, med-surg nursing is still working through a structural set of pressures that have not fully resolved since 2021. Vacancy rates remain elevated at most US hospitals. Turnover sits higher than other specialties, with new graduate attrition particularly visible in the first 18 to 24 months on the unit. Patient acuity on med-surg has climbed as inpatient capacity has tightened, which has changed the work in real ways that practice and management often have not caught up to. The conversation about staffing ratios, acuity-adjusted assignments, charge nurse models, and shared governance is happening at the same time the conversation about AI in nursing documentation and bedside workflow is starting up.
AMSN exists for that conversation. The Annual Convention is the one event per year built specifically for med-surg practice. The program is written by working med-surg nurses, the sessions reflect what is actually showing up at the bedside, and the certification and career content is calibrated to the specialty. For a med-surg nurse, charge nurse, educator, or manager who can attend one national event per year, AMSN is typically the most direct match between conference content and daily practice.
When and where is AMSN 2026?
Dates: Thursday, September 24, 2026, through Saturday, September 26, 2026 Host venue: Palm Springs Convention Center Venue address: 277 N Avenida Caballeros, Palm Springs, California 92262 Host city: Palm Springs, California Format: In-person primary, with hybrid and on-demand options consistent with AMSN's recent practice
The Palm Springs Convention Center is in downtown Palm Springs, walkable to the city's hotel cluster, dining, and the airport. The venue is right-sized for AMSN's typical attendance, with a single primary event space that keeps the meeting feeling close-knit rather than scattered. Palm Springs International Airport (PSP) is approximately five minutes from the venue by car, which is unusually convenient for a national conference. Larger airports within reasonable driving distance include Ontario International (ONT, about 75 minutes), Los Angeles International (LAX, about two hours), and San Diego International (SAN, about two and a half hours).
The Palm Springs setting is part of AMSN's appeal in 2026. Late September weather in the desert is typically warm but not extreme, with daytime highs in the upper 90s easing into the 80s by week's end and dry conditions throughout. The city's compact downtown puts most attendees within a 10 minute walk of the convention center, which compresses the logistics of getting between hotel, venue, and dinner in a way that larger host cities cannot match.
Who attends AMSN and how big is the room?
AMSN's membership exceeds 13,000 med-surg nurses, and the Annual Convention typically draws between 900 and 1,200 attendees plus several hundred exhibitor and partner personnel. Recent conventions in Austin (2025) and Las Vegas (2023) both crossed 1,000 attendees, and the 2026 Palm Springs convention is expected to fall in the same range. That puts AMSN in a useful size band: large enough to have real depth in the exhibit hall and across concurrent education tracks, small enough that you will see the same faces across multiple days and build relationships that last past the meeting.
The attendee base breaks down into a handful of clear groups. The largest single segment is bedside med-surg RNs, including new graduates, mid-career nurses, and senior clinicians. Charge nurses and shift coordinators attend in significant numbers. Unit-based educators and clinical nurse specialists focused on med-surg practice are well represented. Nurse managers running med-surg units, professional development specialists, and nurse leaders at the director level round out the management side. Academic faculty teaching med-surg curriculum attend on the academic side, often bringing senior nursing students.
A meaningful share of attendees are pursuing the CMSRN credential or actively maintaining it. AMSN owns the CMSRN, Certified Medical-Surgical Registered Nurse, which is the field's primary certification, and the convention is the most efficient venue in the country for CMSRN exam prep, refresh, and continuing education aimed specifically at the credential. AMSN also hosts CMSRN exam testing on site for some conventions, which makes the trip particularly efficient for nurses pursuing initial certification.
Travel and contract nurses are present in meaningful numbers. Med-surg is one of the largest travel nursing specialties, and travelers attend AMSN for CE, certification prep, and active exploration of permanent or contract opportunities. Recruiters at staffing firms and health systems use AMSN to build pipelines across both lanes.
Vendor and industry attendance is the other significant block. Health systems, regional medical centers, post-acute providers, staffing firms, nursing schools, certification prep companies, scrub and uniform retailers, nursing technology vendors, and a growing roster of AI-enabled nursing tools all exhibit. The exhibit hall is smaller than the largest nursing conferences but the focused med-surg audience makes vendor conversations meaningfully more in-depth.
Program structure and what to expect day by day
AMSN structures the Annual Convention across three full days, with a mix of pre-convention activities, keynote sessions, concurrent education tracks, exhibit hall hours, networking events, and CMSRN-eligible continuing education. The exact 2026 schedule is published by AMSN closer to the event, but the structure you can plan around is consistent year over year.
Thursday, September 24: Pre-convention activities, including any pre-convention workshops or intensives, CMSRN exam testing if offered, and early networking events. The opening session typically takes place Thursday afternoon or evening, followed by an opening reception that doubles as the first major networking event of the convention.
Friday, September 25: Full education day with concurrent tracks running across clinical practice, leadership, professional development, evidence-based practice, and quality improvement. The exhibit hall opens Friday with extended hours and complimentary food in the hall during designated periods. Friday is typically the highest-attendance day with the broadest session menu.
Saturday, September 26: Second full education day, closing sessions, and convention close. The day typically wraps in the early to mid afternoon to allow attendees to travel home Saturday evening or Sunday morning. CMSRN testing, if offered on-site, is often available Saturday for attendees who used the week to prepare.
The education program runs concurrent tracks, which means an attendee can specialize toward a single thematic focus or spread across the program. AMSN's tracks consistently cover clinical practice topics (complex care management, sepsis, geriatric care, post-operative care, wound care, palliative care, behavioral health on med-surg), leadership and professional development (charge nurse skills, shared governance, mentorship, transition to practice), evidence-based practice and research, quality and safety, and CMSRN exam preparation.
For first-time attendees, AMSN's recommendation has consistently been to mix a clinical practice track with a professional development track, since the most useful learning at the convention tends to come from combining bedside takeaways with the conversations about how to grow in the specialty.
What gets covered: the practice reality discussed at AMSN 2026
AMSN's program is built from a topic survey of working med-surg nurses, so the year's session list is a reliable read on what the specialty is actually working on. For 2026, the topics you can expect to see surface across multiple tracks include the following.
Patient acuity and complexity on med-surg units is the dominant clinical thread. The mix of patients landing on med-surg has shifted as inpatient capacity has tightened, which means the typical med-surg assignment in 2026 includes patients who would have been on a step-down or telemetry unit a decade ago. Sessions cover acuity assessment, charge nurse decision making on assignment, escalation criteria, rapid response and code blue preparation, and the practical reality of running an assignment when every patient is sicker than the ratio suggests.
Sepsis, deterioration recognition, and rapid response are recurring topics. Med-surg is often the unit where early signs of deterioration first appear, and the convention consistently runs sessions on early recognition, communication frameworks, and the clinical and operational protocols that produce better outcomes when minutes matter.
Geriatric and complex care management is a permanent fixture. The aging US population means the med-surg patient is increasingly a complex older adult with multiple comorbidities, polypharmacy, cognitive issues, and family dynamics that affect care planning. Sessions cover delirium recognition and management, fall prevention, medication reconciliation, end-of-life conversations, and the operational realities of geriatric care on a med-surg unit.
Post-operative care, particularly orthopedic and abdominal post-op, gets significant program time. Length of stay compression has changed what post-op management looks like on med-surg, with patients moving off PACU faster and onto med-surg with more complex pain management, mobility, and discharge planning needs.
Workforce and practice environment topics are a constant thread. Sessions cover staffing models, charge nurse practice, shared governance, just culture, burnout and well-being, transition to practice for new graduates, mentorship and preceptorship, and the practical realities of working a 12 hour shift on a busy med-surg unit. This is the content that most directly affects whether nurses stay in the specialty or transition out.
Leadership content runs across multiple tracks, calibrated to the seniority range from charge nurse to nurse manager. Topics include communication, conflict management, evidence-based practice implementation, quality improvement project leadership, and the management skills that translate clinical excellence into operational outcomes.
Professional certification content centers on CMSRN exam preparation, with sessions covering exam structure, content review, test-taking strategy, and the practical steps of certification application and maintenance. AMSN owns the CMSRN, which means the convention is the authoritative venue for CMSRN preparation.
Emerging technology in med-surg practice is an expanding thread. Sessions cover AI in nursing documentation, ambient documentation tools that listen to bedside conversations and produce structured notes, predictive analytics for deterioration, smart pumps and barcode workflows, and the operational realities of integrating new technology without adding work for the bedside nurse.
Continuing education credit and CMSRN pathway
AMSN is the field's primary venue for continuing education credit aimed specifically at med-surg practice. Sessions at the Annual Convention carry contact hours from accredited providers, and most attendees walk out with a meaningful slice of their annual CE requirement covered.
For attendees pursuing the CMSRN credential, AMSN runs the most authoritative exam preparation content available, since the organization itself owns and administers the credential. The convention typically runs CMSRN exam review sessions during the pre-convention day, on-site exam testing for some conventions, and content during the main program calibrated to the CMSRN test plan. For credentialed CMSRNs maintaining the credential, the Annual Convention is the most efficient way to log contact hours in a single trip.
AMSN sessions are typically approved for ANCC contact hours, which transfer broadly across state requirements. The specific credit allocation for each session is published by AMSN in the program guide. Allow yourself a few minutes during planning to map sessions to your state and certification requirements.
The exhibit hall and how to use it
The AMSN exhibit hall is a practitioner-focused hall. Health systems and regional medical centers recruit at AMSN with the explicit goal of identifying med-surg nurses considering a move. Staffing firms placing med-surg travelers attend in significant numbers. Nursing schools, certification prep companies, and nursing supply retailers exhibit. AI-enabled nursing tools, scheduling platforms, and clinical documentation vendors are a growing presence.
For attendees in clinical roles, the practical use of the hall is twofold: career exploration if you are considering a move, and CE on emerging tools and technology if you are not. The career fair component is genuinely useful at AMSN in a way that it is not at all nursing conferences, because the audience is precisely the role most health system nurse recruiters are working to fill.
For attendees in leadership and management roles, the hall is the most efficient venue in the country for evaluating med-surg specific workforce tools, technology, and partnerships. The conversation density is high because the vendors in the hall are calibrated to med-surg specifically rather than a broad nursing audience.
Networking events and informal program
AMSN's networking program is one of the convention's quiet strengths. The Thursday opening reception, Friday evening events, the formal recognition events for AMSN members, regional chapter meetups, and the various special interest group sessions create multiple paths to find your people.
The most useful networking pattern at AMSN tends to be unit-type meetups, where nurses from similar med-surg units (orthopedic, oncology, neuro, surgical, mixed acuity) find each other and trade practice notes. AMSN leadership runs first-timer events and new-member breakfasts that are worth attending if this is your first or second convention, since the introductions there tend to stick.
Outside the formal program, downtown Palm Springs has a compact restaurant and bar district within easy walking distance of the convention center and the major hotels. Informal dinners and drinks with peers from across the country are typically the most memorable part of the convention.
Registration, cost, and the value math
AMSN registration for the Annual Convention historically runs in the range of $400 to $700 for member full-convention registration, with lower rates for early bird registration and student rates. Non-member rates run higher, typically by $150 to $250. Pre-convention workshops require separate registration. AMSN publishes the 2026 registration schedule on its site as the convention approaches.
Hotel costs at Palm Springs properties during the convention dates typically run in the $200 to $300 per night range, with better rates available inside the AMSN room block. Booking inside the block also keeps attendees clustered near the venue and other attendees, which improves the informal networking. Airfare to PSP is generally moderate from most major US markets, with broader airfare options available through ONT, LAX, and SAN if attendees combine the trip with other plans.
For most attendees, the full cost of attendance, including registration, hotel, travel, and per diem, lands between $1,500 and $3,000 depending on origin and length of stay. The value math is straightforward: contact hours for license renewal, CMSRN preparation, peer connections that pay off through the year, and direct exposure to the practice changes shaping the specialty. For attendees whose employer covers conference attendance, AMSN is one of the more efficient annual investments available in nursing.
Travel logistics for the Palm Springs trip
Palm Springs International Airport (PSP) is approximately five minutes from the Palm Springs Convention Center by car, which is unusually convenient. PSP serves nonstop flights from most major US markets, with the broadest schedule from Western and Southwestern cities. From the Northeast and Midwest, connections through Phoenix, Las Vegas, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Salt Lake City, or Denver are typical. Attendees combining the trip with other plans sometimes fly into LAX or ONT and drive to Palm Springs.
The convention center, the major host hotels, and downtown Palm Springs are walkable for most attendees. The AMSN room block typically includes hotels within easy walking distance of the venue. Attendees who plan to explore the area or take time before or after the convention often rent a car, but a car is not necessary for the conference itself.
Late September weather in Palm Springs is typically warm and dry, with daytime highs in the mid 90s easing into the 80s by the close of the convention. Evenings are pleasant. Pack light layers for inside the venue, where air conditioning is aggressive, and plan for warm weather outside. Palm Springs hotels typically have pools, and many attendees fold a morning or afternoon by the pool into the schedule.
For attendees flying in, the most efficient travel pattern is to arrive Wednesday evening or Thursday morning to catch the Thursday opening events, and depart Saturday evening or Sunday morning after the convention closes. Shorter trips that target only Friday and Saturday capture most of the main program but miss the Thursday opening reception, which is typically one of the better networking moments of the convention.
First-timer guidance
If this is your first AMSN, three patterns produce the most value. First, attend the first-timer orientation and the new member events, where AMSN leadership and longtime members make introductions for you. Second, build a written list of three to five specific clinical or practice questions you want answered before you arrive, and use those questions to filter session choices. Third, plan at least one meal each day with someone you do not know, since the conversations between sessions are where the convention earns its reputation.
A common first-timer mistake is over-scheduling. The instinct is to fill every breakout slot, which produces a long week and limited recall. The better practice is to leave deliberate gaps for hallway conversations, exhibit hall time, and reflection, since the most useful content frequently comes from the conversation that happens after a session rather than the session itself.
For nurses planning to take the CMSRN exam, the convention's pre-convention exam review and on-site testing (if offered) compress months of preparation into a focused window. Attendees who plan their CMSRN around the convention typically report a smoother and more efficient certification process.
A short note from us at Expa
Expa builds Ambient Recruiter, an AI agent for healthcare recruiters and nurse hiring managers that runs inside their existing Gmail and on their phone. We work with nurse recruiters at health systems whose med-surg req inventory is the largest line in their pipeline, and we work with nurse managers whose hiring responsibility lands on them between bedside rounding and unit meetings. If you fit either profile, we would value a short conversation at AMSN about what an ambient AI workflow could look like for your hiring. You can find us in the exhibit hall (booth number to be confirmed) or book time in advance through the contact form on our site. The rest of this page is independent of any pitch, since the point is to help you decide whether AMSN 2026 is a useful trip for your team this year.
FAQs about AMSN 2026
When and where is AMSN 2026?
AMSN 2026 runs September 24 to 26, 2026, at the Palm Springs Convention Center in Palm Springs, California. The venue address is 277 N Avenida Caballeros, Palm Springs, California 92262.
Who should attend AMSN 2026?
The convention is built for med-surg nurses across the seniority spectrum: bedside RNs, charge nurses, unit-based educators, clinical nurse specialists, nurse managers, and nurse leaders working in or supporting med-surg practice. Academic nursing faculty teaching med-surg curriculum and senior nursing students considering the specialty also attend in significant numbers. Health system recruiters, staffing firms, and nursing technology vendors exhibit.
How many people attend AMSN?
Recent AMSN Annual Conventions have drawn between 900 and 1,200 attendees plus several hundred vendor and partner personnel, on an AMSN membership base of more than 13,000 med-surg nurses nationally. The 2026 Palm Springs convention is expected to fall in the same range.
Does AMSN carry CMSRN continuing education credit?
Yes. AMSN owns the CMSRN, Certified Medical-Surgical Registered Nurse, credential and runs the most authoritative CE content aimed at the credential. The convention is the most efficient venue in the country for CMSRN exam preparation, refresh, and continuing education aimed specifically at the credential. AMSN sessions are typically approved for ANCC contact hours, which transfer broadly across state requirements.
What does AMSN registration cost?
Member full-convention registration historically runs $400 to $700 with early-bird discounts available. Non-member rates run $150 to $250 higher. Pre-convention workshops require separate registration. AMSN publishes the official 2026 registration schedule on its site as the convention approaches.
What is the host hotel and what other lodging is available?
The Palm Springs Convention Center is in downtown Palm Springs with multiple host hotels and overflow properties within easy walking distance. AMSN typically runs an official room block at the host hotel plus overflow blocks at nearby properties. Booking inside the AMSN block produces the best rates and the easiest logistics. The block opens through AMSN's housing partner as the convention approaches.
How do I get from the airport to the venue?
Palm Springs International Airport (PSP) is approximately five minutes from the convention center by car. Rideshare is the most common option. Some host hotels run airport shuttles. Attendees combining the trip with other plans sometimes fly into Ontario (ONT, about 75 minutes by car), Los Angeles (LAX, about two hours), or San Diego (SAN, about two and a half hours).
What is the weather like in Palm Springs in late September?
Warm and dry, with daytime highs in the mid 90s easing into the 80s by the close of the convention. Evenings are pleasant. Pack light layers for inside the venue, where air conditioning is aggressive, and plan for warm weather outside.
Can I attend AMSN if I am a senior nursing student or new graduate?
Yes. AMSN runs student rates and welcomes senior nursing students considering the specialty as well as new graduate nurses in their first year of practice. The convention is one of the more accessible national nursing conferences for early-career attendees, and the introduction to AMSN's mentorship and certification pathway often shapes the early career trajectory.
Is AMSN useful for travel nurses?
Yes. Med-surg is one of the largest travel nursing specialties. Travel and contract nurses attend AMSN for contact hours, CMSRN preparation, and active exploration of permanent or contract opportunities. Recruiters at staffing firms and health systems use AMSN to build pipelines across both lanes.
How does Expa's Ambient Recruiter help med-surg hiring?
Ambient Recruiter is an AI agent that runs inside the nurse recruiter or hiring manager's existing Gmail and phone number, drafting personalized candidate follow-up, handling inbound replies, scheduling screens on their calendar, and pushing structured updates back into the team's system of record. For med-surg specifically, it covers high-volume req inventories without losing threads, handles long new-graduate nurturing windows, and surfaces shift, unit, and acuity fit before the screen. We will be at AMSN 2026 and welcome a working conversation with nurse recruiters and managers evaluating ambient AI tools.
