2/4/09: Nursing Activism Primer-- Legislation, Lobbying/ Contacting Elected Officials

Hi mattsmom81, always nice to meet other outspoken and strong-willed nurses.
I am convinced that blacklisting is more prevalent than some would like to believe. I have personal knowledge of an excellent CCRN credentialed nurse who was at constant odds with her nurse manager because she was willing to speak out against policies which tended to deprofessionalize nurses and created unsafe nurse/patient ratios, among other things. After years of harassment, this nurse had had enough and applied for a position in a CCU at another hospital within the same system as her employer. She related to me that after a lengthy, very positive interview with the nurse manager of the CCU to which she had applied, she received a letter from the HR manager several days later stating that another individual had been hired who "better met the requirements of the position" and that there was "no specific weakness on her part". The nurse was flabbergasted. Incidentally, for weeks afterward, the hospital continued to advertise, in the newspaper and on their internet website, nursing positions for the CCU--all shifts, full and parttime!!
I found it interesting that in this time of a nursing shortage crisis, especially critical care nurses, that the hospital did not offer this nurse another position within the hospital. I believe it is shameful how this nurse, and others like her, are treated so poorly because of their willingness to advocate for patient safety and better working conditions for themselves and their colleagues.
I believe that nurses everywhere, who have the desire to promote the profession of nursing, must make a commitment to themselves, to each other, and to their patients, to stand up and be heard. Thank you NRSKarenRN for the legislative links, I have bookmarked them. I intend to become better acquainted with the legislators in my state.
Hospital administrators everywhere should take note: Sign on bonuses and empty promises will not fill your vacancies. Ice cream sundaes during Nurses' Week will not quell the anger and resentment of being treated like an indentured servant. Why would any college educated individual willingly subject himself to the working conditions that are so prevalent in hospitals today? When administrators realize that RNs are not interchangeable with unlicensed patient care assistants perhaps the nursing field will become more attractive. When nurses are afforded the respect they deserve, not to mention the wages and compensation commensurate with their contributions to the health care field, perhaps more college students will select the Nursing major. Until then, don't hold your breath.