What do you think a CEO or AHA think about pending legislation?

Nurses General Nursing

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Is this a possible CEO or AHA perspective on pending legislation?

The nurse recruitment legislation and the legislation to abolish mandatory OT are dream come through for the American Hospital Association. The CEO's have to be drooling over these 2 pieces of legislation. If I were a CEO of a hospital, I would be encouraging everyone to write to his or her legislator. I would even provide the postage as well as pay them 5 or 10 dollars to send a postcard in support of the recruitment legislation. I would on the other hand be publicly against the legislation against mandatory OT, but privately I would be telling all my other counter parts to allow it to pass without major resistance.

Now why would I do such a thing. It is simple in the long run it will be beneficial to me in keeping costs down and ensure that my personal income to rise.

How exactly would that happen you ask. Simple, the recruitment legislation will provide me with brand new needed personnel that I can use to replace the nurses who are harassing me for more money and benefits. All I have to do is to continue to pay the same stagnated wages and benefits once it passes. As experienced nurses leave, I can put in my request for more nurses. I will be paying a fare wage when compared to the other hospitals even though it might be as much as 5 dollars less than the national average. In fact, me and my friends have already talked about again freezing salaries across the country as soon as this legislation passes. Many of us have been talking about how we will be able to use this same legislation to put the reigns on the unions we have to deal with. The legislation will provide a way to cut the bargaining power the unions and nurses in general have at this moment. We as employers only need to show that we are not blatantly abusing nurses. This way the government will pay for the replacements that we will need and put us on the needs list. As an extra bonus to us, they will even prioritize on the women who are on welfare or other forms of assistance. This will be a blessing. They will see the wages we offer as a blessing even if they are lower than today's current level, not to mention the low self esteem and other unresolved negative personality issues they will be coming to us with that will allow us to keep them in check.

The anti mandatory OT issue will benefit us in 2 different way. The first one will be that of making our needs greater. If we can not use mandatory OT anymore then we will have to increase the nurse to patient ratios to provide nursing care. By doing this we will benefit in fewer staff and less out of pocket costs for staffing thus better profits. This will surely result in loosing more of the nurses who are tired and have been harassing us for better pay and benefits. We can offer extra incentives for OT in the short term while we wait for replacement nurses to show up and we can continue to slowly increase nurse to patient ratios at the same time. By the time legislation is passed and goes into effect, if ever, The first group of replacement nurses will be ready to step in. I do not foresee a problem with bogging down any type of legislation or getting a time frame set that is in our favor for compliance to start.

The way this is all coming together is great. We could not have done a better job if we would have done it ourselves. We owe the ANA a big thank you for all they have done on our behalf. Just think all this plus the increased limits on foreign nurses that will pass, we will have control once again, as though we ever actually lost it. We will all have to meet with the genius from the Cleveland Clinic to get his input as well.

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I am not saying that one day recruitment legislation like this will not be needed and beneficial, I am just saying that it is going to undermine all the things we as nurses could improve today. In short, this legislation, if enacted, will help to defeat the real progress which nursing as a whole could benefit from. I hope that in a few years when someone asks what the ANA has done for you lately that you will remember this. This is going to take away yet again the chance that nurses can once and for all take control of our own professions and futures. Everyone is going to benefit from this legislation except the nurses who want to remain at the bedside.

If you have not taken the time to look over the legislation being pushed by the ANA, then I would encourage you to do so. It is easy to read. While you are reading it, keep in mind the climate that is going to exist in the minds of the public in general as each area chimes in declaring an emergency to get on the list of needs. What do you think will happen to any nurse opposition by saying no to their need for any reason? Please take the time to read through the entire bills, at first they start out a little different and become more. There are some parts that could be used today such as the advertisement/orientations to High Schools while focusing efforts on actually solving our problems first, but the way the way they are written, it is either all or nothing.

http://thomas.loc.gov/

Nurse Reinvestment Act (S. 1597, H.R. 1436) and the Nursing Employment and Education Development Act (S. 721)

If you are not familiar whit what happened at the Cleveland Clinic and surrounding area please take the time to familiarize yourself.

https://allnurses.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=11674

To those who say that if you are not a ANA member you have no right to complain or get upset, if it directly affects your future then you do have a right. For the vast majority of us it is either the ANA or nothing, now as a nurse who wants to stay at the bedside why would I want to support an organization who is so intent on selling (not sailing) me down the river. Can anyone say who works at the bedside that this is good leadership?

If you are not up to date on ANA's stance on importing foreign nurses then take the time to look at this:

https://allnurses.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=12321

I am just a nurse who works at the bedside who would like to remain there and who is looking for a brighter future with real progress being made. How can I argue with the intelligence or logic of the ANA in this mater. They see a 7 to 8% membership ratio as a majority approval of how good of a job they are doing? This is probably close to the same percentage of members of the Taliban in Afghanistan who actually controlled the country. We need a new national organization with leadership who will attract nurses and change the direction and focus on the needs and wants of the majority of nurses without selling anyone down the river.

Someone said to me in another post to either lead, follow, or get out of the way. I refuse to get out of the way because this is my possible future and existence that is at stake here. I refuse blindly follow a group that is going to sell me down the river due to their lack of logic. Unfortunately I am a man in a female dominated profession and would not be seen as a good leader without fostering feelings of resentment in the long run as too the leadership style that is needed. A woman would be the best candidate even though she would probably get resentment in a different form, she by just the fact of her gender would be easier to accept and follow under the existing climate.

If you agree that the direction that the current legislation if passed will then take nursing away from actual change by undermining the position we have now, then let everyone know that you do not support the ANA as a nurse and /or the pending legislation. This is your future especially if you plan or want to stay at the bedside. It is your future do not let it go down the drain.

http://www.pueblo.gsa.gov/call/e-mail.htm

http://www.senate.gov/contacting/index.cfm

http://www.house.gov/writerep/

Please remember that I stated a while back that legislation like this would zoom through congress because it would basically go unopposed. I also stated that any legislation that went to heart of our problems in nursing would drag on and be opposed at every turn. The ANA has found a way to appease the powers that be while at the same time setting up the nurses at the bedside for a hard reality of things to come. With leadership, and I use that term loosely, like this, is it any wonder we are in the shape we are in today?

looks like nobody wants to touch this one...lol!

i have said all along that if these bills didnt benefit the HOSPITALS, the government wouldnt be considering them. if you think for a minute that any of these congressmen actually care about us or our jobs, i think you are fooling yourself.

why are we so bent on letting others do what WE NEED TO DO FOR OURSELVES?

Well put,

Think about it. Congressmen are not only politicians, they're lawyers as well.:rolleyes: I doubt that there's much input where the ANA is concerned(or not) that is actually overseen by anything resembling a nurse. More likely that it includes only a smattering of any knowledge of actual bedside nursing save for the statistics used in friendly debate before they agree to "dine and dash" on your tax dollar.

It's about business, and a sub-salaried, understaffed, unorganized workforce is what business has thrived on since I can remember.

How do we change this? When where not seen as a cost center anymore?

I will read off the links you provided and maybe find some of my own. I have a little break for 7 weeks or so. All I have to do is go to work :p and breath.

I'll be in touch.

Specializes in ER.

Wild

I also wondered what was up with the ANA pushing for recruitment/education of new nurses. Seems to end up with the opposite results of what we are looking for. Betcha that one will pass...

I had trouble reading your post- it's too wide and I'm too lazy to scroll with every line. Why does it do that?

Well as usual my "Buddy" Wildtime is Diving in Head-first, water looks dangerous and I can hear the "Roll me over,in the clover,and do it again" Pacifist's wheels burning to sabotage your viewpoint, as mine has been for so many years:( My problem was that I didn't feel enough support in the past, nor did I feel Intelectually Mature enough to argue my position. My position is and always has been that, Our Collective Representation, has been lacking in substance and overburdened with Issues that were smacking of Elitism. Now today Twenty Eight years down that Path, I believe not only that but from what I can see, has sold out to the AHA, the HAA (for those that are not familiar Hospital Administrators Assoc.) One CEO was more than Happy to inform me that ALL the Local HAA's met once Monthly in my area to discuss Hospital Costs, Including Nursing Payrolls Etc. He seemed to take particular Joy in letting me Know that They had Everything under Control. We have been Battling each other for so long, that it has become the Expected. This form of Pseodo-Itellectualism has wounded our profession greatly. Controversial issues Must be discussed, but please let us do so without Attacking one another personally. No I do not view my earlier statement as an attack on anyone, simply a discussion of a viewpoint I have seen many times here as well as experienced personally. I believe that "Wildtime" is on the right path, and I believe that all that want to Advance Our Position, must work together to do so. Let me ask all a question? How Many Professional Sports Players are there in this Nation? We all have an Idea of their Salaries:eek: Do any of you out there believe they "Attacked" one another to advance their Carreers? I think Not! They Embrace each other even as Competitors, sure there is one player here that doesn't like that player over there but when it comes to Voting to advance themselves they become a Cohesive Unit, for the betterment of their Entire Profession. I know that this can and usually does send a discussion spiraling off in many directions, so may I please request that this "Thread is First about proposed Legislation, I am only asking for Peaceful Coexistance if Possible. As another who visits here often so Aptly States, "Just My Opinion":cool:

PS. Save the Lectures about the Obvious differences in Our Profession vs. Athletes Profession I know them well, just using an analogy of where their Professional Reps. have SERVED them vs. How our Reps. have FAILED us as a Whole.

if i wouldnt look so stupid id stand up and applaud

Specializes in Vents, Telemetry, Home Care, Home infusion.
i doubt that there's much input where the ana is concerned(or not) that is actually overseen by anything resembling a nurse. more likely that it includes only a smattering of any knowledge of actual bedside nursing save for the statistics used in friendly debate before they agree to "dine and dash" on your tax dollar.

guess you need to get glasses if you haven't read or understood that the actions the ana take are dirrected by it's membership, mostly bedside nurses, through the house of delegates(hod). we tell ana what needs to be done to promote nursing, and the direction it is to follow. the organizations management staff impliments the members hod plan adopted at our bienniel meeting.

have posted below press releases identifying staff nurses participation in ana for your review and help you to understand how ana operates.

statement supporting nurse education funding

nurse recruitment and retention

department of hhs press conference

september 28, 2001

patricia underwood, phd, rn

first vice president of the american nurses association

good afternoon, secretary thompson and other distinguished guests. i'm pleased to be among fellow nurse colleagues including georgetown university hospital nurses and students, nursing organization leaders and melissa velazquez. i bring greetings on behalf of the american nurses association's board of directors.

http://www.nursingworld.org/pressrel/2001/st0928.htm

ana hails federal grant to study nursing work hours, fatigue and patient outcomes

award to university of pennsylvania faculty nurse is part of $50 million from hhs to address medical errors and bolster patient safety

washington, dc --the american nurses association (ana) applauds the awarding of a grant by the federal government to study the relationship between nursing work hours, fatigue and patient outcomes. the agency for healthcare research and quality (ahrq) grant, awarded to ann e. rogers, phd, rn, faan, a university of pennsylvania faculty member and maryland nurses association member, is one of 94 projects to receive funding totaling $50 million from the department of health and human services (hhs) for the study of ways to reduce medical errors and improve patient safety

ana has voiced grave concerns regarding nurses' working conditions and the increased use of forced overtime. given such concerns, ana alerted rogers to the ahrq funding opportunity and provided a letter of support for her project, one of eight endeavors totaling $3 million that focus on understanding the impact of working conditions on patient safety.

ana and the american association of critical-care nurses (aacn) will support rogers during her research, which is being done in collaboration with the university of pennsylvania's sleep center and school of nursing.rogers' project will include two phases: (1) a survey of fatigue reported by full-time staff nurses, and (2) a pilot study testing interventions to reduce fatigue and improve alertness. ana will assist in the first phase by identifying full-time staff nurses to recruit for the survey. aacn will assist in the second phase by identifying critical-care units interested in participating in the pilot study.

http://www.nursingworld.org/pressrel/2001/pr1016.htm

ana house of delegates shapes direction of nursing (released july 13, 2001)

http://www.nursingworld.org/pressrel/2001/pr0713.htm

ana acts to unite nursing profession over staffing crisis, emerging shortage (july 01, 2001)

today's action by the house of delegates directs the ana to work with other nursing organizations to outline necessary changes within the work environment, the health care industry, nursing education programs and workforce diversity to promote accessible, quality health care delivery and to focus resources on the recruitment and retention of nurses in all roles and settings. to that end, the ana is coordinating a four-day nursing summit this fall to address the critical issues of nurse staffing and the looming shortage. representatives of approximately 100 national nursing and specialty organizations have been invited to meet sept. 8-11 in the washington, dc, area for a call to the nursing profession, to develop a comprehensive, overarching plan to resolve current staffing concerns and to mitigate the emerging nursing shortage.

http://www.nursingworld.org/pressrel/2001/pr0701.htm

nurses to tell congress to make safe staffing a priority (released june 22, 2001)

washington, dc -- nurses from across the country will fan out across capitol hill on tuesday, june 26 and thursday, june 28 to meet with legislators and demand better workplace conditions for nurses in hospitals. the nurses, from the american nurses association (ana) and ana's labor arm, the united american nurses (uan), will bring congress the message that national action is needed on the prohibition of mandatory overtime, safe staffing and whistleblower protection to make hospitals safe again for patients and nurses. i attended this event as a home health staff nurse, 90% of nurses were bedside staff nurses. karen

http://www.nursingworld.org/pressrel/2001/pr0622.htm

Can you say "poor leadership" boys and girls. Can you say "lack of logic". If you are a bedside nurse, can you drop your pants, bend over and grab your ankles. The ANA is supplying the lubricant and is lining us all up for things to come.

Why should this nursing shortage be any different from the rest. Just when nurses have a power base and a means to change things and they start figuring out how to, the ANA pushes for legislation that will takes it away.

Never mind all those nurses who will suffer or have their hopes blown away, never mind all the nurses who will get fed up and leave, never mind all the nurses who have already left and would might come back it there was an actual improvement, according to the ANA in their actions and lack of logic they can be all be replaced.

Oh by the way if you have not read through the pending legislation, then you would be interested in finding out that it does benefit some nurses to a point. If you want to advance your education and get your BSN, MSN, or PHD there is a provision for loans and other reimbursements. You can use this to escape the bedside if you wish. So the legislation is both set up to recruit replacement nurses and also to provide escape for experienced nurses. Does that sound logical to anyone else? It smell like there was a few deals struck with in the organization here at the expense of the nurses who want to stay at the bedside. If you want to stay at the bedside, then guess what line you need to stand in?

:D

As I said in the first post, this legislation in and of it's self is not bad. It is the timing that is going to kill us. First fix the problems, then get this legislation or forms of it passed if we still need it once our basic problems are actually solved.

Hi. Let's see. Who knows what health and medical lobby gives the most money to the Congress? Is it the ANA? I strongly doubt it. I'm not a member, but IMO, maybe the ANA in some respects can be given the benefit of the doubt, and it can be presumed that the $$$$ is not there for them to get the best backing for bedside nurses in the most agreeable manner. I believe this makes grassroots efforts from all interested nurses so important. Grassroots not to undermine the ANA, but to help sustain and strengthen any of their supportable causes and to pinpoint and follow through on important concerns that may not be getting any attention from the ANA. When it comes to lobbyists, it's like anything else nowadays, you get what you pay for.

To see a copy of the letter I sent in opposition to this click on this;

https://allnurses.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=12464

If you have not sent a message yet, please make sure you do. To get this legislation defeated for today we must play by the same rules as the ANA, only better.

nrseKaren,

You mean to say that bedside nurses virtualy run the ANA?

That the lobbyists themselves that confer in the smokey backrooms of Washington power brokers are bedside(or former) nurses?

Are they supporting or trying to kill legislation that will finance importation of nurses to take our jobs?

I actually didn't see any lobbying being done in any of the articles you were kind enough to post for me.

It's not that I don't appreciate that the ANA appears to be doing SOMETHING, no actually I do think that's more than I have done besides ***** about nothing being done:) That will change with the right for me to put a few letters after my name.

The quote which you posted was speaking of the lack of representation of bedside nurses in the actual lobbying itself. None of the links you went to the trouble of posting, after I had put on my glasses, spoke of any hands- on lobbying.

Does the ANA have a lobbyist?

That's what i'm saying.

I'm going to find out

My glasses are on now. How are they working?

This is what NRSKarenRN posted in another thread:

"Compromise is what nurses do best at our ANA meetings! We listen to each other's voices, debate activities to participate in, positions to take and policies to inact, always considering the best interest of nursing."

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Some how the last part, "always considering the best interest of nursing" does not hold water with what is actually going on within the ANA with the push by them to pass this legislation before are problems have actually been resolved. How can they possibly see legislation that can be used to replace nurses who say we want change as in "the best interest of nursing"?

The more important thing to ask is, who are they "compromising" with? Could it actually be the CEO's and the American hospital Association? Lastly, who is going to eventually pay the price for this compromise? Make no mistake about this, it will be the nurse who is at the bedside who will pay the price for the compromise.

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