Health care employers are reporting difficulties in recruiting and retaining registered nurse and other health care staff.
Nurses are reporting that they are assigned too many patients to deliver optimal nursing care and adequately supervise support staff.
Patients are hiring sitters to assist them in hospitals with short-handed and overworked staff.
The public is becoming aware of short staffing in hospitals, nursing homes, home care, schools, correctional institutions, assisted living facilities, and every other health care delivery environment. Its sounding like a crisis, and, if not addressed properly, it will be a public health disaster.
REASONS FOR THE IMMEDIATE CRISIS ~
The current shortage of nurses in direct care was manufactured by healthcare employers who systematically downsized nurse staffing over the past ten years. During widespread restructuring in the mid-1990s, employers forced experienced and highly paid nurses out of the workplace through layoffs, early retirement buy-outs, and attrition. In an effort to compete for managed care contracts, they focused on the bottom line without assessing the
impact on patient care.
If employers expected that there would be new graduates to fill these positions, they
were wrong. As word spread about downsizing of nursing staff, nursing school enrollments dropped precipitously.
In addition, working conditions worsened for the nurses who remained on staff, forcing many frustrated and exhausted RNs to leave direct care. In the current crisis in direct care, employers indeed find it difficult to recruit and retain nurse staff a situation attributable to the intolerable working environment they created.
am working on the 17th. Is there another to follow? I would need to know over a month in advance to get the time off. Would love to attend one.
they should give you the time as an Ed. day. CEUs are being given. Anyway, the one after April as far as I know is in DC on June 26th. RNs from all over the country are going & what we just did will be done with the Federal representatives from every state. It should be a pretty big event.
Once the states have certain legislations, it will be very difficult for the federal goverment to deny us any longer because they make decisions based on what the states have done. So every SNA has been asked to do what we are doing & work towards those issues that are listed in the in previous posts in this thread. We will get around Bush & obtain "national" legislation by going thru state by state across the country & leaving the feds holding their hats.
We need legislation to change the rules of the state board of nursing about mandatory OT instead of waiting for them to see the light on their own. If we had the law we proposed, legally, refusing M.OT would not be subject to ANY hearing in any case - unless a disaster had been declared by the city, state, or federal govt.
Every state is being asked to push their legislators for this law to change State Board of Nursing rules to prevent the RN from being charged with abandonment. RNs do not have to be a member of their SNA to influence their elected officials in passing this law or any of the other issues on the nursing agenda in their state.
Its as simple as writing a letter or making a phone call.
There were petitions distributed by the ANA that all RNs in the US can sign, member or not, to have the federal laws we need passed. The petitions will be presented en mass at the lobby event in DC on June 26th.
You can get it from the website & also download a copy of the poster for nurses week. It has a red circle & line thru a picture of a pretty nurses day cake & it says for nurses week we want safe staffing, no mandatory OT & to be able to provide quality care! Anyone can use it - even non-members.
To NY RNs: Go to Albany on April 17th if you can. You'll see how much your efforts everyday really do count.
To all of you in other states, these lobby days will be taking place with every SNA & non-members can participate in this. It doesnt matter. All that matters is that you are a nurse & you can make change happen in your state. Check with your association for the details & find out from them the agenda, the bill numbers & the talking points.
The associations legislative offices will have printed up all the info you need to give to your representatives. Make appointments with your elected officials to discuss the issues on those days that dozens or hundreds of other RNs will also be there doing the same. You dont have to be a member to work together with the SNA in your state for the good of all your pts & fellow RNs. I cannot tell you enough how effective this event was. Every RN
should experience this at least once in her career.
heres the news articles that will give you just a sample of what we accomplished in those 2 days. We'll be doing something similar in Washington DC during Nurses Week (I think) & on June 26th......
Press release:
* State Assembly Reaffirms Commitment To Protecting Healthcare Whistleblowers Passes Legislation to Promote Patient Safety
Albany, NY march 19,2001 - For the fifth consecutive year, the New York State Assembly has unanimously passed the Healthcare Whistleblower Protection Act.
The legislation, actively promoted by the New York State Nurses Association (NYSNA), would protect healthcare workers in hospitals, clinics, nursing homes, home care agencies, diagnostic and treatment centers, as well as in mental health, corrections, and education settings, from retaliatory actions by their employers when they report dangerous patient care situations to federal, state, or local agencies.
Click here for the news release from the State Assembly:
* Scholarship Program for Nurses Unveiled in State Senate
ALBANY, N.Y. March 19, 2001 - In response to a proposal from the New York State Nurses Association, the New York State Senate is considering a new scholarship program designed to increase the supply of registered nurse.
A bill introduced by Sen. Kenneth LaValle (R/C-Suffolk County), chair of the Senate Higher Education Committee, would establish the Empire State Professional Nursing Scholarship Program. Under the proposal, students could apply for awards of up to $15,000 per year of study in an accredited nursing program. In return for each year of assistance, they would commit to work for 18 months in an area of the state experiencing a nursing shortage.
The bill also provides grants of up to $250,000 for nursing schools that wish to establish or expand their RN education programs. NYSNA has emphasized the importance of providing competitive salaries for nursing faculty and more programs that are accessible to minority populations.
Encouraging more students to enroll in nursing school is an essential step toward solving the current nursing shortage," said Phyllis Collins, RN, president of NYSNA.
"Its vital that this be an ongoing program, so New Yorkers can be assured of quality nursing care in the coming decades.
"The Senate bill would allocate $15 million for scholarships and $2 million for nursing school grants in the first year. It is proposed that the program be funded in the future as part of the "public goods" component of the Health Care Reform Act. http://www.nysna.org/NEWS/PRESS01/PR032101a.HTM
* NY Lawmakers Move to Ban Mandatory Overtime for Nurses
ALBANY, N.Y. March 18, 2001 There are limits to the number of consecutive hours truck drivers and airplane pilots can work. There are no such limits for nurses, although they hold patients lives in their hands every day.
Legislation introduced this week in the New York State Legislature would prohibit healthcare employers from requiring registered nurses and licensed practical nurses to remain on duty beyond their scheduled shifts, except in emergency situations.
Zero tolerance for mandatory overtime is part of the New York State Nurses Association program to solve the worsening nursing shortage in New York state. Mandatory overtime is often used as part of normal staffing plans, with the excuse that staffing shortages require it. Ironically, excessive work hours and forced overtime make the shortage worse by burning out experienced nurses and discouraging young people from entering the profession.
Mandatory overtime creates an ethical, professional, and personal dilemma for nurses. When they are forced to work 16 hours a day, they put themselves and their patients at risk for error and injury. If they refuse to work the extra hours, however, they can be reported to the State Education Department on charges of patient abandonment.
The Assembly bill (A7127) was introduced by Catherine Nolan, Kevin Cahill, Arthur Eve, and Deborah Glick, with multiple sponsors. The Senate Bill (S3515) was introduced by Thomas Morahan. http://www.nysna.org/NEWS/PRESS01/PR032101.HTM
-jt
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