Nurses' march in DC?

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Have other people seen this? It just turned up in my email. Nurses' march for safe staffing levels in DC, Friday, May 5th:

Nurses Are Taking Washington, DC

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I had heard about the proposed legislation, but not about the march.

Are you going? I have to work that weekend. Otherwise, I would attend! This is a huge problem, and I don't understand why nurses don't stand up for themselves.

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Specializes in Vents, Telemetry, Home Care, Home infusion.

Day before event on May 4th is Patient Safety Conference: Nurses Resuscitating Healthcare in Alexandria VA.

Full info: NursesTakeDC (NTDC

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Specializes in NICU, ICU, PICU, Academia.

#NextPresidentANurse

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Specializes in ED, OR, Oncology.

Wish I had heard about this before I booked travel and requested time for the ENA Day on the Hill event, would have been pretty easy to combine the two.

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Specializes in Critical care, tele, Medical-Surgical.

I am very glad to see this public event by the ANA for ratios! :yes:

#Nurses Take DC for Nurse : Patient Ratios Now!

California has mandated Safe Nurse Patient Ratios.

It is time for nurses to stand together, support each other, and demanded that Washington hear the voices of the largest workforce in the united states- nurses.

This legislation for national nurse to patient ratios has been stalled in the legislative process by big money and associations that do not care about our profession.

We must let Washington know that no amount of money can drown out the passion of a fed up nurse.

nursestakedc

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Specializes in Psych, Peds, Education, Infection Control.

Oh, man, I so wish I could go! I was planning to go to DC in June, but alas I'm working the weekend of this event and don't have enough time to arrange to take it off. I went to nursing school and had my first RN job in the DC area, so I'm excited to see events like this happening there. One of my instructors was a nursing lobbyist on Capitol Hill, and she taught us SO much about the political power we have if we choose to wield it.

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FYI: nursing ratios don't mean much at all if hospitals use "acuity tools" to change the numbers. For example, if ICU ratio is 1 nurse for 2 patients but then the hospital uses an acuity tool showing "this patient's required care hours aren't really ICU," then the ICU nurse will open to get a third patient. Let's say the floor is full and they are holding a bunch in the ED so you take a step-down admit. Also, they float your tech, and sorry, no secretary. Now there's a code on the floor so that patient gets transferred to ICU, so it's 2 nurses, 6 patients, 5 ICU, with one who just coded or whatever, one step down, and no tech or secretary. It's a nightmare and it happens with regularity. If the ratio says ICU 1:2 that should mean 1:2 ***PERIOD***no matter what, because you don't know what's going to happen and you still are expected to give a certain level of care. Point being, when these ratio laws are passed, they should make clear that these ways the hospitals get around ratios being meaningful should not be legal. 1:2 should mean 1:2. And the same goes for the floor; the legal ratio numbers should not be altered. Sorry, just had to vent because I was so THRILLED at the nursing ratio laws but now come to find out, the hospitals don't go by them anyway. Then they print out some sheet at the end of each month saying the average pt assignment was 1.4 patients per nurse, or some silly number, when often I've had to chart on 4-5 patients transferring and admitting, and end up with 3 in ICU, and it's a good night if I only end up with two. It's very disheartening. Years ago we always had a secretary and never had more than 1:2 in the unit. Once you had second pt, at least you could breathe easy and take care of them. Now you have to rush and be worried to death about what you'll do if you have to take that third. We used to make people 1:1 if they were the super sick, can't even step out of the room for 10 seconds types, but that doesn't happen anymore. Also, organ donation patients and PACU patients that come straight from OR used to be 1:1 (thought that was the law with the recovering patients!), but now we double up with both of those patients too. It's not right. I know it's not like this everywhere, but it's becoming more commonplace in ICU's all over. Not a good trend I can tell you. Nursing unions and lobbyists need to quit wasting our dollars supporting things like Occupy Wall Street and The Robin Hood Tax, and start addressing patient ratios and their enforcement.

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#NextPresidentANurse

When YOU run, I will vote for you.

Is there a sister walk in NYC? There usually is. I can't seem to find anything.

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Specializes in Critical care, tele, Medical-Surgical.
When YOU run, I will vote for you.

Is there a sister walk in NYC? There usually is. I can't seem to find anything.

On a different day:

2017 MULTI-UNION SAFE STAFFING LOBBY DAY: MAY 9th at 9:00 am

Empire State Plaza Convention Center/NYS Capitol

Concourse Level

Albany, NY 12223

United States

217 Multi-Union Safe Staffing Lobby Day: May 9 | New York State Nurses Association

May 19th 2017 will be a CE class starting at 9:15 am:
NURSES AS PATIENT RIGHTS ADVOCATES - PUBLIC/PRIVATE SECTOR PATIENT ADVOCATE CONFERENCE

Roosevelt Hotel

45 East 45th Street

New York, NY 10017

United States

Nurses as Patient Rights Advocates - Public/Private Sector Patient Advocate Conference | New York State Nurses Association

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This was not put on by the ANA it was put in by a group that criticizes ANA. ITS A BUNCH OF Egotistic nurses claiming to speak for every nurse in the country. A couple of hundred people showed up but the organizers claim nearly a thousand did. They have no clout and mainly criticize the established nursing organizations.

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The ratios in California cannot be altered by management.

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