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

[sanakruz]

Thanx !

[Hutchy]

Lindarn:

Give me some examples, please. I'm out of the loop and don't know what has been going on. Thanks!

[smartynurse]

please explain what happened to you!

[chis7652]

Can anyone tell me how nurses can affect proposed legislation in Ohio?

[pickledpepperRN]

Some nurses in Ohio are active. Here is the web site of their organization:

http://www.calnurses.org/nnoc/

From meeting minutes:

Ohio Board of Nursing

Columbus, Ohio

Minutes of Meeting

May 18-19, 2006

Page 6

Hedy Dumpel, Robin Graber, and Kathryn Ryan, representatives of the National

Nurses Organizing Committee (NNOC) addressed the Board and provided copies of a

letter from Robin Graber, RN, NNOC Leader and Spokesperson. Hedy Dumpel, RN,

JD, California Nurses Association/NNOC provided information about the organization

and requested the Board consider adopting an administrative rule as follows:

“Registered Nurses have the independent professional responsibility and therefore the

right to act as patient advocates, as circumstances require, by initiating actions to

improve health or to change decisions or activities, which in the professional judgment

of the registered nurse are against the interest and wishes of the patient, or by giving

the patient the opportunity to make informed decisions about health care before it is

provided.

Registered Nurses must always act in the exclusive interest of the patient.”

Kathryn Ryan, RN, Ohio NNOC, shared concerns and issues encountered by nurses

in relation to nurse staffing ratios. Robin Graber, RN, Ohio NNOC, shared various

stories from Ohio nurses where they believed patient safety was compromised due to

the shortage of nurses and mandated over time hours. The NNOC representatives

answered questions of the Board for clarification.

http://www.nursing.ohio.gov/PDFS/Minutes/May06minutes.pdf

[Nursekat64]

Thanks for the info.

I just went to convention for ARNA and NSNA and I was surprised to see that many colleges did not have any students to represent them in the house of delegates.

At the college I attend we are starting to get the students involved in the freshmen and sophomore years rather than waiting to Junior and senior.

I believe it is not stressed enough the importance of belonging to a professional organization even while you are a student.

[nursepl4]

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.

It's like your telling my story Patricia116, thank-you for having enough confidence to post a sour note to a great profession!

[Claymore]

Is there really such thing as a BLACKLIST?

Where does one find it?