Ohio Nurses Speak Out

RN Power Ohio · Jan 21, 2008

The statistics on RN licensure and RN's needed can be found on the Ohio Board of Nursing web site and the Ohio Hospital Association website. I am not exact but there are nearly 50,000 more RN's licensed in the state of Ohio than are estimated needed by the OHA.

How is codifying the status quo a baby step? The provisions in HB 346 already exist. No legislation can be effective without the right for RN's to speak out about patient safety concerns without fear of retribution. Why is this missing from HB 346?

Why would anyone want a law that changes nothing. I may be niave but I know I am ready to leave direct care nursing, as are many nurses my age, because I am tired of watching my patients suffer and die needlessly. I am not alone.

I know that it may take a long time but I am not in a rush. I believe it is my duty to demand life-saving legislation and nothing less. It will certainly take much longer to acheive effective legislation when nurses stand divided.

Julia RN · Jan 21, 2008

Politically speaking-

If you convince one legislator that the current bill does not go far enough to address the patient safety and nursing shortage crisis, more will follow.

The real stumbling block here is the endorsement of the Ohio Hospital Association and the money they will spend to thwart any efforts to pass minimum ratios http://www.friendsofohiohospitals.org/

RN Power Ohio · Jan 21, 2008

We have convinced legilsators that the current bill does not do anything. The Ohio Hospital Patient Protection Act is on the cusp of introduction- this requires legislative support and we have it! We know that the fight is a money battle but we are ready to take it on! As we bring this issue to the public they are outraged. We need to continue to shed the light and bring our communities to stand beside us. Look at what has been happening in Texas re their patient protection act (ratio's) the community supports nurses there because nurses are speaking out! Not just a few nurses but thousands. Nurses joined together in short order there - this is a more "conservative" state than Ohio. Read some of the bulletins and press releases...

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

Julia RN · Jan 21, 2008

RN Power Ohio-

Wish you much success with the campaign!!

Sounds like the nurses in Ohio are ready for something better!!

I wonder if the majority of ONA members support their legislation. They better watch out, or they might loose some bargaining units. Now that they have disaffiliated from the UAN- they could be raided. I've heard that the decision to disaffiliate was not made by the members there, but by their board of directors. Not clear if they checked with their membership before making the decision.

AltecRN · Jan 22, 2008

RN Power Ohio-
Wish you much success with the campaign!!
Sounds like the nurses in Ohio are ready for something better!!
I wonder if the majority of ONA members support their legislation. They better watch out, or they might loose some bargaining units. Now that they have disaffiliated from the UAN- they could be raided. I've heard that the decision to disaffiliate was not made by the members there, but by their board of directors. Not clear if they checked with their membership before making the decision.

As an ONA member I can say that the local units were advised and consulted during the period of decision making.

This was not a decision made lightly and there is over a 2 year history of events that led up to this decision. Unless one knows the facts and the history leading up to the decision made by Ohio, New York, Washington and Oregon it is unfair to base one's ideas on rumors and innuendo.

It was not the board of directors that made this decision, in fact in Ohio they are legally prohibited from making that type of decision. There is a council of unionized members within ONA that makes those types of decisions. Not sure whose is spreading rumors but they need to check their facts and the law.

And just because the decision was made to disassociate from UAN does not mean they are not associated with a national organization and are not protected from "raiding".

RN Power Ohio · Jan 22, 2008

2007 oshhra fall conference

and the

2007 oha/jones day fall conference

offered by:

the ohio hospital association and

the ohio society of healthcare human resources administrators

september 26, 2007

cna and other health care unions

(g. roger king, partner, jones day)

cna is not going away. in fact, cna continues to be active in ohio. indeed,

many unions consider ohio as fertile ground for new activities. what can we

expect to see next? besides cleveland, youngstown and toledo, where are the

unions active? are they targeting only nurses or other health care employees

too? insight into organized labor’s plans and strategies will be shared with

participants, including an update of health care union activities in other regions

of the country.

held just one week after announcement of ratio's and one week before the introduction of hb 346.

RN Power Ohio · Jan 22, 2008

As an ONA member I can say that the local units were advised and consulted during the period of decision making.
It was not the board of directors that made this decision, in fact in Ohio they are legally prohibited from making that type of decision. There is a council of unionized members within ONA that makes those types of decisions. Not sure whose is spreading rumors but they need to check their facts and the law..

Yes but did that council poll all it's members asking for input about what items should be included in staffing legislation? How many direct care nurses were asked what they wanted and needed to improve staffing in their facilities? Whatever happened to the mandatory overtime bill that ONA put forth?

Julia RN · Jan 22, 2008

On the UAN disaffiliation-

Sorry mzpro5RN- It was one of the other states that I was thinking of when I stated the board made the decision. Gets confusing between Oregon and Ohio both being "ONA". I would think these laws are national and so wonder why it wasn't the same in all four states in terms of the structure making the decision. Still, I would have thought the union members would have been able to vote on such a drastic move that appears to be a violation of ANA's current bylaws. I know something about the history, and the "facts" are disputed by both sides. But this is off topic and deserves a new thread.

Are you saying Ohio is still a member of the AFL at the national level? Don't you have to have a charter to be a member? The AFL unions that represent nurses support a federal bill that has mandated minimum ratios which are adjustable for acuity and other factors. Does ONA support this bill or the ANA one that is more similar to the Ohio "staffing committee" bill?

AltecRN · Jan 22, 2008

On the UAN disaffiliation-
Are you saying Ohio is still a member of the AFL at the national level? Don't you have to have a charter to be a member? The AFL unions that represent nurses support a federal bill that has mandated minimum ratios which are adjustable for acuity and other factors. Does ONA support this bill or the ANA one that is more similar to the Ohio "staffing committee" bill?

I'm a rank and file member and could never presume to speak for anyone but myself. I'm certainly in no position to address what would be policy issues and positions for ONA.

RN Power Ohio · Jan 23, 2008

one more point to consider.. look at this article published on the ona website not long ago to support their elimination of mandatory overtime bill:

congressional research agrees with ona; concludes its a "staffing crisis" and there is no true nursing shortage [from ohio nurses association web site]

healthcare facility associations in opposition to legislation calling for safe staffing and prohibitions against mandatory overtime have been decrying a nursing shortage as the reason why such drastic measures as mandatory overtime are a necessary "tool".(see end-note) in reality, the nurses have been there all along, and what is truly a "necessity" is an acute examination of, and accountability for, patient care conditions.

the congressional research service (crs), at the request of the 107th congress, recently released a report echoing what ona has been stating all along: that a maldistribution of labor, rather than an actual shortage, is pinpointed as the likely culprit behind the nation's nurse staffing crisis. for many months now, after having extensively studied the nursing bedside shortage crisis, ona has concluded and claimed that numerically there is no shortage of nurses in ohio, rather, there is a mass defection of nurses from bedside nursing into other areas of healthcare, or leaving nursing altogether. the true culprit - unacceptable work environment conditions.

the report, which was released to congress may 18, noted that available labor market indicators do not indicate "conclusively" that there is "an across-the-board shortage of rns at the present time." the document further blames "poor personnel decisions" for any spot shortages of nurses that have occurred, rather than a simple lack of available nurse recruits. however, again echoing the sentiments of ona, the report also warns that facilities could face a shortage of nurses by 2010 if "ameliorative actions" are not undertaken.

highlighting health resources & services administration (hrsa) data, the report notes that graduations from nursing education programs will increase between 1998 and 2020 by 13%, compared to 10% between 1976 and 1998. but the report also cautions that while the percentage of nursing education graduations will continue to "increase steadily," by 2020, "assuming no preemptive steps have been taken, the demand for rns could exceed supply by 20%."

ona and ana have long supported many of the remedies the report suggests, including increasing wages, improving working conditions and lowering education costs.

ona is working with health care leaders in the ohio house and senate on house bill 78, the safe nursing patient care bill, to address the use of mandatory overtime, along with other workforce and staffing issues.

end-note: a representative and staff member of the ohio hospital association recently stated during a television interview on nurses day, "we don't believe that we can legislate ourselves out of the nursing shortage. there's no way that we can pass a law and overnight create enough nurses. we need to have a very long-term approach and we're working on that. we think this is the wrong time to do something that would take away a tool that our hospitals need to meet the patient care needs by saying, okay, we've just taken mandatory overtime off the table."

ohio nurses association

4000 e. main street

columbus, o 43213-2983

phone: 614-237-5414

fax: 614-237-6074

Terry RN · Jan 23, 2008

Altec, I believe you have a point. However, patients are the same here as in Calf. We can pass real meaningful legislation if we want to. Why settle for administrative controlled, meaningless legislation that will continue what we are doing now. The OHA does not need any legislation to have the voice of the direct care nurse heard they introduced this legislation for the purpose of pretending for us to have input.

AltecRN · Jan 23, 2008

one more point to consider.. look at this article published on the ona website not long ago to support their elimination of mandatory overtime bill:
congressional research agrees with ona

pardon me but lets be accurate, you say it was on the ona website "not long ago". this is very old information. it refers to the 107th congress (2001-2002) and we are now in the 110th. hb 78 was before the 124th general assembly. we are now in the 127th. we need to look at what is the reality of today rather than using old information as if it were reflective of 2008. while i would not dispute the statements that were made back then we need to look at today. we are now in a post 9/11 world. the war on terror; bioterrorism; a global marketplace; and a never-ending war all have taken a toll and changed our priorities. you cannot separate the issues we face in health care and nursing from what is happening on the larger world stage.

we are an aging nursing workforce with the vast majority of us getting closer to retirement each day. we still have not been able to address the shortage of nurse faculty and clinical placement site issues in a manner that assures a steady supply of nurses to replace the aging baby boomers. we see more nurses getting advanced degrees and filling voids in the primary care arena. the cost of health care continues to outpace other sectors of the economy and the number of uninsured and under insured people continues to grow placing increasing demands on an ever more fragile economy. technological developments have changed the care delivery model dramatically and our “flat world” economy is changing the face of every aspect of our world including health care.

resolving the nurse shortage is multifaceted as was stated in a report ona prepared for gov. strickland just last year. it stated, “ohio, like most states, is facing a burgeoning shortage of nurses. efforts to address the shortage are two-pronged—recruitment of new nurses into the profession and retention of existing licensees.” with respect to retention, the report goes on to say, “retention of the existing, experienced nurse workforce is essential if ohio is to assure accessible, safe care for its citizens. environmental issues are most often cited by nurses as the reason they leave direct patient care. ergonomic factors and staffing issues are among the environmental factors that affect the decision to remain at the bedside.”

in response to that observation, ona has worked to establish through legislation incentives that would encourage facilities to institute safe patient handling policies and procedures. in addition, ona has been working on the staffing principles legislation and other bills related to the shortage of nurse faculty members. while many would like to point fingers and complain that these efforts do not go far enough they are at least steps forward. we have also invested time and energy resources in the nursing 2015 initiative that holds a great deal of promise for a better future for nursing if we can keep the passion, patience, and persistence going in a way that sustains what has already been accomplished and keeps the momentum going. those who would scrap all that we have accomplished really offer a promise of nothing better to take its place. i hear a lot of rhetoric and complaining but have seen little in the way of concrete action that can truly have an impact given the real world of ohio politics.