Here is where you can be heard. ANA has all the emails set up and you just fill out the form and it gets sent to your representatives. It's a start.
You can edit your message. I added that nurses need to be protected from administration for expressing concerns about patient safety. I think that is very important. Nurses also need to be protected if they feel it is unsafe.
I agree and support any measure that will put an end to unsafe staffing. However I would like to make this point. The ANA is advocating for an acuity system developed by and managed by the administrations of the hospitals. There requirements of nurse involvement in its development usually means the CNO and other cherry picked nurses who are not really supporting true safe ratios but are the lap dogs of administartion. I do believe that any thing is better than nothing but I have seen the good and the bad of ratios at the same facility depending on the manager, house supervisor and charge nurse of the day. There are countless stories of acuity manipulation to fit the desired staffing of managment, so be careful.
It didn't work in California at most facilities and that is due to managment not adhering to their own rules and policies. It requires integrity to stick to your own set of rules, even when they may not be in your best interest. Their best interest is making money.
I believe that only through legislated firm ratios will the safety of our patients be improved. You have all seen administration bend rules and policies to fit their needs and those needs are usually wrapped around budget and profit loss issues. Law and the protection to report the violation of that law is another matter. I support mandated ratios like those in California or those in Victoria, Australia. I recommend reading the book Safety In Numbers, nurse-to-patient ratios and the future of health care. Writen by Gordon, Buchanan and Bretherton. The book looks at both types of mandated ratios and their effect on those hospital systems that are effected by them. A great book!!
We can all write our senators and congressman at any time and ask for their support of mandatory safe staffing ratios to be inacted at all facilities that accept medicare and medicaid patients. There have been bills that have come to congress and the senate but they are usually defeated. The representatives for managment always show up for this dscussion but nursing is often a no show. We need to get more involved and I applaud everyone here for their efforts. Keep up the good work!!
This sounded so good from the ANA but I can see why it is probably just the same old same old. The problem with the ANA is that it's so expensive ($300 a year) that only advanced practice bothers to join. Most NPs/educators/administrators are insulated from the problems of low staffing or don't care or are buddy-buddy with the powers that be. So nothing changes. I agree that if it's left up to each hospital nothing will get changed. The ones that try, like mine, will continue to try for adequate staffing but sometimes won't/can't do it, and the ones that don't try will continue to do as they please.
Bradley, we are in total agreement. I am a nurse in TN as well and have lived and worked in California. I know how the changes in staffing have improved conditions in California first hand. I also believe that we as nurses hold all the cards and can bring the needed change if we can all get involved. Please PM me for my email address if you are looking for support in Tennessee.
For WhistleBlowers Protection....more for doc's at this point but, hey...what can I say? Nurses won't come forward...they did. It's a start. This group is VERY active and motivated. Supported by $$, docs and lawyers.
Thanks for the info. Working on a fast pace CV Tele unit with heart caths, 1 day post op CABG pts and med/surg overflow. I often wonder how I am expected to perform 15 min. cath checks while I'm bathing another patient, changing linens, emptying trash, picking up food trays, entering physician orders and then giving medications and charting. How safe is this?
Obviously, the administrators have some secret to the magic of handling 15 minute checks along with other tasks that keep you away from the room for 15 minutes. Problem is that they are not sharing it with us.
Repeating this post:
Petition set up so signatures cannot be seen publicly on the web:
For WhistleBlowers Protection....more for doc's at this point but, hey...what can I say? Nurses won't come forward...they did. It's a start. This group is VERY active and motivated. Supported by $$, docs and lawyers.
Wow...I'm a new nurse and am ashamed to admit, but I had no idea how to be proactive regarding my chosen proffesion. In the two years i've been a nurse i've already experienced frustration over staffing, hostile work environment, and out of touch managers. I thought that maybe this just came with the territory and I didn't have what it took to survive in this environment. I know that sounds naive but i'm not a young nurse. I entered this proffesion in my mid-thirties and thought I would be well equipped to handle the stress. I'm so glad I found this website and can educate myself on how to be proactive. As i've stated often...I love being a nurse...Love my patient care...HATE the politics of nursing.
Hang in there. Politics is what we will have to play if we want change and I don't mean the petty politics of the hospital setting but voting and expressing our needs and concerns to our representatives. visit a few more sites out there and they will guide you on how to get involved. visit http :// nurse advocates dot blogspot dot com
We have 'nurse legislative day' in washington state in late winter at our state capitol and many of us attend to put a face on with those requests. Most states have similar things on the books. Your state representatives should set aside time to meet with you upon your request. It is their job and obligation to meet with you. If they seem hard to reach, then I recommend not re-electing them. As a pt advocate in our current health care system we should ALL, without exception, be invloved in this way.
Way to go ANA, but representatives are smart people, they know a form letter when they see one. Put a face with it and it means a whole lot more. If you can't manage one day a year to do this for yourself, your license integrity, and most importantly your patients, you need to loosen up your schedule. It is your responsibilty.
I just signed the petition and there are only 100 signatures??!! Why!
It is not well known and unfortunately, nurses seem to be the least interested in acting to make a change.
As you have seen in this profession, some of the nurses are the reason for the shortage and dissatisfaction with vindictive and dishonest behavior.
The profession has gotten bad. It is only going to get worse. There is a shortage for a reason. Many of us are stuck in it trying to figure out a way out. I, personally, don't want any part of what is going on. I thought I found a place to "like" and the backstabbing, hate, misery and vindictiveness just made it another nightmare. They are short on staff and half of their present staff runs everyone off and backstabs. They will continue to hurt for staff and never appreciate good help. They allow two very violent people to work there and do not control them but they run off agency for absolutely NOTHING.
There are a lot of sick people in this field that get their jollies off of terrorizing people or lying and getting people in trouble. I can't get over how many nurses are so vicious towards others about mistakes they make or practice and skills. The most critical bunch of people on the earth exist in nursing.
I will never understand it. I don't want to be associated with it. I have decided to move on to another field. It isn't about doing a good job or being a nurse, it's about clicks and being evil and dishonest. Hospitals don't give a hoot about what is going on and why there is a shortage. They are every bit to blame for the problem and they allow inappropriate behavior to add to dissatisfaction on the job. Many units entrust the running of the unit to the most unprofessional and miserable people available. If those people don't like your hair, you will be harassed. These same nurses complain about being short staffed or overworking but tend to be the same people that run off other nurses. Let them work overtime and be short staffed. You can't please them.
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I just signed the petition and there are only 100 signatures??!! Why!
I don't even remember now if I signed it or not (If I posted that I did sign it, then I did).
But - I think most of us feel we vote with our FEET - if we still put up with garbage, that's a vote. If we refuse certain assignments, that's a vote. If we don't WORK THERE ANYMORE, hello, CEO's, that's a vote!
Also, the ANA and its membership is what is working on making the changes, through legislation. I don't even see on that petition site what is being done w/ that petition - or it could already have had several signatures, been forwarded, and this is petition number 2 or 3 or more. Who knows?
Why!
advocateforsafety
83 Posts
I agree and support any measure that will put an end to unsafe staffing. However I would like to make this point. The ANA is advocating for an acuity system developed by and managed by the administrations of the hospitals. There requirements of nurse involvement in its development usually means the CNO and other cherry picked nurses who are not really supporting true safe ratios but are the lap dogs of administartion. I do believe that any thing is better than nothing but I have seen the good and the bad of ratios at the same facility depending on the manager, house supervisor and charge nurse of the day. There are countless stories of acuity manipulation to fit the desired staffing of managment, so be careful.
It didn't work in California at most facilities and that is due to managment not adhering to their own rules and policies. It requires integrity to stick to your own set of rules, even when they may not be in your best interest. Their best interest is making money.
I believe that only through legislated firm ratios will the safety of our patients be improved. You have all seen administration bend rules and policies to fit their needs and those needs are usually wrapped around budget and profit loss issues. Law and the protection to report the violation of that law is another matter. I support mandated ratios like those in California or those in Victoria, Australia. I recommend reading the book Safety In Numbers, nurse-to-patient ratios and the future of health care. Writen by Gordon, Buchanan and Bretherton. The book looks at both types of mandated ratios and their effect on those hospital systems that are effected by them. A great book!!
We can all write our senators and congressman at any time and ask for their support of mandatory safe staffing ratios to be inacted at all facilities that accept medicare and medicaid patients. There have been bills that have come to congress and the senate but they are usually defeated. The representatives for managment always show up for this dscussion but nursing is often a no show. We need to get more involved and I applaud everyone here for their efforts. Keep up the good work!!