WE NEED TO

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The election is coming up in a few month as nurse we can not nor should we allow this election to occur without resolving some of the major issues we are facing in the medical community. For example there is a discussion on increasing the minimum wage however our pay has barley increased. The cost of living in the United States has increased and we need to see this reflected in our pay. There is no discussion on safe nurse to pt. ratio I know it has to occur on state level like it did in California, but it is about time we as nurses elect representatives that understand the issue and not simply placate us because it is just an election season. We need to honestly look at our representatives and know where the individual stand on the issues facing the medical community. Since it crosses all party lines. What are some issues that I did not discuss?

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Specializes in Critical Care, Education.

Nurses who are really serious about getting involved, should be members of their state NAs & ANA.... this is our political arm. State NAs arrange regular "lobbying" days for their members in which we have the opportunity to interact with our legislators. They also organize blast campaigns whenever important legislation is being considered. There's strength in numbers.

(I receive no personal gain from this endorsement)

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I want all nurses to come up with solutions because we are stronger together than apart. That is why I ask these questions because it politics effects how we are able to to work that is why we need to discuss issues and solutions.

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Specializes in Emergency & Trauma/Adult ICU.
I want all nurses to come up with solutions because we are stronger together than apart. That is why I ask these questions because it politics effects how we are able to to work that is why we need to discuss issues and solutions.

Health care is a highly regulated industry, and its administration is highly political.

HouTx has excellent suggestions above about the nitty gritty actual work of the political process. Some homework for you: do legislatively-mandated staffing ratios necessarily have to be state-by-state, or are there proposed federal bills that aim to do just that? ;)

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Health care is a highly regulated industry, and its administration is highly political.

HouTx has excellent suggestions above about the nitty gritty actual work of the political process. Some homework for you: do legislatively-mandated staffing ratios necessarily have to be state-by-state, or are there proposed federal bills that aim to do just that? ;)

The federal government can pass the law like they did for Obama care however, it was like pulling teeth, and if you recall congress (house and senate)

made so many changes not to offend anyone they do not know anything about medicine and each representative was doing what he or she believed was best” for their individual state. Please read whenever you have chance.

Link on legislation for safe patient to nurse ratio.

S.1132 - 114th Congress (2

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Specializes in Case mgmt., rehab, (CRRN), LTC & psych.

Moved to the Healthcare Politics forum for more replies.

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Except that they don't represent my views, have never even considered them.

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Specializes in GENERAL.

The ANA is a cowed, ineffective organization. There isn't enough space in cyberspace to list point for point how mediocre at best they have been in advancing the interests of Nursing down through the years. Kudos to the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation for doing for Nursing what Nursing has never been able to do for itself. But as good as this organization is, Nursing has abdicated it's leadership role to it and, once again, allowed others to set the agenda. This has been a multi-generational problem that can be seen in fractured educational standards often dictated by, of all people, Wall Street concerns who hold majority interests in poor performing nursing schools such as South University an Educational Management Corporation disaster, as well as University of Phoenix owned by "vulture capitalists" KKR and Apollo Global respectively. They have lttle interest in promoting quality nursing education if it interferes in any way with the profit motive.

So I would say to Nursing"s leaders, take back the initiative, but you can't take back somthing that you've never owned.

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I would like to see us step back and honestly look at what has happened to our health care in the past 20-30 years and be honest. We are a very sick population. We should all look at the health care system as a whole. If nurses get raises then for the number to work our patient loads increase because the numbers do not work. So I would like to see someone take apart the entire system and go strand by strand eliminating the waste, get the lawyers out of healthcare, and take power away from the insurance companies. I am a patient, and many nurses that work in hospitals have no idea what it is like in the rest of healthcare. As a patient, I dread every encounter with the system. What we have is the Spanish Armada and handing it over to the government isn't the right solution, that will only make it more inefficient,like our legal and education system. It is convenient for use as nurses to favor any venue that allows our nurses to practise independently , which I fully support, but we should not forget that we are also only convenient because we are cheaper than doctors as CNA's are cheaper than we are. That is the way it works, that is why all these We should all be paid more, have more freedom to practise without fear of lawsuits, and we should all take our system back from those that do not have the best interest of the patient in mind. Insurance companies and lawyers are the worse enemies of all of us. I am not speaking about honest lawyers, I am speaking of the ones that will punish a nurse or a doctor often to the point of destruction for a profit. We are human and we all make mistakes. The government has interfered too much in health care. Institutions such as Joint commission while they serve a purpose, they also bog us down with excessive regulation. The most absurd thing I have ever heard is that if we don't document it we didn't do it. If we didn't have to document every stupid little thing we would have more time with our patients but we are documenting, most of it for CYA. As for this election, I want the next president to bring that deficit down, decrease the size of government and all the powers that be from healthcare. I have been disappointed in our associations and boards for having a few select left leaning individuals claim to represent us all and set agendas based on slants instead of what is best for the patient or our profession. If we don't finance healthcare properly all the other points are moot.

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