The Nursing Insider: January 2006
Current News Past News

Call Congress Today - 1-800-828-0498! Urge Them to VOTE NO on Draconian Medicaid Cuts!
01/31/06
ANA is asking nurses and Medicaid beneficiaries to call their representative immediately - 1-800-828-0498 - and urge that they reject the draconian Medicaid cuts contained in the budget reconciliation bill. This bill, passed by the U.S. Senate on December 21, 2005 (S. 1932), will be voted on in the House on Feb. 1, 2006. The bill contains $5.6 billion in gross Medicaid cuts over five years, and $22.6 billion over ten years. The majority of these cuts will fall directly on vulnerable Medicaid beneficiaries who will be faced with dramatically higher out-of-pocket expenses. These expenses include $10 billion in new co-payments, premiums and deductibles over ten years. Disturbingly, the Congressional Budget Office plainly states that 80 percent of this $10 billion in savings will result from Medicaid beneficiaries forgoing needed care.

For details, including more information on contacting your member of Congress, see http://vocusgr.vocus.com/grconvert1/webpub/ana/ProfileIssue.asp?IssueID=4009|JOINT&XSL=ProfileIssue&hidLegislatorIDs=.

ICN Call for Abstract for the 2007 Conference
01/31/06
The International Council of Nurses (ICN) has issued a call for abstracts for its conference in Yokohama, Japan from May 27- June 1, 2007. The theme of the conference is Nurses at the Forefront: Dealing with the Unexpected. Deadline for the receipt of abstracts is 12 midnight GMT September 15, 2006. More information about the conference and abstract submission can be found at www.icn.ch/Conference2007.htm.

World Congress Announces the Leadership Summit for Senior Healthcare and Nurse Executives
01/30/06
Implementing Solutions to Improve Complex Nursing Dynamics, Patient Outcomes and Consumer Access to High-Quality Care...

The World Congress Leadership Summit for Senior Healthcare and Nurse Executives will convene senior level hospital, health system and provider executives, June 15–16, 2006 to debate the most crucial issues facing Senior Healthcare Leaders today. More...

Green Link Helps Healthcare Providers Learn About "Green" Purchasing and Healthcare Practices
01/27/06
The newly launched newsletter Green Link from the Premier hospital group, will provide news and success stories about topics such as reduction of medical waste, computer recycling, green cleaning programs, conversion to reusable products, laboratory chemical recycling, energy efficient lighting and light bulb recycling. For a copy of Green Link and more information about Premier's EPP program, visit the Premier Safety Institute Web site at www.premierinc.com/safety or call 704.733.5865.

Last Days for Nursing Schools to Save on ANA's Foundation of Nursing Package - Deadline 01/31/06
01/26/06
This three-book set containing three of ANA's perennial best sellers; Nursing Scope & Standards of Practice, ANA's Code of Ethics with Interpretive Statements and Nursing's Social Policy Statement define contemporary nursing practice and every nursing student and practicing nurse should have it!

Now through January 31, nursing schools ordering 15 or more Packages will save 20% and pay no shipping charges. Instructors receive one free desk copy. As an extra added bonus, Nursesbooks.org will ship one package of ANA's Code of Ethics Bookmarks per order (each package contains 50 book marks). These bookmarks are a great learning tool for students. More...

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Current Trends in Cardiothoracic Anesthesia Workshop
01/25/06
March 4-5, 2006 - Houston, Texas

Educational Objectives:
After attending the workshop, participants should be able to:

• Describe current concepts of ventilation and perfusion in the lateral decubitus position;
• Identify new patho-physiology of one-lung ventilation
• Identify anesthetic implications of heart and lung transplant procedures;
• Describe current developments in robotic, minimally invasive surgery, and cardiac assist devices;
• Identify the need for a temporary pacemaker, as well as assessment of patients with permanent pacemakers and ICDs

• Course date - March 4-5, 2006
• Houston Rodeo Event February 28 – March 19, 2006
• To maintain workable groups... only first 100 registrants will qualify.
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NIOSH National Occupational Research Agenda Development Town Hall Meeting in Iowa 2/14/06
01/24/06
Participation in National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) Town Hall Meeting for the National Occupational Research Agenda (NORA) is available via your computer through web-based technology from the University of Iowa. Read Invitation.. More information on all of the Town Meetings is available on the NORA Web site.

ANA Partners with Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Mission
01/23/06
Partnership activities are an integral part of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) mission. Developing and sustaining partnerships is central to collaborative outreach effort, sharing information, and leveraging resources. ANA is engaged in CMS' partnership around Medicare Part D coverage of medications and wishes to share the letter from CMS Administrator Mark B. McClellan, MD, PhD on its implementation. More... - Read Letter...

State Health Care Initiatives - Live Webcast, "Ask the Experts"
01/20/06
You are invited to watch "Ask the Experts," a kaisernetwork.org live, in-studio webcast on Wednesday, January 25 at 1:30 p.m. ET. This program will focus on questions such as: What are the prospects for reform over the coming year? What approaches are states taking? What barriers do they face?

The program will be webcast LIVE at www.kaisernetwork.org/ask/state/25jan06. After the live program, an archived version of the webcast will be available for viewing at any time.

The panel of experts will take your phone calls and e-mails. Send questions ahead of time to ask@kaisernetwork.org or call 1-888-KAISER8 (524-7378) during the live broadcast.

Hurricane Katrina: Continuing Need for Mental Health and Substance Abuse RNs
01/19/06
The American Nurses Association (ANA) continues to work with the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) and Westover Consulting, Inc. to recruit licensed registered nurses with expertise in mental health and substance abuse treatment for a two-week deployment to Louisiana and Mississippi. More...

Have Your Voice Heard on Health Care Reform
01/18/06
Nursing's "Touchstone Themes" - A Resource for Nurses Answering Health System Reform Survey
Congress has created a national forum, Citizens' Health Care Working Group (CHCWG), to elicit citizens’ thoughts about how we should reform America’s health care system. And the voices of nurses need to be heard!

The ANA has prepared a brief discussion of major themes in health system reform to aid nurses in formulating their responses to questions posed by the Citizens' Health Care Working Group (CHCWG) web survey. These "Touchstone Themes," along with a list of additional tips for nurses attending CHCWG community meetings in person, are available online.

For further information on the ANA's positions on health system reform, please see ANA's Health Care Agenda 2005 [pdf]

2005 Awards for Recent ANA Books
01/18/06
Building on similar successes of recent years, Nursesbooks.org, the publishing program of ANA, has been recognized by two annual publications competitions for the quality of some of its newest titles.

Florence Nightingale Today: Healing, Leadership, Global Action, a wide-ranging biographical study of the founder of modern nursing, was recognized by the American Journal of Nursing (AJN) as a 2005 Book of the Year in the category of History and Public Policy. Since 1969, the AJN Book of the Year competition has recognized nursing’s most valuable texts published between August of the prior year and the award year. This is the fourth such recognition in recent years.

In addition, the Washington, D.C. chapter of the Society for Technical Communication (STC) awarded three of its 2005 awards to ANA publications:

• Genetics Nursing Portfolios: A New Model for Credentialing, co-published with the International Society of Nurses in Genetics (ISONG) (Excellence Award)
• Florence Nightingale Today: Healing, Leadership, Global Action, (Merit Award)
• Pain Management Nursing: Scope and Standards of Practice, co-published with the American Society for Pain Management Nursing (ASPMN) (Merit Award)

An international society for technical communicators, the STC grants awards based on the total quality of a print or electronic publication, recognizing team work across department lines. Entrants in this chapter’s competition include major publishers from technology and R&D firms, government agencies and institutes, universities, and professional associations in and around the nation’s capital.

For more information about these and other books from ANA, go to www.nursesbooks.org.

Call Congress Today! Urge Them to Oppose Draconian Medicaid Cuts Resulting in $10 Billion in New Out-of-Pocket Payments
01/17/06
ANA is asking nurses and Medicaid beneficiaries to contact their member of Congress in the House of Representatives immediately and urge that they reject the draconian Medicaid cuts contained in the budget reconciliation bill. This bill, passed by the U.S. Senate on December 21, 2005 (S. 1932), will be voted on in the House on Feb. 1, 2006. The bill contains $5.6 billion in gross Medicaid cuts over five years, and $22.6 billion over ten years. The majority of these cuts will fall directly on vulnerable Medicaid beneficiaries who will be faced with dramatically higher out-of-pocket expenses. These expenses include $10 billion in new co-payments, premiums and deductibles over ten years. Disturbingly, the Congressional Budget Office plainly states that 80 percent of this $10 billion in savings will result from Medicaid beneficiaries forgoing needed care.

For details, including more information on contacting your member of Congress, see http://vocusgr.vocus.com/grconvert1/webpub/ana/ProfileIssue.asp?IssueID=4009|JOINT&XSL=ProfileIssue&hidLegislatorIDs=.

ANA "Principles of Delegation" Referenced in November 2005 AJN
01/17/06
In the November 2005 issue of the AJN there is a reference to the recently approved "Principles of Delegation."

The "Principles for Delegation" document is designed to provide overarching principles and guidelines for practice in situations where registered nurses delegate tasks to others. The purpose of the document is to define relevant principles and provide registered nurses (RNs) with practice strategies when delegating patient care to nursing assistive personnel (NAP).

This document is available to registered members in Members Only. ANA\CMA members must create an online account.

Future Nurses Learn Safe Patient Handling at NU
01/13/06
Nursing can be a dangerous profession when it comes to lifting and moving heavy and old patients. Northeastern University nursing students are learning safe patient handling with the latest lifting equipment and a new curriculum. NU's Bouvé College of Health Sciences’ School of Nursing is one of the institutions participating in a pilot test of a safe patient handling curriculum module, teaching students how to move and handle patients safely with the help of mechanical equipment, including powered lifts, including a full-body lift, sit-to-stand lift and an overhead lift, as well as a friction-reducing lateral transfer device and a padded gait belt with handles.

Funded by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), the Safe Patient Handling Pilot Project is supported by the University of South Florida College of Nursing, the Tampa VA Patient Safety Research Center of Inquiry and the American Nurses Association’s Handle with Care Initiative. Read Press Release...

6th Annual Safe Patient Handling and Movement Conference
01/12/06
The 6th Annual Safe Patient Handling and Movement Conference will be held February 28-March 2, 2006 at the Hilton Clearwater Beach Resort, in Clearwater, Florida. Pre-Conference sessions on February 27, 2006 and Post-Conference sessions on March 3, 2006 will be offered. More...

Have Your Voice Heard on Health Care Reform - Answer Citizens' Health Care Working Group Survey
01/11/06
The Congress has created a national forum to elicit citizens’ thoughts about how we should reform America’s health care system. And the voices of nurses need to be heard!

This is not “just another opinion poll” or one of those “endless discussions that never seem to change anything.” The Citizens' Health Care Working Group is mandated by Congress to hold a series of community meetings around the country to hear what you think. “It is a chance for every citizen to shape national policy: to get the facts, weigh the tradeoffs, and tell the President and Congress exactly how you want your health care system to change.” More...

ANA Calls on Policymakers to Act on Nurse Staffing Legislation
01/11/06
A study published January 10, 2006 in the journal Health Affairs provides new evidence that if hospitals invest in appropriate Registered Nurse (RN) staffing, thousands of lives and millions of dollars could be saved each year. Specifically, the study shows that if hospitals increased RN staffing and hours of nursing care per patient, more than 6,700 patient deaths and four million days of care in hospitals could be avoided each year. In addition to the immense societal benefits of adequate nurse staffing, the anticipated financial benefits of savings per avoided patient death or hospitalization may also be significant. more...

Recommended Childhood and Adolescent Immunization Schedule - 2006
01/10/06
The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) periodically reviews the recommended childhood and adolescent immunization schedule to ensure that the schedule is current with changes in vaccine formulations and reflects revised recommendations for the use of licensed vaccines, including those newly licensed. The recommendations and format of the childhood and adolescent immunization schedule and catch-up schedule for January--December 2006 were approved by ACIP, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), and the American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP). Read more...

Download chart at: www.cdc.gov/nip/recs/child-schedule.htm

Nursing Schools Save 20% and Free Shipping on ANA's Foundation of Nursing Package for Spring 06 Semester. Offer Extended to 1/31/06
01/09/06
2004 and 2005 saw a dramatic rise in course adoption for ANA's Foundation of Nursing Package. This three-book set containing three of ANA's perennial best sellers; Nursing Scope & Standards of Practice, ANA's Code of Ethics with Interpretive Statements and Nursing's Social Policy Statement define contemporary nursing practice and every nursing student and practicing nurse should have it!

Now through January 31, nursing schools ordering 15 or more Packages will save 20% and pay no shipping charges. Instructors receive one free desk copy. As an extra added bonus, Nursesbooks.org will ship one package of ANA's Code of Ethics Bookmarks per order (each package contains 50 book marks). These bookmarks are a great learning tool for students. More...

Nurse Competence in Aging Program Wins ASAE Excellence Award
01/06/06
ANA was among 16 associations to receive an Award of Excellence from the American Society of Association Executives (ASAE) for innovative programs in community service, education, citizenship and skills training. ANA received the ASAE honor for the Nurse Competence in Aging program. Award-winning programs in the competition ranged from Hurricane Katrina Relief to supplying low income schools with supplies. For the full list of winners, see www.asaenet.org/Newsroom/NewsReleaseDetail.cfm?ItemNumber=9194.

Nurse Competence in Aging is improving the quality of health care older adults receive by enhancing the geriatric competence – the knowledge, skills and attitudes – of the 400,000 nurses who are professionally identified as members of approximately 57 specialty nursing associations. For details regarding this popular five-year initiative, see www.nursingworld.org/nca/.

Nurses are Encouraged to Apply for Scholarships to CleanMed
01/05/06
Two funding sources are offering scholarships to attend CleanMed 2006 (to be held April 19 -20 2006 in Seattle, WA.); the Ford Foundation Minority Health Professional Scholarship, and the Stephanie Davis Waste Reduction Scholarship.

In honor of the memory of Stephanie Davis, a CleanMed attendee and waste reduction champion, CleanMed 2006 and the Davis family, friends and colleagues invite interested individuals to apply for the Stephanie Davis Waste Reduction Award and scholarship. The Stephanie Davis Waste Reduction Fund will provide a travel scholarship and recognition at CleanMed 2006 to an individual interested in health care waste reduction who has initiated or undertaken waste reduction work with healthcare facilities. Please contact Joe Wenger at jwenger@hcwh.org with any questions.

Recipients of Stephanie Davis Scholarships to CleanMed 2004 in Philadelphia are welcome to apply for 2006 Scholarships. If you plan to do so, please add to your application a brief description - no more than a paragraph - of your work on waste reduction and pollution prevention at your facility over the past 18 months and how your attendance at CleanMed 2004 contributed to the attainment of your institutional objectives.

In addition, the Ford Foundation has agreed to send minority health professionals who are active in environmental health to CleanMed. Airfare or local travel, 2 nights hotel, and conference registration will be provided.

Recipients of Ford Foundation Minority Health Professional Scholarships to CleanMed 2004 in Philadelphia are welcome to apply for 2006 Scholarships. If you plan to do so, please add to your application a brief description - no more than a paragraph - of your work on waste reduction and pollution prevention at your facility over the past 18 months and how your attendance at CleanMed 2004 contributed to the attainment of your institutional objectives.

If you are interested, in applying for either of these two scholarships, please download the word or pdf document from the CleanMed web site (www.cleanmed.org/2006/home.html) and email the completed form to pdiamond@cleanmed.org. Applications are due by February 10, 2006 electronically, and the award recipients will be selected by March 1, 2006.

NIOSH National Occupational Research Agenda Development
01/04/06
Nurses Needed to Testify for Research Topics in the Next Decade of National Occupational Research Agenda (NORA)
For the past nine years the National Occupational Research Agenda (NORA) has served as a framework to guide national occupational safety and health research efforts. Now the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) seeks help in creating the new research agenda for the next decade. Stakeholder input is needed.

Input will be sought at Town Hall meetings to be held at several locations across the country. The first such meeting was held in College Park, Maryland on Dec. 5. Additional meetings will be held at sites across the country, culminating in the final "Wrap-up" meeting on March 13 in Washington D.C.

The American Nurses Association (ANA) was represented at the Dec. 5 meeting. ANA requests nursing voices to be heard at as many of the rest of the meetings as possible to ensure that occupational safety and health concerns of nurses be included in the national research agenda in the coming decade. It is especially important that nursing be represented at the Town Hall meeting devoted to the Healthcare & Social Assistance sector to be held in Houston on January 23, 2006.

With this purpose in mind, ANA is seeking nursing representatives in each of the future meeting sites to give testimony. ANA will prepare brief talking points to assist you or your members who would like to volunteer to speak at a NORA Town Hall meeting in their area. The more nurse representatives we have testify and provide input at each meeting, the stronger the nursing message will be.

Dates and places for upcoming meetings can be found in the table below:

If you know of anyone who would be willing to attend any of the meetings, please contact Marian Condon Sr. Staff Specialist in ANA’s Center of Occupational and Environmental Health (301) 628-5138. Further information about NORA can be found on their website at: www.cdc.gov/niosh/nora/default.html.

Review and Endorse The Essential Nursing Competencies and Curricula Guidelines for Genetics and Genomics
01/03/06
The Essential Nursing Competencies and Curricula Guidelines for Genetics and Genomics document is now available for your review and endorsement. Endorsing organizations will be listed in the published monograph of the documenton. More...

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