American Nurses Association

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News > Past News > March 2000

What are you and/or your organization doing for Nurses Week?

We asked this question in the last issue of the Nursing Insider (there's only 6 week's left). Between now and then, we will run some of the responses. Click here to sign-up for your copy of NursingInsider
3/27/00
At St. Joseph Hospital, Nashua, NH, we have the following plans for nurses week:

Monday: "take care of yourself" with sponsored breaks and complementary therapy for nurses
Tuesday: Mass for the nurses and an interfaith service in the early evening
Wednesday: Nursing grand rounds and dinner featuring a review of the history of nursing with historical portraits of nursing care through time. Each unit advisory committee is responsible for an era
Thursday: Clinical specialty recognition and awards. Open forums will be held around the clock with nursing leadership
Friday: Uniform competition, and a raffle for weekends off (with replacement through nursing leaders)
We are looking forward to the opportunity to celebrate the best component of healthcare - nursing.

Pam Duchene, DNSc, RN Vice President Patient Care Services

Volunteer for ANA Convention 2000

Have fun, attend the convention, meet everyone, and get up to 25% off registration fees.

Victory For ANA-PAC Endorsed Candidates

Two ANA-PAC endorsed candidates were successful in the Super Tuesday primary in California on March 7. Gerrie Schipske, JD, RN, is one step closer to being the fourth nurse in the U.S. House of Representatives. Schipske defeated two opponents in California's March 7th primary election, earning the Democratic nomination for the 38th Congressional District. She hopes to unseat Rep. Steve Horn (R) in the general election in November.

Schipske is a nurse practitioner and health care attorney who currently serves as a health care policy consultant to SEIU International and teaches public policy at the California State University Long Beach. She is also a member of ANA\California. Schipske is a longtime community activist on issues such as the importance of prenatal care and senior health care services. In 1992, she was elected to the Long Beach Community Board of Trustees.

In California's 31st District, ANA-PAC endorsed candidate State Senator Hilda Solis, MPA, who upset nine-term incumbent Rep. Matthew (Marty) Martinez (D-31) with an astounding 62.6 percent of the vote. Solis faces no Republican challenger for the general election, thus assuring her a seat in the 107th Congress.

Bill Introduced to Secure Resources for Minorities

Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-MA) and Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-MS) have introduced similar but not identical bills under the title, "The Health Care Fairness Act" (S.1880 and H.R. 3250). The bills aim to secure the commitment and resources needed to meet the goals identified in the areas of cardiovascular disease, cancer screening, and management, diabetes, infant mortality, HIV/AIDS, and immunizations by 2010, and to ensure that minorities have a fair chance for improved health.

S. 1880 and H.R. 3150 contain sections on research, data collection, medical education, and outreach. Title I establishes a Center for Research on Minority Health at the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The Center will oversee the development of an NIH-wide strategic plan for minority health research. Title II establishes demonstration projects to develop effective educational techniques to reduce and eliminate perceptions and biases related to race. These include cultural sensitivity training for practitioners. Title III of S. 1880 directs the Agency for Health Care Research and Quality (AHCRQ), to conduct and support research regarding barriers to care to promote effective interventions in minority communities, and to develop outcome measures to assess and improve health care for minority populations. Title IV directs the National Academy of Sciences to conduct a study of the data collection and reporting systems at the Department of Health and Human Services that include race and ethnicity. The estimated cost of this legislation for Fiscal Year 2000 is just under $350 million. The estimated cost in subsequent years is $260 million. The Administration has expressed interest in advancing this legislation this year.

ANA has been participating on a Health Disparities Coalition, which will be working on this issue.

AONE Names New ED

Pamela Thompson, RN, BS, MSN, a member of the New Hampshire State Nurses Association, has been appointed executive director of the American Organization of Nurse Executives. For the past 14 years, Thompson has been vice president at Mary Hitchcock Memorial Hospital, part of Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center in Lebanon, NH, where she managed inpatient and regional clinical services -- including a children's hospital, obstetrics, and psychiatry -- and played a leadership role in the Behavioral Health Network, a managed care organization. Thompson has a master's in nursing from the University of Rochester School of Nursing and a BS in nursing from University of Connecticut School of Nursing.

(Source: AHA News 3/14/00)

Updated Information - ANCC Members Organizations Receive Discounts on Collaborative Exams

ANCC collaborates with many national nursing organizations on the development and maintenance of our examinations. Members of these organizations receive a discount on the particular exam(s) for which the collaborative agreement is set up. Please see the fee schedule for information on rates. Read more.

Medscape Launches Site for NPs

If you're a nurse practitioner with clinically focused questions, why not get your answers from a panel of leading experts? Ask the Experts for Nurse Practitioners allows you to do just that.

Medscape has assembled a team of experts to tackle all of your toughest queries, offering the best information, advice, and interpretation available to nurse practitioners anywhere on the web! Simply go to the Ask the Experts website and submit your most perplexing conundrums to our team of experts today! This valuable free service is available exclusively to nurse practitioners, from Medscape.com .

Genetics

Suzanne Feetham, PhD, RN, FAAN, Chair of the American Academy of Nursing’s Expert Panel on Genetics and Nursing offered expert comments to the Secretary’s Advisory Committee on Genetic Testing. More...

The US Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) has recently made public its HCUPnet

HCUPnet is a free, interactive online service that allows people to look-up data compiled from 7 million patients at 1,000 hospitals and medical centers in 22 states. HCUPnet gives you easy access to national and selected state statistics about hospital stays. Go there... (Please come back)

Linda Stierle Named Chief Operating Officer of American Nurses Association

Linda J. Stierle, MSN, RN, CNAA
Linda J. Stierle, MSN, RN, CNAA, a nurse leader with more than 30 years diverse management experience in health care operations, has been named chief operating officer (COO) of the American Nurses Association (ANA). Read ANA Press Release.

YK2--March 2000 is the month for counting.

This year will be YK2 (You're Kounted 2 times) for over 54,000 American RN's. The US Census is underway right now completing the tally on all folks living here. The 2000 National Sample Survey of Registered Nurses will be mailed to selected registered nurses licensed in the US during the week of March 20th. Please take the necessary moments to complete each document. Remember, we're counting on you to help us describe the nurses in our nation! Let's make the response rate at least 90% for the National Sample Survey and show the surveyors we care about being recognized as nurses.

Study Confirms "Magnet Hospitals" Provide Higher Quality Patient Care

A new study, conducted by researchers at the Center for Health Outcomes and Policy Research at the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing, and published in the March issue of the American Journal of Nursing, may shed some light on why "magnet hospitals" consistently provide the highest quality care. Magnet hospital designation is awarded to institutions that have formally been recognized by the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC) for their excellence in nursing services, and is considered to be the best mechanism to provide consumers with information on the outcome of care at local hospitals.

"With reports that as many as 98,000 Americans die each year as a result of medical errors, consumers and medical professionals have a right to know that their local hospitals are providing the highest level of care," says Linda H. Aiken, PhD, RN, FRCN, FAAN, director of the Center for Health Outcomes and Policy Research, and lead author of the study.

"Ultimately, the general public stands to benefit the most from this study," says Carolyn Lewis, PhD, RN, CNAA., executive director, ANCC. "Consumers should be asking if their hospital has magnet designation, and if it doesn't, they should want to know why."

An electronic, full text version of the study and an accompanying editorial in the American Journal of Nursing is available on the Internet at www.nursingcenter.com , the official web site of AJN.

Thank You to OJIN Reviewers

The Online Journal of Issues in Nursing (OJIN) depends upon the support of reviewers in order to maintain the level of scholarship that is evident throughout this peer reviewed journal. We would like to sincerely thank the following individuals who gave their time to this service of scholarship to OJIN in 1999:

Carolyn Adams
Janis P. Bellack
Kay Hodson Carlton
Charlene Clark
Kerry Dominick
Sr. Rosemary Donley
Mary V. Fenton Mary Foley
Davina Gosnell
Sharron Humenick
Judith A. Huntington
Ada K. Jacox
Virginia Maceda Lan
Ann Butler Maher Meridean Maas
Beverly McElmurry
Hugh McKenna
Jeannette L. Sasmor
Mary Cipriano Silva
Carol Spengler
Midori Sugimori