News > Past News > August 2000
American Nurses Association Endorses Gore/Lieberman Ticket
8/31/00
SEATTLE, WA,
August 31, 2000 – Citing Vice President Al Gore's commitment to improving
the health care system and his continued support of registered nurses and
their role in health care, the American Nurses Association (ANA) today
announced its endorsement of Gore for president and Sen. Joseph Lieberman
(D-CT) for vice president. ANA Press
Release
Latest OJIN Ethics Column
8/31/00
In the new Online Journal of Issues in Nursing
(OJIN) column on an ethical prospective of Nursing Around the World,
Dr. Ludwick and Dr. Silva address content related to: a) clarifying the
relationships among cultural values, ethics, and ethical conflicts; b)
demonstrating with examples from the culture predominant in the United
States how cultural attitudes and values in nursing may lead to conflict
as a result of increasing globalization, and c) formulating nursing
strategies to decrease ethical conflicts related to cultural values.
Maryland Facing A Nurse Shortage
8/30/00
Maryland
hospitals are facing the most severe nursing shortage in a decade--a
vacancy rate that appears to be far greater than the national average,
according to a survey released yesterday by the state's hospital
association.
The shortage has resulted in rising numbers of Maryland hospitals closing units, canceling surgeries in non-life-threatening cases and diverting ambulances to other institutions, said Catherine Crowley, an assistant vice president of the Maryland Hospital Association.
The survey of 47 acute-care hospitals in Maryland found an average nursing vacancy rate of 14.7 percent during the first three months of this year, Crowley said. In 1997, the MHA reported a 3.3 percent vacancy rate for the year, said Crowley, who called the state's escalating nursing shortage "alarming."
Nationwide, the average vacancy rate for hospital nurses is thought to be well under 10 percent, according to industry estimates. But there is little published national data on the shortage. Yesterday, representatives of the American Nurses Association and the American Hospital Association said their groups had not compiled national data on the shortage.
The Maryland shortage is due largely to an aging nursing work force--the average registered hospital nurse is 48--and declining enrollments in the state's nursing schools, Crowley said.
"Nurses are predominately baby boomers and they're aging"--and retiring in greater numbers, Crowley said. "And at the same time the entire population [of Maryland] is becoming older and somewhat sicker. We used to talk about people over 85. But now we have lots of people over 100. And all those people need care."
Meanwhile, the American Association of Colleges of Nursing has reported that enrollments in baccalaureate nursing programs fell 4.6 percent last fall. "Historically, nursing has been a female-predominant population," Crowley said. "Now women have many, many more options available."
To fill all of their vacancies, Maryland hospitals would need to hire an additional 1,629 full-time registered nurses, the MHA survey found. Overall nursing costs, due to the shortage, have increased by 12 percent over the past year, the MHA reported.
This year, the Maryland General Assembly created a
commission to explore ways to address the shortage. The Maryland
Commission on the Crisis in Nursing planned to hold its first meeting this
afternoon in Baltimore.
(Source: The Washington
Post, 8/30/00)
Flu Vaccine Shortage Possible
8/30/00
Influenza
vaccine manufacturers have told the Food and Drug Administration and the
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to expect delays in flu
vaccine shipments and that supplies of available influenza virus vaccine
could be limited for the 2000-01 season. In response, the Advisory
Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) has urged health care providers
to consider postponing adult mass influenza vaccination campaigns until
November, based on vaccine availability (vaccination campaigns are usually
conducted beginning in October), and to consider ways of ensuring that
high-risk patients are vaccinated first. If the shortfall occurs, the ACIP
and CDC will provide modified recommendations for the 2000-2001 influenza
season that emphasize vaccinating persons at highest risk of death from
influenza (and the health care workers who take care of them) and then
vaccinating, as the vaccine supply allows, the other groups for whom the
vaccine is traditionally recommended.
The shortage stems from difficulties in growing
one of the influenza strains used by manufacturers in this year’s vaccine.
A new flu vaccine must be developed each year based on different flu
strains that emerge. For more information, go to www.cdc.gov./od/oc/media/pressrel/r2k0622a.htm
(Source: Associated Press, 8/8/00)
ANA Partnership Yields PBS Series
8/28/00
In a four-part
series, which will air on the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) Sept.
10-13 at 9 p.m. ET each evening, veteran journalist Bill Moyers will
report on the growing movement in America to improve the care for people
who are dying. This series, titled "On Our Own Terms," reveals the stories
of the dying, their families and their care-givers and illustrates the
growing struggle to balance medical interventions with comfort and
humanity. A discussion guide companion piece to the series and more
information on end-of- life issues can be found at http://www.pbs.org/onourownterms.
A home video edition of "On Our Own Terms" will be available for purchase after the program premieres in September.
To order a copy of the tape, call Films for the Humanities and Sciences at 800-257-5126.
New Mental Health Training Video Available
8/27/00
Improving
therapeutic relationships between mental health providers and recipients
of mental health services is the aim of a new training video released by
the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s (SAMHSA)
Center for Mental Health Services. The video, "Partners in Recovery:
Creating Successful Practitioner-Consumer Alliances," is intended to
stimulate professionals to look carefully at their own perceptions,
assumptions and behaviors, and to search for ways to improve their
communication and relationships with mental health patients.
The 18-minute video, is a compilation of interviews with mental health providers and people living with mental illness. Mental health patients and practitioners share their successes and failures in building constructive relationships. Videotapes are available by calling 1-800-789-2647.
(Contact Shelly Burgess of SAMHSA at 301-443-2792)
Mississippi Nurses Reach Out to Legislators
8/26/00
At the 54th
annual meeting of the Southern Legislative Conference (SLC), which was
held Aug. 5-9 in Biloxi, MS, the Mississippi Nurses Association (MNA)
provided on-site medical care through a health clinic staffed by nurse
practitioners and registered nurses from the local and southern
Mississippi region. K.C. Arnold, MS, RN, ANP, director of the Council on
Nursing Practice for MNA, set up and oversaw the clinic for the four-day
event. Approximately 800 state legislators, staff and lobbyists attended
the meeting, which was chaired by the Kentucky Speaker of the House Jody
Richards.
Nurses who provided on-site health care at the meeting took the opportunity to educate legislators about the vital services registered nurses provide. Also discussed were issues such as access to and quality of patient care.
MNA also promoted the role of advanced practice registered nurses in providing health care to the citizens of these states. ANA and its constituent member associations will work with SLC to plan future conferences that will include agenda items on health care and nursing issues.
The SLC is one of four regional legislative groups operating under the Council of State Governments (CSG). ANA is an associate member of CSG and works with the constituent member associations to ensure local participation at regional meetings. Pam Hagan, MSN, RN, director of ANA’s Department of Constituent Affairs, attended the meeting along with the MNA Executive Director Betty Dickson and Judy Leavitt, Med, RN, a member of MNA. For more information about the event, contact Betty Dickson of MNA at 601-898-0670 or mna@msnurses.org.
For more information about ANA’s involvement with CSG contact, Anna Gilmore-Hall at x7021 or agilmore@ana.org or Sue Whittaker at x7111 or swhittak@ana.org.
U.S. News & World Report Publishes President’s Letter
8/25/00
The Aug. 21
edition of U.S. News & World Report
features a letter from ANA President Mary Foley, MS, RN, in response to
the magazine’s July 17 article, “Taking the mistakes out of medicine.” In
the letter, Foley emphasizes the important role nurses play in reducing
medical errors.
The letter also addresses the issue of inadequate RN staffing and designing safer systems for nurses and other health care professionals to report medical errors. The magazine is currently available in stores. ANA Letter of Response
(Contact Hope Hall at x7027 or hhall@ana.org)
West Boca Medical Center Receives National Recognition For Excellence in Nursing Services
8/24/00
The American
Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC), the nation's leading nursing
credentialing organization, has awarded its Magnet Recognition for
Excellence in Nursing Services designation to West Boca Medical Center,
for continued exemplary nursing leadership and quality patient care.
Designation began August 16, 2000. ANCC Press
Release
More Than an Ounce of Prevention
8/23/00
The Association
of Women's Health, Obstetric and Neonatal Nurses (AWHONN) is giving away
500,000 copies of its first "Every Woman" handbook, which it calls "The
Essential Guide for Healthy Living." To order the book, call 800-673-8499,
ext. 2401 or visit www.awhonn.org.
ANA Meets with State Legislators in Chicago
8/22/00
Over 6,000
legislators, legislative staff and others met in Chicago, IL, for the
National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL) annual meeting, July
15-20. Participating in the meeting were ANA State Government Relations
(SGR) staff members and representatives from Illinois State Nurses
Association (INA).
ANA hosted a booth in the convention hall, where syringe-shaped pens were popular as giveaways as a means of highlighting critical health hazards of needlestick injuries. Needlestick fact sheets, brochures and legislation were distributed at the booth, as well as other literature outlining health care issues of importance to patients and nurses. Discussions also were held with legislators and staff in preparation for next year's national state legislative agenda on nurse staffing.
ANA also hosted a reception to honor state nurse legislators who were presented with briefcases imprinted with the words "nurse legislator."
ANA thanks the INA for its assistance and looks forward to a continued presence at future NCSL meetings.
(Contact Anna Gilmore-Hall at x7021, or agilmore@ana.org)
Needlestick Injury Prevention Bill Becomes Law in Massachusetts
8/21/00
Massachusetts
Gov. A. Paul Cellucci has signed a bill aimed at preventing needlestick
injuries into law, making Massachusetts the 17th state to enact such
legislation. The new "An Act Relative to Needlestick Injury Prevention"
law, which was signed on Aug. 17, mandates the use of the safest available
technologies and information that comes from "shared data" and quality
assurance measures. The law applies to employees of acute and non-acute
licensed hospitals, both in the public and private sectors. For details,
see the Massachusetts Nurses Association Web site.
Showcase Your Best Practices in Health and Safety
8/21/00
Have your
contracts or local bargaining unit activities contributed to making
working conditions safer for patients AND workers?
Have your members seen decreases in injury and illness rates, workers compensation claims, staff turnover or adverse patient incidents because of these programs and activities?
If so, consider submitting an abstract for oral or poster presentation at an important Interagency conference:
"Enhancing Working
Conditions and Patient Safety: Best Practices"
Sponsored by: OSHA, NIOSH, AHRQ, VHA, CDC
Pittsburgh, PA
Oct. 17-18, 2000.
To obtain a call for abstracts and conference announcement visit: http://www.quic.gov/workforce/Enhance/indexframes.htm
The deadline for abstracts is Sept. 1.
Examples of the best practices might include:
- ergonomics programs that make lifts more comfortable for patients and prevent back injuries in nurses
- violence prevention activities that make the health care facility safer for all
- programs that incorporate frontline worker input into both occupational health and safety and patient safety initiatives
- re-organization of staffing schedules to reduce worker fatigue and error rates
- programs that reduce both nosocomial and occupational infectious disease transmission
- contract language that ensures safety in other areas for patients and workers.
Please step forward to showcase all of the groundbreaking work they are doing in the health and safety arena through innovative contract language, labor-management committees and other innovative programs.
Submitters may call Susan Wilburn and Karen Worthington (ANA) at 202-651-7138 to discuss health and safety "best practices" and help formulate accomplishments into an abstract.
Submitters are encouraged to share their abstracts with ANA by faxing copies to Karen Worthington at 202-479-2079.
NLRB Files Charges Against Michigan Hospital
8/21/00
The National
Labor Relations Board (NLRB) issued an unfair labor practice complaint
against Borgess Medical Center on July 27. The Michigan Nurses Association
(MNA), the collective-bargaining representative for registered
professional nurses at Borgess Medical Center, filed an unfair labor
practice charge against the Center earlier this year.
At issue are documents MNA has requested to assist in their defense of an MNA registered nurse who was terminated last year with a nearly 20-year unblemished record. The NLRB's complaint charges that Borgess has failed to provide relevant and necessary information to the MNA. Borgess has been unwilling to furnish the documents necessary for the MNA to appropriately investigate the dismissal and defend its member, as guaranteed by federal law.
Borgess also has been ordered to "bargain in good faith with MNA in regard to wages, hours and other terms and conditions of employment…." Borgess has 14 days to respond to the complaint. The hearing on this unfair labor practice complaint is scheduled for October.
(Contact Kathryn Martel, labor counsel of MNA, at
517-349-5640 or Carol Feuss, director of communications for MNA, at
517-349-5640 or 517-230-4086
MNA Press Release)
New Button for Position Statements
8/18/00
Due to popular
demand, we have added a button to the left button bar to make it easier to
find all of our position statements. There are currently over 70. Thanks
for the suggestion! Go to
Position Statements...
Nurse to Participate on Health Care Panel at Democratic National Convention
8/15/00
 |
A registered nurse (RN) has been
invited to share a frontline perspective regarding the need for
federal patients' bill of rights legislation this week at the
Democratic National Convention.
Doug Bouldin, RN, MSN, a family nurse practitioner at a clinic in Troy, MO, has been asked by Al Gore's presidential campaign to participate on an "American Dialogue" panel, which will be televised nationally from the convention headquarters in Los Angeles on the evening of Aug. 16. ANA Press Release |
Union for Nurses by Nurses Defines Priorities at National Labor Assembly
8/14/00
The United
American Nurses held its first and founding National Labor Assembly June
21-22, 2000. Delegates voted on resolutions that set the direction of the
organization. These resolutions include developing an organizing strategy
that will target strategically important organizing sites and continuing
affiliation discussions with the AFL-CIO. Delegates also defined their
national collective bargaining priorities to be staffing, health and
safety, and opposition to mandatory overtime and plan to address these
issues in contract negotiations. UAN
Resolutions
More New Titles in Bookstore
8/9/00
New Titles:
Adult Nurse Practitioner Review Manual
Public Health Nursing: A Partner for Healthy
Population
RN=Real News: ANA Media Relations and
You
Take Control: A Guide to Risk Management
Browse the
Bookstore...
ANA Supports OSHA TB Standard
08/09/00
ANA presented
testimony at an August 7 public meeting in support of the Occupational
Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) tuberculosis standard. The
meeting, held in Washington, D.C., was sponsored by the Institute of
Medicine (IOM) Committee on Regulating Occupational Exposure to
Tuberculosis and focused on the need for an OSHA TB Standard given the
current status of TB elimination efforts in the country today. ANA Statement
Vaccine Shortage Looms
08/09/00
A vaccine
shortage threatens to derail employer-sponsored flu shot programs this
fall. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have urged companies
to postpone vaccination programs, giving drug makers more time to produce
and distribute vaccines. The first available stocks will go to health-care
workers and at-risk patients.
Source: Wall Street
Journal, 8/8/00.
Funds Available to Reduce Substance Abuse Disparities
08/08/00
The Substance
Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) has announced the
availability of up to $1.6 million to help improve local access to
substance abuse prevention, addiction treatment and mental health services
by racial/ethnic minority communities.
Grants will be awarded to four or five national or regional non-profit organizations to establish work in formal partnership with local community-based organizations to improve access to high-quality, culturally relevant, gender-sensitive and age-appropriate mental health and substance abuse services for ethnic/minority populations.
Applications can be downloaded from SAMHSA's website, www.samhsa.gov, or obtained by calling 1-800-729-6686 (National Clearinghouse for Drug and Alcohol Information), or 1-800-789-2647 (National Mental Health Knowledge Exchange Network). Callers should refer to GFA Number SP-00-007)
Summit on Medical Errors to be Held in September
08/07/00
The Agency for
Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), and its partners on the Quality
Interagency Coordination (QuIC) Task Force, will sponsor a national summit
on medical errors and patient safety research Sept. 11, in Washington, DC.
Nominations of potential witnesses are presently being sought by AHRQ and the other QuIC agencies. This initiative is part of the federal response to the Institute of Medicine's landmark November 1999 report, To Err is Human: Building a Safer Health System.
(Contact Howard Holland at 301-594-0314 or hholland@ahrq.gov)
$2.7 Million Settlement Spotlights Nurse Shortage
8/3/00
The July 25 issue of the Wall Street Journal features a media brief on the scarcity of nurses. The brief focused on a Wichita, KS, resident and her 61-year-old mother, who was rushed to a local hospital. The patient required constant supervision but didn't receive it and slid into a coma. The patient now suffers from brain damage and partial paralysis. In a suit filed on her behalf, her attorney blamed her condition on inadequate nurse staffing levels resulting from hospital cost concerns. The hospital has agreed to a $2.7 million settlement. ANA senior policy fellow Cheryl Peterson, RN, was quoted in the Wall Street Journal as saying, "Hospitals have to improve working conditions to keep nurses." ANA has made contact with the family to explore the possibility of working together.
(Source: Wall Street Journal - July 25)
ANA Work Featured at Staffing Meeting
8/3/00
The staffing crisis in particular concerns around mandated nurse-to-patient ratios brought 1,400 nurses from across the country to Washington, DC, for a three-day meeting that explored the complexities of identifying, providing and monitoring required staffing levels. The ANA work around nursing-sensitive quality indicators, and in particular the ANA Principles for Nurse Staffing, were highlighted by both Leah Curtin and Frank Shaffer (of CurtinCalls and Cross Country Staffing, respectively) who convened the meeting.
The focal point of the conference was a plenary session devoted to the discussion of AB 394the California bill that was passed last October and expands required minimum nurse-to-patient ratio levels to all units in acute-care facilities. Representatives from the New York State Nurses Association (NYSNA), Massachusetts Nurses Association (MNA), California Nurses Association (CNA), the New Jersey State Board of Nursing, and the ANA were in attendance. With some variation, all panelists spoke with the same voice and identified the same priority--nurses must come together to find strategies and solutions to tackle a problem that has significant implications for the safety and quality of care delivery and for the well-being of nurses and other healthcare workers.
Representing the ANA was Chief Executive Officer Linda Stierle, MSN, RN, CNAA, who outlined ANA's position on mandated staffing levels, described the comprehensive work done on safety and quality issues and urged participants to join together to tackle the complexities of the staffing crisis. Contact is Katherine Kany
Congratulations to the Winner of the 2000 Hyundai Sonata
8/1/00
The
American Nurses Foundation (ANF) would like to congratulate Linda
Canfield, RN, of Alpena, Michigan, the winner of the 2000 Hyundai Sonata
Sedan. Ms. Canfield used her nursing skills to determine the number of ink
pens that were placed in the trunk of the Sonata. She guessed closest to
the actual number, which was 12,456, without going over. The contest was
held at the American Nurses Biennial Convention in Indianapolis, IN, this
past June. Special thanks to Hyundai Motor America for donating the car
and making this fundraiser possible. All proceeds go directly to the ANF
Nursing Research Grants Program.
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