ANA President Invited to Address Presidential Forum

Washington, DC -- Barbara A. Blakeney, MS, APRN,BC, ANP, president of the American Nurses Association (ANA), has been invited to participate in the special economic forum called by President George W. Bush, to be held on Aug. 13, 2002, at Baylor University in Waco, Texas. Blakeney will be part of a discussion group on health care security, to be chaired by U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Tommy Thompson.

"It's an honor to be invited to participate in this forum," Blakeney said. "It will give me the opportunity to reinforce the vital role that nurses play in the health care system and the economy overall. It's important that the viewpoint of nurses, the frontline providers in health care, be included," she added.

The meeting will bring together government policy-makers, small investors, small business owners, industry experts, teachers, workers, business ethicists, union members, corporate executives, economists, business students, academics, researchers, and others to discuss the fundamentals of the economy and the President's agenda to increase economic growth in the future.

"We must make sure that economic trends do not adversely impact access to safe, quality health care," Blakeney said. "That means we must address the nursing shortage to ensure there is an adequate supply of registered nurses to meet health care demands," she added. An HHS report released last month predicted that, if current staffing trends continue, the nursing shortage will dramatically worsen over the next several decades. The report said there was a shortage of 110,000 nurses in 2000. The study predicted that the demand for RNs will outpace the supply by 12% in the year 2010, 20% in 2015, and 29% in 2020.

A report released last week by the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO) said the crisis in nurse staffing has the potential to impact "the very health and security of our society if definitive steps are not taken to address its underlying causes." The report's number one recommendation was that hospitals adopt the characteristics of "Magnet" facilities to foster a workplace that empowers and is respectful of nursing staff. The Magnet Recognition Program was developed by the American Nurses Credentialing Center, a subsidiary of ANA, and Blakeney is expected to discuss it at Tuesday's meeting.

Another topic of discussion is likely to be the recent passage of the Nurse Reinvestment Act. President Bush signed the measure into law Aug. 1. The new law is aimed at bringing more people into nursing, as well as retaining those already in the profession. The law addresses this through a combination of scholarships, loan repayment, grants for long term care training, faculty loans, public service announcements to promote nursing as a career, career ladders, and implementation of best practices. "The Nurse Reinvestment Act, which authorizes all these activities, is the law of the land," Blakeney said. "Now we need to push for full funding of the program."

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ANA is the only full-service professional organization representing the nation's 2.7 million Registered Nurses through its 54 constituent associations. ANA advances the nursing profession by fostering high standards of nursing practice, promoting the economic and general welfare of nurses in the workplace, projecting a positive and realistic view of nursing, and by lobbying the Congress and regulatory agencies on health care issues affecting nurses and the public.

2002 press releases

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