FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Silver Spring, MD – In honor of National Nurses Week (May 6-12), the Congressional Nursing Caucus and the American Nurses Association (ANA) will sponsor a luncheon briefing on Tuesday, May 8th at 12:00 p.m. to 1:30 p.m. at Rayburn House Office Building, B-339/340, to highlight the importance of safe patient handling to congressional health staff.
Over the past decade, attention has been given to the health and safety concerns among health care workers. Despite the recognition that manual patient handling is a high-hazard task, the incidence of musculoskeletal disorders persist at high rates for nurses and other health care personnel.
“There isn’t enough lift equipment in the hospital, so injury is constant, cumulative and inevitable,” said Linda J. Stierle, MSN, RN, CNAA,BC, CEO of the American Nurses Association, and a retired U.S. Air Force general officer. “We believe the nation, now facing a serious nursing shortage can no longer afford the estimated 12 percent of RNs who leave the profession because of musculoskeletal injuries. ANA is committed to building critical consensus toward the introduction of viable federal legislation on safe patient handling that will eliminate manual lifting.”
During National Nurses Week, ANA reaffirms its commitment to improve the quality of health care and the working conditions of nurses. The growing shortage of RNs poses a real threat to the nation’s health care system and the public’s health, and ANA is dedicated to fighting for a workplace environment that will encourage current nurses to continue in their careers, and inspire young men and women to consider nursing as a profession.
Traditionally, National Nurses Week focuses on highlighting the diverse ways in which registered nurses are working to improve health care. From bedside nursing in hospitals and long-term care facilities to the halls of research institutions, state legislatures, and Congress, the depth and breadth of the nursing profession is meeting the expanding health care needs of American society.
To assist nurses’ with the ever changing demands of their profession, ANA is hosting its first ever quadrennial policy conference, Nursing Care in Life, Death and Disaster, scheduled for June 20-22, 2007. The conference focuses on the significant health preparedness policy questions related to standards of care provided during a major disaster. With input from nurses, ANA will develop guidance dedicated to improving patient outcomes and quality of care during a crisis.
For more information on National Nurses Week, go to www.nursingworld.org/pressrel/nnw
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May 1, 2007
CONTACT:
Mary McNamara, 301-628-5198
Mary Stewart, 301-628-5038
The American Nurses Association Celebrates National Nurses Week with Congressional Briefing on Safe Patient Handling
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