Safe Staffing Matters: Patient Deaths, Medication Errors, Slips, Falls, Patient Bed Sores and so many issues can be severely reduced or eliminated with SAFE STAFFING.
GET INVOLVED and PROTECT YOU PRACTICE and your LICENSE
The AMERICAN NURSES ASSOCIATION (ANA) Makes it easy....
This is the letter to support the named bill below, that can be sent to your politicians:
I am writing to ask you to cosponsor the Registered Nurse Safe Staffing Act (H.R. 2083/S. 1132) which would require hospitals to utilize the direct care nurses' experience to work in concert with management to establish staffing plans unique to each unit. This approach recognizes that fixed mandated nurse to patient ratios, although easier to understand, do not acknowledge the complexities involved in delivering safe, quality care.
For years, my RN colleagues have expressed frustration and concern when working chronically understaffed shifts. Safe staffing levels are key to patient safety and nurse retention. H.R. 2083/S. 1132 would hold each hospital accountable to create staffing plans that are truly reflective of patient needs and requires public reporting of the number of licensed and unlicensed staff involved in direct care.
The link between patient safety, outcomes and nursing care is well-established. According to a 2002 study by Linda H. Aiken, PhD, RN, each additional patient added to the average workload of staff registered nurses (RNs) increased the risk of death following common medical procedures by 7%, and the risk of death was more than 30% higher in hospitals where nurses' workloads were 8 patients or more each shift. Furthermore, research has shown when there are more RNs, there are shorter lengths of stay and fewer complications with resultant reduced costs.
Please help ensure patient safety and cosponsor H.R. 2083/S. 1132, the Registered Nurse Safe Staffing Act today.
Check out this website and get involved:
https://secure3.convio.net/ana/site/Advocacy?cmd=display&page=UserAction&id=451
If You have trouble there go to this site: the American Nurses Association Political Action Committee
http://www.rnaction.org/site/PageNavigator/NSTAT/nstat_ana_pac
Friday, May 1, 2015
Tuesday, March 3, 2015
Do Nurses protect themselves....
Just a consideration:
In the world of technology, many things seem easier, but are they safer?
How many times are you still using paper? In this paperless world?
Are all of the orders in place and easy to find?
The quagmire of pitfalls has risen. It is so easy to point and click, making it easier to miss things. Vigilance is important, as well as having the time to be thorough. You can too often only hope to have the time needed to be vigilant.
Computerized order sets need to include all actions required to treat your patients safely and meet their needs; Monitoring and medications are only part of the sets to be included in protecting your patients and your practice.
Are they there and do you know where to find them?
Is your practice safe and all items covered?
In the world of technology, many things seem easier, but are they safer?
How many times are you still using paper? In this paperless world?
Are all of the orders in place and easy to find?
The quagmire of pitfalls has risen. It is so easy to point and click, making it easier to miss things. Vigilance is important, as well as having the time to be thorough. You can too often only hope to have the time needed to be vigilant.
Computerized order sets need to include all actions required to treat your patients safely and meet their needs; Monitoring and medications are only part of the sets to be included in protecting your patients and your practice.
Are they there and do you know where to find them?
Is your practice safe and all items covered?
Thursday, February 19, 2015
Things to get involved about....
From the ANA Government Affairs:
http://www.rnaction.org/site/PageNavigator/nstat_take_action_HS.html
http://www.rnaction.org/site/PageNavigator/nstat_take_action_HS.html
Yesterday, Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky (D-IL- 9) introduced H.R. 952, The Put a Registered Nurse in the Nursing Home Act of 2015, requiring skilled nursing facilities (SNFs) to have at least one direct care RN on duty 24 hours per day, 7 days a week.
Currently, nursing homes are required to have a registered nurse (RN) on duty for 8 hours per day regardless of the size of the facility. Congresswoman Schakowsky was shocked to learn that for 16 hours a day, not a single RN may be in a nursing home.
The absence of direct care RNs for any period during the day reduces the quality of care received by nursing facility residents.
Nursing facility residents and our health care system cannot afford this understaffing any longer! Join Congresswoman Schakowsky in supporting continuous direct care RN staffing to ensure that some of our most vulnerable Americans have the care they need and deserve in nursing facilities.
Contact your Representative TODAY and ask them to co-sponsor, H.R. 952, The Put a Registered Nurse in the Nursing Home Act.
Together we can make a difference!
Your ANA Government Affairs Team
Your ANA Government Affairs Team
Other Issues they are fighting for to protect our practice:
Tuesday, February 10, 2015
Do Nurses even Advocate for themselves?
Or is it just a job and no Advocates needed?
When nursing is just a job, just a way to pay the bills, or get that new toy, with NO real calling to care for patients; a disservice is done not only to your profession but to those you have sworn to keep alive and comfort.
It is a CARING PROFESSION and when treated as just a job, the true meaning of being a NURSE is lost.
If it is just a JOB, You are in the wrong profession.
Now, often those that treat it so are the first to WHINE about poor staffing and the often difficult situations we walk into on a daily basis. But, they will never get involved to protect themselves and make for better workforce conditions. They are probably the ones who also seem to be less available when help is needed.
In this so simple and easy POINT and CLICK world, getting involved has never been made easier.
Being involved can improve the situations we walk into every day. Safe staffing and safe lifting bills sit on the books of many State Houses of government, waiting for those it affects to CARE and be a part of the process. They can Never become LAWS without support.
Every day, every decision we make can affect the lives and deaths of our patients. We need to have the same care for making our profession everything we want it to be when just doing the job is not making it better.
If you can't take the few minutes it takes to care for your profession, Don't whine about what you Don't care enough to change. Just keep taking it and Shut Up, Keep being the SHEEP most managers want.
When nursing is just a job, just a way to pay the bills, or get that new toy, with NO real calling to care for patients; a disservice is done not only to your profession but to those you have sworn to keep alive and comfort.
It is a CARING PROFESSION and when treated as just a job, the true meaning of being a NURSE is lost.
If it is just a JOB, You are in the wrong profession.
Now, often those that treat it so are the first to WHINE about poor staffing and the often difficult situations we walk into on a daily basis. But, they will never get involved to protect themselves and make for better workforce conditions. They are probably the ones who also seem to be less available when help is needed.
In this so simple and easy POINT and CLICK world, getting involved has never been made easier.
Being involved can improve the situations we walk into every day. Safe staffing and safe lifting bills sit on the books of many State Houses of government, waiting for those it affects to CARE and be a part of the process. They can Never become LAWS without support.
Every day, every decision we make can affect the lives and deaths of our patients. We need to have the same care for making our profession everything we want it to be when just doing the job is not making it better.
If you can't take the few minutes it takes to care for your profession, Don't whine about what you Don't care enough to change. Just keep taking it and Shut Up, Keep being the SHEEP most managers want.
Friday, February 6, 2015
Who Advocates for Nurses?
Who considers nurses and safe staffing when medical errors and patient falls, etc occur?
Do Agencies like JCAHO and OSHA and AHCA and any other alphabet soup protecting patients consider the situations leading to risks in patient safety. Staffing discrepancies being the leading cause, in addition to increasing stress and the poor satisfaction of nurses as well as disgruntled patients and families. It all goes together but it is never considered when making changes or regulating national patient safety goals.
When are nurses workforce situations considered?
Who advocates for nurses?
As a nurse who always considers being a patient advocate the frontline of nursing care, this situation needs to change.
Do Agencies like JCAHO and OSHA and AHCA and any other alphabet soup protecting patients consider the situations leading to risks in patient safety. Staffing discrepancies being the leading cause, in addition to increasing stress and the poor satisfaction of nurses as well as disgruntled patients and families. It all goes together but it is never considered when making changes or regulating national patient safety goals.
When are nurses workforce situations considered?
Who advocates for nurses?
As a nurse who always considers being a patient advocate the frontline of nursing care, this situation needs to change.
Wednesday, February 4, 2015
Political Possibilities if Nurses get involved
I propose and hope to see in my lifetime these changes and I
am HOPING that you will HELP me by getting involved in protecting your practice and your future.
1) A
federally funded nursing retirement plan: This could not only improve the
influx of people into the profession, but also be a great benefit to nurse
retention, especially if it includes past service and years of experience. This
could bring nurses back to the bedside; if they were assured of having a dedicated
plan for the years of service (Nurses who have left the profession after i.e.
12 years of service come back for eight years and have a full retirement). AARP
recently noted that less than 60% of nurses have retirement plans. This federal
plan would be portable from job to job. Facilities could enhance retirement
benefits or provide other inducements to the profession with the funds
currently in use. IF railroad employees, teachers, firefighters, and police
officers can have full retirement after 20 years, WHY have nurses been left
out? The nurses I have presented this idea to most frequently ask me that
question. WHY is this idea not already in practice?
2) Increased
political awareness and interest for nurses. Facilities should have a dedicated
position related to nursing politics. I have talked to many coworkers and they
agree that knowing more about how their local, state, and federal politicians
vote on issues regarding nursing would affect not only their voting
participation but how and who they voted for. (i.e. IF you believe patients and
families have a right to know what SAFE staffing ratios are and how those
ratios affect patient safety and care, in addition to how the facility they are
currently admitted to staffs their floors, then a politician votes against a
bill that promotes these issues, Would you vote for that politician??).
3) An
agency that monitors the dangers and RISKS that nurses are often subjected to:
to have written protocols and standards of what constitutes patient safety in
relation to acuity and ratios. (i.e. What constitutes a 1:1 patient, a 2:1
patient, a 4:1 patient???). One that monitors how often those standards are not
met and why. How to make it better to keep nurses at the bedside.
4) National
Nursing Licensure
5) Better
Health Care Coverage—since we provide so much of it, it should be a reward.
So much more, these are only a few of the issues I would
like to see instituted and implemented and truly believe it will affect the
future of nursing. So many agencies and groups protect patient safety and there
are no real protectors of nurses and their work conditions. Such an agency will
only enhance patient safety. The CAN (Center for American Nurses, part of the
ANA) is a start, but so far, no one is really affecting change in workforce
conditions, thus the NURSING SHORTAGE.
Saturday, January 31, 2015
Get Involved with an Organization whose aim IS to PROTECT Nurses
If you read the last Blog: Then you can see:
The American Nurses Association's aim is to improve workplace situations and protect the practice of nursing.
The Florida Nurses Association even has their own lobbyist working for these same goals.
Here in the South and across the nation, so many nurses do not protect themselves.They work countless hours, many days and nights just getting by, just hoping they have not risked their license to get the job done. When staffing is unsafe and patients are more critically ill than ever, there is the constant possibility of medical errors, patient falls, etc.and they present a RISK to every nurses license. And, let's not forget the perpetual stress of working in these situations. These same situations will never improve nursing satisfaction and keep them at the bedside. IT IS DRIVING THEM AWAY.
Just think of a nurse coming home after yet again, another unsafe and harrowing shift and they see a commercial about all of the issues addressed by these associations. An ad that shows how getting involved is the only way situations can improve....Would you consider joining????
The American Nurses Association's aim is to improve workplace situations and protect the practice of nursing.
The Florida Nurses Association even has their own lobbyist working for these same goals.
Here in the South and across the nation, so many nurses do not protect themselves.They work countless hours, many days and nights just getting by, just hoping they have not risked their license to get the job done. When staffing is unsafe and patients are more critically ill than ever, there is the constant possibility of medical errors, patient falls, etc.and they present a RISK to every nurses license. And, let's not forget the perpetual stress of working in these situations. These same situations will never improve nursing satisfaction and keep them at the bedside. IT IS DRIVING THEM AWAY.
Just think of a nurse coming home after yet again, another unsafe and harrowing shift and they see a commercial about all of the issues addressed by these associations. An ad that shows how getting involved is the only way situations can improve....Would you consider joining????
Friday, January 30, 2015
Nurses NEED to get involved in the welfare of their profession
From the ANA Government site:
Please get involved::::
Please get involved::::
Last week, the House of Representatives passed the Save American Workers Act of 2015, H.R. 30 which would change the current definition of full-time work under the Affordable Care Act (ACA), raising it to 40 hours per week from the current definition of 30 hours.
The legislation is now in the Senate and we need your help! Would this law affect you? We need your stories so we can demonstrate the negative impact this bill would have on nurses.
The American Nurses Association (ANA) sent a letter to the House of Representativesopposing this bill because the legislation would negatively impact those in jobs where full-time work involves less than 40 hours per week. This would include the 1.69 million RNs and APRNs who are employed by general medical and surgical hospitals, other specialty hospitals, and psychiatric and substance abuse hospitals. Typically, RNs who work in a hospital setting work a three day, 12 hour shift, with a workweek of 36 hours. If enacted, employers subject to the employer mandate would no longer be required to offer health insurance benefits to those working the regularly scheduled 36 hour workweek.
We want to hear from you,
Your ANA Government Affairs Team
Your ANA Government Affairs Team
Other issues they Address:
Thursday, January 29, 2015
Back to Work...
After a long recovery, I am back to the job I truly love....
I love making a difference with my patients, caring for them, laughing with them and often making decisions that keep them alive. These are the joys of the profession I chose so many years ago.
Unfortunately, the politics of the profession, the demands and often unsafe situations are persistently prevalent. And the frustrating lack of nursing advocacy is enough to drive anyone away from this wonderful work.
Who advocates for the bedside nurse? Who makes sure that the night or day that is crazy busy is also safely staffed and that your patients will have all of the help that they need? Obviously not the budget and too often not those you work for, because the help is just not there.
Danger, Danger, Will Robinson...Aliens may not be approaching but the Nursing Shortage is not a myth and it is current and the future.
See: http://www.aacn.nche.edu/media-relations/fact-sheets/nursing-shortage
The fact of the matter is that until facilities and organizations make nursing satisfaction a priority, there will never be a solution to the shortage. The nursing schools are popping out nurses faster and faster with less training and less tolerance of the situations that older nurses have put up with for decades. And countless numbers of these nurses are retiring now and many in the next decade. The Shortage is real and will not get better until the safety of work situations and the satisfaction of the bedside nurse is addressed as an important issue. These new nurse are leaving every day, they are moving on and not staying at the bedside, where patients need them.
Every workplace for nurses NEEDS NURSING ADVOCACY that does not answer to the those that do not care about their workforce. Those highest in the realm of administration should be the ones that care the most and want to provide for their largest group of employees. The ones at the bedside providing the care that keeps patients safe and happy.
I love making a difference with my patients, caring for them, laughing with them and often making decisions that keep them alive. These are the joys of the profession I chose so many years ago.
Unfortunately, the politics of the profession, the demands and often unsafe situations are persistently prevalent. And the frustrating lack of nursing advocacy is enough to drive anyone away from this wonderful work.
Who advocates for the bedside nurse? Who makes sure that the night or day that is crazy busy is also safely staffed and that your patients will have all of the help that they need? Obviously not the budget and too often not those you work for, because the help is just not there.
Danger, Danger, Will Robinson...Aliens may not be approaching but the Nursing Shortage is not a myth and it is current and the future.
See: http://www.aacn.nche.edu/media-relations/fact-sheets/nursing-shortage
The fact of the matter is that until facilities and organizations make nursing satisfaction a priority, there will never be a solution to the shortage. The nursing schools are popping out nurses faster and faster with less training and less tolerance of the situations that older nurses have put up with for decades. And countless numbers of these nurses are retiring now and many in the next decade. The Shortage is real and will not get better until the safety of work situations and the satisfaction of the bedside nurse is addressed as an important issue. These new nurse are leaving every day, they are moving on and not staying at the bedside, where patients need them.
Every workplace for nurses NEEDS NURSING ADVOCACY that does not answer to the those that do not care about their workforce. Those highest in the realm of administration should be the ones that care the most and want to provide for their largest group of employees. The ones at the bedside providing the care that keeps patients safe and happy.
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