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.