What We Heard from the Leaders of the New National Nursing Union

By Shawn Kennedy, MA, RN, interim editor-in-chief

As we noted earlier this week, several major nursing unions have united to form a “superunion.” The National Nurses United (NNU) brings over 150,000 nurses together by combining the California Nurses Association (CNA)/National Nurses Organizing Committee (NNOC) with the Massachusetts Nursing Association (MNA) and some members of the United American Nurses (UAN).

There are three co-presidents: Karen Higgins (from the MNA), Jean Ross (from the UAN), and Deborah Burger (from the CNA/NNOC).

Ross told me this:

  • The CNA/NNOC will cease behaving as a national union and, like the MNA, be a state union; both will be affiliates of the new NNU.
  • The UAN will cease to exist as a national union; those state associations that were members will automatically be members of NNU, unless they decide not to.
  • NNU will focus on health care reform, will advocate for a single-payer system, and will seek to organize all non-union staff nurses in the country

Ross had this to say as well: “People in this country have been waiting for a long time for nurses to come forward to make true health care reform a reality.”

Co-President Deborah Burger told me that NNU will pursue the main objectives of a “massive organizing campaign to organize all nurses nationally” and an aggressive “social justice” agenda focused on advocating for a single-payer health care system. They will also work for passage of federal staffing ratios legislation introduced by Senator Barbara Boxer.

Said Burger, […]

2016-11-21T13:20:40-05:00December 10th, 2009|career, health care policy|0 Comments
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New National Nurses Union Forms — But What’s It Mean to You?

By Peggy McDaniel, BSN, RN

Yesterday a new and powerful union was formed. The National Nurses United brings over 150,000 nurses together by combining the California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee with the Massachusetts Nursing Association and some members of the United American Nurses.  The new “superunion” intends to focus both on influencing health care reform and on improving quality of care through such efforts as extending California’s patient ratio law into other states.

I have never worked in a union-supported hospital, nor have I ever belonged to a union. My father was an electrical engineer and although he was a union member, he always talked about the “union guys” who worked as little as possible. I remember his frustration at members who took advantage of the positive conditions promoted by unions. When I was a newly employed nursing graduate, one of my friends was a card-carrying pipefitter. He bragged about not doing any work for days on end because there were no laborers around to carry his materials! 

As a hardworking staff nurse, I was angered by his complacency. I couldn’t imagine not clearing away a patient tray if the nurse’s aide hadn’t had time. I approached my nursing role as a team member focused on taking care of the patients—sometimes to my own detriment, since I was one of “those” nurses who often skipped breaks to complete tasks or charting. That said, I have seen the good that unions have done for nursing, especially around working conditions and benefits.

Given the current push to reform health care, […]

2016-11-21T13:20:42-05:00December 8th, 2009|career, health care policy, nursing perspective|5 Comments
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ANA Chart Compares Key Nursing Provisions in House and Senate Bills

By Judith Leavitt, MEd, RN, FAAN

There’s a tremendous amount of information available about the different congressional proposals on health reform. But it’s difficult to know how the proposed legislation might affect nurses and the profession. The American Nurses Association has just released an excellent chart offering side-by-side comparison of key provisions related to nursing in the two current bills, the House bill (H.R. 3962) and the Senate bill (H.R. 3590). These provisions include:

  • increased financial support for nursing recruitment and advanced education
  • increased funding for graduate education for nursing faculty
  • increased funding for education for students who will practice in underserved areas
  • establishment of a Public Health Workforce Corps
  • increased Medicare reimbursement rates for advanced practice nurses, including nurse–midwives
  • pilot programs to provide reimbursement under Medicare for nurse practitioners to create or lead “medical homes”
  • increased reimbursement to school-based health clinics under Medicaid

There’s much more to be gleaned here, and the chart format makes scanning for particular points of interest easy. Have a look!

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2016-11-21T13:20:44-05:00December 4th, 2009|career, health care policy, nursing perspective, students|1 Comment
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National Forum to Focus on Role of Nursing in Community, Public Health, Primary Care, and Long-Term Care Settings


Below is a press release we received for an important and timely December 3rd event on the future of nursing, including links to attend the forum by live Webcast or to follow it on Twitter.

Initiative Exploring the Future of Nursing Convenes National Forum in Philadelphia

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Initiative on the Future of Nursing, at the Institute of Medicine (www.iom.edu/nursing) will hold the second of three national forums on December 3 in Philadelphia. Participants including committee chair Donna Shalala discuss how to improve the delivery of medical treatment for Americans in Community Health, Public Health, Primary Care, and Long-Term Care settings across the country. This forum will look at opportunities in which nurses – who are key front-line providers of care – can play a role in ensuring patients in all settings receive the best possible care.

**A live webcast of the meeting will be available via www.thefutureofnursing.org**

**Follow the forum live on Twitter at http://twitter.com/FutureofNursing**

[…]

2016-11-21T13:20:47-05:00December 2nd, 2009|career, nursing perspective, nursing research|0 Comments
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H1N1 Flu Vaccine: Remembering Why I Became a Nurse

By Shawn Kennedy, editorial director

Last week, I got away from my desk, computer, and stacks of paper and (briefly) became a “real nurse” again. As a member of my county’s Medical Reserve Corps, I volunteered to help administer H1N1 flu vaccine at a local school. Our vaccinees were children over two years and young adults up to 24. We were distributing FluMist, a live attenuated vaccine administered intranasally (see the article on FluMist in the October AJN).  The applicator looks like just like a syringe, but without a needle.

I was impressed with how organized the process was. Employees of the health department were there controlling traffic, fetching supplies, inputting data, interviewing new arrivals and helping them complete forms. A physician was on hand to screen individuals if there were any questions about whether someone should receive the vaccine.

I was one of 20 RNs, most of whom worked as county public health nurses. We had a brief reminder of the vaccine administration procedure (we had received instructions and a link to a video demonstration about administering the vaccine the prior week), and then were sent to our stations at tables in the large gymnasium. There was a light-hearted and almost casual atmosphere—the key to it, I think, was that there were no needles involved. Such looks of relief when I took the rubber tip off the applicator!

I had just one solitary young man come to my table. He looked embarrassed and a little nervous, judging from his leg twitching up and […]

2016-11-21T13:20:50-05:00November 30th, 2009|career|0 Comments
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