WASHINGTON, May 3 /PRNewswire/ -- The contribution of America's 2.7 million registered nurses, in saving lives and improving the health of millions of individuals, is the focus of National Nurses Week, May 6-12. "Nurses: Your Voice, Your Health, Your Life" is the theme for 2004, which will recognize nurses by drawing special attention to nurse staffing issues. Higher levels of registered nurse (RN) staffing are the key to both healthier patients and more satisfied nurses.
"Inappropriate nurse staffing is the number one concern of nurses today," said ANA President Barbara A. Blakeney, MS, APRN,BC, ANP. A growing body of research, including studies by the Institute of Medicine in 2003; in the Journal of the American Medical Association in 2002 and by ANA in 2000 underscores the link between nurse staffing, quality of patient care and patient outcomes.
For that reason, ANA is strongly supporting legislation that mandates appropriate nurse staffing, (S. 991), and (H.R.3656).
"This legislation is needed to help improve the work environment for nurses," Blakeney said. "It will help in recruiting new nurses into the profession and help retain those nurses already practicing," she added. According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, there will be a shortage of more than 275,000 RNs by 2010.
Rather than mandating a specific numeric ratio, the bills would require developing a staffing system that "ensures a number of RNs on each shift and in each unit of the hospital to ensure appropriate staffing levels for patient care." These staffing systems would require the input of direct-care RNs, the decision-makers at the bedside. The legislation also requires public reporting of nurse staffing information and provides whistleblower protections for nurses who speak out about patient care issues.
According to Gallup polls, the public ranks nurses as the number one "most trusted" professional.
National Nurses Week is celebrated throughout the United States beginning May 6, also known as National Nurses Day, through May 12, the birthday of Florence Nightingale, the founder of nursing as a modern profession.
For more information, go to: http://www.nursingworld.org/pressrel/nnw/nnwhist.htm
To contact a state nurses association go to: http://nursingworld.org/snaaddr.htm
The American Nurses Association is the only full-service professional organization representing the nation's 2.7 million Registered Nurses through its constituent member associations. The 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.
American Nurses AssociationCONTACT: Carol Cooke, +1-202-651-7027, or Cindy Price, +1-202-651-7038,both of the American Nurses Association
