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The Alaska Nurse Circulation 8,000 to every Registered Nurse, Licensed Practical Nurse and Student Nurse in Alaska Volume 55 No. 1
The Official Publication of the Alaska Nurses Association
AaNA Backs API Nurses by Lynn Hartz Nurses at the Alaska Psychiatric Institute (API) in Anchorage, Alaska have approached the Alaska Nurses Association and the Alaska State Board of Nursing with concerns about mandatory overtime at their facility. API nurses say current staffing can result in 16 hour shifts when mandatory or voluntary overtime is added to their regular shift. The nurses cite a reduction in pay due to elimination of “stand by” compensation, which has resulted in nurse resignations and short staffing. The President of the Alaska Nurses Association, Rebecca Bolling, RN, in a December letter to Commissioner Joel Gilbertson of the Alaska Department of Health and Social Services noted “Psychiatric nurses serve in a special capacity—they are dealing with patients where potential harm can occur from the patients themselves, and also from other patients. Both nationwide and in Alaska we are already facing a nursing shortfall within the workforce, and psychiatric nurses are one of the specialties that have the greatest shortage level. Further, API is a public facility and the nurses there aren’t able to turn away patients when the facility is understaffed. These working conditions have driven RNs to resign, which
only further increases the problem of the shortage. If the wages and benefits offered for these positions is not competitive enough to attract and retain qualified nurses, the problem will continue to perpetuate itself.” Ms. Bolling volunteered the assistance of the association in creating a resolution to the problem. In a written response, Commissioner Gilbertson replied that he “will continue to look for innovative solutions and will have discussions with the legislature concerning the pay issue.” In January 2005, the Commissioner requested that the Governor’s Administration consider a reclassification survey to examine the state’s pay for RNs and potentially move them to a different level with higher pay in order to attract and retain RNs. Regarding API nurses safety concerns, the Board of Nursing cited an advisory opinion in their December meeting stating “Nursing along with the National Council of State B o a rds of Nursing promotes safe and effective nursing practice in the interest of p rotecting public health and welfare. Therefore, the Alaska Board of Nursing recognizes the professional responsibility of nurses to accept or decline overtime assignments based on their self-assessment of ability to provide safe care.”
February 2005
National Nurses Week Page 3
Mass Vaccination Drill Page 6
80% of Candidates Win Page 10
Inside This Issue AaNA Backs API Nurses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Message from the Executive Director . . . . . . . . 1
Protect your License—Reporting to the Board of Nursing Message from the Executive Director Camille Soleil, JD AaNA Executive Director Did you know that you have an obligation to report . . . “through proper channels, facts known to the nurse regarding incompetent, unprofessional, or illegal practice of a health care provider unless it has already been reported and the provider is already participating in a treatment or educational program approved by the appropriate board;”? 12 AAC 44.770. UNPROFESSIONAL CONDUCT (13). But what does this mean? It means that in order to protect your license you need to be aware of circumstances around you and make sure that your react to situations which endanger a patient or cause concern about the care they are receiving. What? I need specifics! Okay—how about staffing. A hot topic of
the day across the US. First, you must remember that the Board of Nursing is there to protect the public from unsafe nursing practice and the Board only has control over nurses (although they can seek prosecution of those pretending to be nurses, too.) So, back to staffing. You show up for work and you recognize that your floor is u n d e r s t a ffed. You know, from past experience, that when understaffed the patients do not get the care they deserve and the charting is d i fficult to do. The Board Regulations define u n p rofessional conduct as, “Nursing conduct that could adversely affect the health and w e l f a re of the public . . .” (12 AAC 44.770 U n p rofessional Conduct.) The regulation goes on to give specific examples, which include, • “failing to use sufficient knowledge, skills or nursing judgment in the practice of nursing . . .” (subsection (1)); • “failing to perf o rm acts within the nurse’s scope of competence which are necessary to prevent substantial risk or harm to a client” (subsection (5)); • physically neglecting a client (subsection 7); and Continued on page 4
President’s Message . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 National Nurses Week 2005. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Spotlight Kodiak . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Spotlight Anchorage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 Notes on Nurses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 Membership Application. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 AaNA Committees . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 80% of Candidates Endorsed by AaNA PAC Win Their Elections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 AaNA Working for our Members . . . . . . . . . . 11 Self Nomination Now Available for 2005 Offices. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 AaNA Report on the Board of Nursing Meeting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 Mental Health Resources In Alaska . . . . . . . . 15 New Products/Publications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 ANA’s Handle With Care Campaign . . . . . . . . 17 2005 Nursing Research Grant . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 Letter to the Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
The AaNA Vision Empowering Alaska nurses to be dynamic leaders, powerful in both the health care and political communities.