Nurse

PICTURING A BETTER WORLD A photo review of 2015

BACKBREAKING WORK RNs lobby for safe patient handling

WHERE DID I READ THAT AGAIN? 2015 Editorial Index

NationalNurse Forces of

Nature

T H E V O I C E O F N AT I O N A L N U R S E S U N I T E D

RNs demand climate justice

November | December 2015

Letter from the Council of Presidents the end of the year is always a good time to take stock of accomplishments and missteps over the past 12 months, and to look toward the year ahead for all the joys and challenges we anticipate.

We’re always amazed when we consider all this organization and we nurses manage to pack into one year!

2015, as usual, was filled with successful organizing drives, hard-fought but victorious contract fights, and strikes. On our social unionism front, our members’ activism seemed to jump to the next level, as so many of us threw our time and energy into campaigns as diverse as restoring hospital services in northern Massachusetts, to protesting passage of the destructive TransPacific Partnership trade deal in Washington, D.C., to fighting petcoke dust piles in Chicago and tar sands oil refining in Southern California, to advocating for a crackdown on wage theft in El Paso, Texas. And, of course, now there is all things Bernie. As nurses, we understand that all of these aspects of life: healthcare access; clean food, air, and water; climate change and environmental health or destruction; safe and affordable housing; free education; and living wage jobs heavily factor into our patients’ and our communities’ health. So if nurses are patient advocates, we must advocate in our greater society for the things we know would improve patient health. You can get a sense of all of our work over this past year from

NATIONAL NURSE,™ (ISSN 2153-0386 print/ISSN 2153-0394 online) The Voice of National Nurses United, November/ December 2015 Volume 111/8 is published by National Nurses United, 2000 Franklin Street, Oakland, CA 946122908. It provides news of organizational activities and reports on developments of concern to all registered nurses across the nation. It also carries general coverage and commentary on matters of nursing practice, community and public health, and healthcare policy. It is published monthly except for combined issues in

the photo wrap-up in this month’s issue. We love to see you in action.

Also in this issue you can find coverage of what Massachusetts nurses are doing to address workplace violence, a report from CNA/NNOC’s two successful Staff Nurse Assemblies in November and December, and other news.

And this issue also contains the annual editorial index, which is always handy for locating a story you know you’ve read, but just can’t remember in which issue you read it!

2016 promises to be a doozy of a year. We’ve got the presidential election approaching and the chance to make history. It’s never been more apparent – with the election, the global violence we are facing, and the Paris climate change talks that just ended – that the world is at a crossroads. As nurses, it’s our job to lead all of humankind on the path of caring, compassion, and community.

Deborah Burger, RN | Karen Higgins, RN | Jean Ross, RN National Nurses United Council of Presidents

January-February, April-May, JulyAugust, and November-December.

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Please contact us with your story ideas They can be about practice or management trends you’ve observed, or simply something new you’ve encountered in the profession. They can be about one nurse, unit, or hospital, or about the wider landscape of healthcare policy from an RN’s perspective.

They can be humorous, or a matter of life and death. If you’re a writer and would like to contribute an article, please let us know. You can reach us at nationalnurse@nationalnursesunited.org

EXECUTIVE EDITOR

RoseAnn DeMoro EDITOR

Lucia Hwang GRAPHIC DESIGN

Jonathan Wieder COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR

Charles Idelson CONTRIBUTORS

Barb Brady, Gerard Brogan, RN, David Schildmeier PHOTOGRAPHY

Jaclyn Higgs, Tad Keyes, Choppy Oshiro