Hair and the ANA Congress on Nursing Practice and Economics?

Colorado Nurse, June, 2008 by Susan Foster

"Middle-aged women with graying hair should not have shoulder length hair," my Mother explained to me recently. Her words reverberated in my mind as I participated in my latest ANA Congress on Nursing Practice and Economics (CNPE) semiannual meeting in Washington, D.C. As I surveyed the extra large board room, tightly accommodating the 60-member Congress and the ANA staff, I was struck by how few non-gray-haired people there. The average age for an RN in the United States today is about 50. Well, that explains my findings. Or does it?

The two-day agenda was chocked full with issues to discuss, votes to make, feedback to provide, position statements and reports to read, deliberate, and revise. Becky Patton, the ANA President, reported on her exciting invitation this past week to join Senator Clinton's campaign in Tacoma, Washington. Becky flew on a chartered jet with the campaign entourage--proudly representing nursing at the highest levels of our government. Linda Stierle, the ANA Chief Executive Officer, gave a comprehensive update on the ANA Strategic Plan for 2007 which included publications, conferences, forums, and communications in matters ranging from Cover the Uninsured Week 2007, the National Database for Nursing Quality Indicators (NDNQI), U.S. Nurse Immigration Conference, Handle with Care [R] Campaign, and advocacy efforts on behalf of nursing workforce and workplace issues among many others.

Various CNPE Workgroups had prepared position statements for review and discussion. These included revision of the ANA Social Policy Statement, Nurse Competence, Continuum of Nursing Practice, Electronic Health Records, Nursing Credentials, Retail Clinics, and The Right to Accept or Reject an Assignment. Other reports that required careful consideration and feedback were the APRN Progress Report, work on Coordination of Care, and the position statement on Procedural Sedation which includes the drug propofol. The knowledge, skill, experience, and commitment demonstrated by the CNPE membership is profoundly overwhelming and at the same time energizing.

In between semi-annual meetings, the CNPE membership is expected to read, review, provide comments, and vote upon approximately 1-2 documents per month. These documents may come to the ANA CNPE from various sources for nursing's feedback, typically the National Quality Forum, the Joint Commission on the Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations and others. Each member receives a report card indicating how many activities she/he completed since the last meeting. Also, each member participates in one or more workgroups to develop position statements or to contribute to a specific area of ANA's Strategic Plan. The CNPE is definitely an active body of members in which "slackers" will be voted off the island!

I would like to personally invite each and every reader of this issue of The Colorado Nurse--gray hair or not, shoulder length hair or not--to consider running for the pleasure, experience, and opportunity of serving on the CNPE. Meanwhile, I have to tell you. I cut my hair!

Susan Foster, MSN, APRN