2004 Annual Meeting Follow-up

Nursing BC, Oct 2004

Resolutions

The Board of Directors made the following decisions in regards to resolutions passed at the 2004 Annual Meeting.

Retired Registered Nurses

RESOLVED A, That RNABC request the Nursing Advisory Committee of British Columbia to study the phenomenon, issues and professional implications of the working retirement of registered nurses; and be it further

RESOLVED B, That the RNABC communicate the outcome of this study to its members if and when the study is done.

RNABC will request the Nursing Advisory Committee of B.C. to act on the resolution.

Gerontological Nursing

RESOLVED, That RNABC acknowledge the growing importance of gerontological nursing knowledge and practice by promoting the need for ongoing education and skills updates related to care of the older adult for registered nurses working in all care delivery areas as well as reviewing the adequacy of competencies about the nursing care of the older adult in the RNABC Competencies Required of a New Graduate.

Action includes providing an online continuing education session in 2005 based on the RNABC teleconference "Creating a Common Approach to Aggression, Agitation and Excessive Behaviours," which was held in March 2004, and publishing an article in Nursing BC related to gerontological nursing. RNABC will also be adding a link to its Web site to raise awareness of other continuing education programs on this topic. The Gerontological Nurses Professional Practice Group and expert nurses will continue to be involved in the review of RNABC's Competencies Required of a New Graduate.

BCNU Patient's Bill of Rights

RESOLVED, That this assembly request that the RNABC Board of Directors reconsider its decision to not take a position on the BCNU Patient's Bill of Rights.

Individual board members indicated that, following the 2004 Annual Meeting in April, they had not received any new or additional information from registrants or others on this matter. "With no further information on which to address the issue, the Board decided not to reconsider it's decision made at the March 2004 board meeting - that endorsement of the Patient's Bill of Rights is not consistent with RNABC's mandate and to not take a position on this document.

Royal Commission on the Future of Health Care

RESOLVED, That this assembly recommend to the RNABC Board of Directors that the Board endorse the recommendations of the Royal Commission on the Future of Health Care in Canada chaired by the Honourable Roy Romanow.

The Canadian Nurses Association, of which RNABC is a member, has endorsed the report of the Royal Commission on the Future of Health Care in Canada. The RNABC Board of Directors supports CNA's endorsement.

Issues Forum

The Board considered the issue topic Pain Management: An Ethical Issue, which was raised during the Issues Forum at the 2004 Annual Meeting. Action on this issue will occur within RNABC's Resource Development and Communication, and Practice Support Programs and will include providing a continuing education session on pain management and publishing an article in Nursing BC on the topic (see page 20).