President's message

Arizona Nurse,  May 2001  by Rissi, Jill

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In 1992, the ANA released Nursing's Agenda For Health Care Reform. This comprehensive report articulated the profession's vision for the future of the U.S. health care system. In March 2001, the Institute of Medicine (IOM) released Crossing the Quality Chasm: A New Health System for the 21st Century as a follow-up to a 1999 report, To Err is Human: Building a Safer Health System. With the first IOM report, professional nursing noted the similarities in the findings and conclusions with issues being raised by nurses concerned about patient safety. While both reports recognize the contribution of RN's, the March 2001 report bears striking resemblance to the issues established in Nursing's Agenda.

For example, the IOM report states: "Health care has safety and quality problems because it relies on outmoded systems of work." By speaking to the need to revamp the entire health care system to ensure quality care, the report reinforces what ANA, AzNA and individual nurses have been saying for a long time - that incremental changes are not sufficient to address systemic problems such as inadequate staffing.

The nursing profession is well positioned to advocate for strategies that address system change based on appropriate patient outcome measures. Nurses possess significant knowledge and practice expertise in areas ranging from the management of chronic conditions to the application of best practice models of care and the rapid dissemination of research findings into practice.

The point of this message - and of this issue of the Arizona Nurse - is that professional nursing exists on many levels. Not only are we compelled to address day to day workplace issues, we must also be vigilant about protecting the role of professional nursing in the larger healthcare system. The bad news is that no one person can be the standard bearer for the full range of issues we face today. Quite possibly, no one organization can do this. The good news and in my opinion the greatest hope for both the profession and the healthcare system - is that each of us has unique interests and talents. As much as your professional association tries to do, we're only as good as the efforts,

commitment and dedication of our members. If we want someone else to negotiate our terms of employment or redefine the role of the nurse within a new healthcare system, I'm sure that there are more than a few who would be willing to take that power from us. But we may not like the result.

Talent, ability and knowledge exist only within individuals, and it is only with the collective talents of individuals that we can articulate and realize our vision of a healthcare system that meets the needs of patients as well as the dedicated health care professionals who seek to provide safe, quality care. Note: Special thanks to ANA staff for the comparative analysis of the IOM reports.

Copyright Arizona State Nurses Association May 2001
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