President's Message

Alabama Nurse,  Jun-Aug 2005  by Donoghue, Janet

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Health care in America is under increasing pressure from a number of sources, and the health care delivery system is changing rapidly. Costs for health care continue to rise faster than inflation. There are increasing concerns about a national nurse shortage, forecast to reach a peak around 2020. Studies show that by the year 2020 the national RN shortfall will exceed 800,000 nurses-29% of the demand. The demographics of the aging "Baby Boomer" generation will markedly increase the numbers of elderly people requiring medical care. In addition, the throughput capacity of our nation's nursing schools is already restricted, resulting in over 26,000 fully qualified potential nursing students being denied admission to nursing schools in 2004. A major driver in this problem is the shortage of qualified nursing school faculty to maintain current levels, much less expand capacity. Other problems include mandatory overtime/voluntary overtime and the stress or fatigue factor; staffing shortages realized from the nursing shortfall; disparities in, and access to, quality health care; lack of adequate health care in poor or rural areas; and ethical issues in medical care.

A key question for all nurses in Alabama is: How can a nurse impact the health care field and make a difference? Beyond the obvious answer of providing professional, highly competent nursing care to our patients in our individual jobs, an increasingly logical answer is for nurses to get involved in public policy formulation. Public policy is defined as "Principles that govern action directed toward a given end." These include government policy; social policy/promotion for the public welfare; institutional policy in the workplace; and organizational policy. Involvement in public policy leads to political action. This clearly involves influencing policy makers, such as your state legislator or senator. Since, as Congressman Tip O'Neill said, "All politics is local", political action must begin at the grassroots level. Therefore, your active involvement with ASNA and your contributions to the ASNA Political Action Committee (PAC) can result in visibility and leverage with our lawmakers. I urge all of you to become involved, to let your legislators know how you feel on nursing and health care issues. You can find links on the ASNA website to connect you to your legislators. If you don't let lawmakers know what you think on the issues, someone else will fill the vacuum and your voice will go unheard. Remember, no one is more expert on nursing issues than you. Let your lawmakers hear from you.

Another way to get involved is to engage in volunteer work. ASNA is currently involved in several initiatives at the local level to get nurses involved in community service. Our overarching goal is to both provide a needed community service, and to raise the profile and public visibility of the Alabama State Nurses Association. For example, our "new" District 1 in the Huntsville/North Alabama area will partner with the Alabama Hospital Association and the Alabama Department of Public Health to promote a project for hypertension screening and stroke prevention. This pilot program is planned for Saturday, July 9th in the Huntsville area. Please contact any of the District 1 officers or me to get involved. We need both staff nurses and students to help make this a success. If we are successful, we plan to spread the effort around the state via our other Districts. To paraphrase a famous quote from the past, "If not you, then who will step forward to help; if not now, then when?" I hope to see you in July.

by Janet Donoghue, BS, RN, SANE-A

Copyright Alabama State Nurses' Association Jun-Aug 2005
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