E. D.'s Notes, The

Alabama Nurse,  Jun-Aug 2006  by Decker, Joseph F II

• E-mail
• Print
• Link

The big news for this reporting period is the final passage by the Alabama Legislature of our Workplace Violence Bill, HB 390/ SB 187. After three years effort, this ASNA-sponsored legislation now makes it a Class C felony, carrying a possible sentence of 1-10 years in prison, to intentionally assault a nurse or other healthcare worker in the workplace. This provides much-needed legal protection for all Alabama nurses as they tend to the ill and injured in hospitals and various other healthcare settings throughout our state. It goes without saying that this new law will directly and positively impact staff/bedside nurses in Alabama, since the great majority of assaults occur in hospitals, especially Emergency Rooms, and in mental health facilities. A particular thank you goes to Rep. Barbara Boyd of Anniston and Sen. Ted Little of Auburn. Their steadfast support and persistence as sponsors of our bill carried the day for final action in Montgomery. In fact, the bill actually passed on the final day of the legislative session on April 17th. Additional thanks go to Dr. Barbara Witt, Dr. Sara Barger, Dr. Ruby Morrison, and Dr. Jeanette VenderMeer, who all actively lobbied on behalf of the ASNA effort. Finally, we must recognize our ASNA attorney and lobbyist, Don Eddins of Auburn. Don worked tirelessly throughout the legislative, session to make sure our bill continued to advance in the process toward final passage. His expertise and knowledge of how the legislature does business were clearly instrumental in our success. Well done!

A quick update on Convention activities: Helen Wilson and her entire Convention Committee have worked very hard to organize and orchestrate our 2006 Convention at the Auburn University hotel and Conference Center in Auburn. The Alabama Association of Nursing Students (AANS) President, Jennifer Toulon and her Board have been very active in the planning and coordination effort, and we expect outstanding attendance from students across the state. And we have recently been joined by the Alabama Organization of Nurse Leaders (AONL-formerly the Alabama Organization of Nurse Executives, AONE). The Nurse Leaders will now participate with us in Auburn in 2006, and again in 2007. We are most pleased to have them back! By the way, in a recent development, Barbara Blakeney, current President of the American Nurses Association, will be with us as a primary speaker on Saturday morning, 30 September. All of the program details and registration forms appear elsewhere in this issue; please review what we believe will be an outstanding program and decide now to join us in Auburn. Finally, your ASNA Board of Directors has voted to have Convention 2007 in Birmingham at the Wynfrey hotel at Riverchase, Friday thru Sunday, 14-16 September 2007. Dr. Jean Ivey has volunteered to be Convention Chair-Thank You, Jean!

Big congratulations are in order for Dr. Debbie Faulk, Dr. Franchie Parker and Monica Radney for their outstanding work on an innovative project on Conflict Management. They are the recent recipients of a $10,000 grant from the Center for American Nurses. The project involves developing a series of CD-ROMS on Communication, Team Building and Delegation, pre- and post-tests for each CD, and obtaining continuing education approval. The CDs will be disseminated to health care organizations and individual nurses in Alabama. "Realworld" scenarios are incorporated in to the videos in a case study format, with some very realistic role playing by the authors and others, to generate discussion and learning opportunities. The initial CD has now been completed, and has received overwhelmingly positive reviews.

Ruth Harrell and your Legislative Committee continue to work the issue of Nursing/Nursing Faculty Shortage. Ruth and I had the opportunity to meet with the Deans and Directors of the Schools of Nursing across the state at their Alabama Council of Administrators of Professional Nursing Education Programs (ACAPNEP) meeting in March at AUM here in Montgomery. They were kind enough to let us open discussion on scoping the issue and examining ways to address the problem as we go forward. We have since had several conference calls on the issue, and have formed a committee to help push the process ahead. There appear to be possibilities to work the problem both in the Alabama Legislature and in the various universities' budget processes, perhaps as early as 2007. The nursing shortage is already real, but all studies seem to indicate that it will steadily worsen, and peak between 2015-2020. We absolutely must address the looming faculty shortage, without which solving the RN shortfall will be near-impossible. We need to make every effort to avoid a crisis here in Alabama, and must work to convince the public and key players in the legislature and in universities to attack this building problem.

Finally, let me report on a terrific visit I had to North West Shoals Community College in Phil Campbell in March. ASNA District 1 President and NWSCC faculty member Ann Bales invited me up to speak to their graduating nursing class of over 80 students. I had the wonderful experience of talking to the students about ASNA, ANA and "the art of politics." It was a great opportunity to engage some of our "Best and Brightest" and to see for myself that our future nurses from NWSCC are a very bright and articulate group indeed. I hope to have that same opportunity at other schools of nursing around the state in the near future. Cheers, and hope to see all of you in Auburn for Convention 2006.