Nevada legislative update now is the time for YOUR voice to be heard!

Nevada RNformation, May-Jul 2003 by Black, Lisa

Nurse to Patient Ratios

Multistate Licensure

Workplace Violence

Funding for Nursing Education

As this issue of the Nevada RNformation goes to print, we have just passed the deadline for bills to be passed out of their first committee and are nearing the date when all bills must have passed out of their house of origin. In the February edition of the Nevada RNformation, we briefly introduced the primary bills of importance to nursing in the 2003 legislative session. In this issue, we will revisit those initiatives and review a couple additional bills that have been introduced this session. Now is the time for you to offer your opinion on these legislative proposals. Each of the following initiatives WILL affect your nursing practice and legislators MUST hear from you in order to make informed decisions on your behalf. Any citizen can comment on any bill being heard by the legislature by visiting the opinion page of the State of Nevada Legislative website (www.leg.state.nv.us/72nd/

Opinions2003/index.cfm). All that is required is to enter the bill number you wish to speak to and enter your comments. You also can contact lawmakers individually. Contact information for each of Nevada's lawmakers can be found on page 6. A roster list of each of the legislative committees can be found on page 24 in this issue as well.

Assembly Bill 313, which would create minimum nurse to patient ratios in Nevada's acute care facilities and other health care settings was heard by the assembly health and human services committee on April 2, 2003. Facing tremendous opposition by nursing administration and hospital groups, the bill sponsors elected to amend the bill to direct the interim health care committee to study the issue of nurse staffing ratios in hospitals and similar health care facilities. If passed, the study would establish parameters for nurse staffing plans in hospitals and for required recordkeeping by hospitals concerning statistics related to nurse staffing. This study would also examine the maximum number of hours a nurse can safely work and under what conditions a nurse may refuse a work assignment. This study would be completed by June 1, 2004 and would be reconsidered by the 2005 legislative session for possible drafting of legislation that would create a limit on the number of patients a nurse can legally care for.

Senate Bill 93, sponsored by the Nevada State Board of Nursing, seeks legislative authority for Nevada to enter into a mutual recognition compact whereby nurses licensed in Nevada will be able to practice in other compact without obtaining licensure in that state. This proposal was presented to the 2001 legislature and NNA had significant concerns with the specifics of the compact administration. Since that time, NNA and the State Board of Nursing have dialogued extensively and have agreed on a set of provisions that will be included in the enabling language, or rules, that are used to implement the mutual recognition compact in Nevada. While there are some nursing organizations that still have concerns about the language of the nurse licensure compact, it is the position of the Nevada Nurses Association that these areas of agreement will ensure that nurses licensed in Nevada are afforded due process in matters before the Board of Nursing and that the integrity of the nursing profession in Nevada is protected. SB 93 has now passed out of the Senate and has been sent to the Assembly Commerce and Labor Committee for further consideration. If SB 93 is passed out of the Assembly and signed by the Governor, the Nevada State Board of Nursing will then begin the process of drafting regulations to implement the interstate compact in Nevada. This process will be accompanied by a series of public hearings and any nurse or member of the public can attend these hearings and address the Board during the public forum that precedes all hearings before the Board of Nursing. Nursing's voice will be a vital part of this process as the regulations that govern this new licensure model are drafted For more information on meetings of the Nevada State Board of Nursing or about the mutual recognition compact, visit the Board's website at www.state.nv.us/boards/nsbn. Meeting schedules and agendas, as well as other information about the Nevada State Board of Nursing can be found at this site. The actual language of the nurse licensure compact can be found at www.ncsbn.org/public/nurselicensurecompact/nurselicensurecompact_ndex.htm. If you do not have internet access, the administrative office of the Nevada State Board of Nursing can be reached by telephone at (775) 688-2620.

Nevada lawmakers and nursing stakeholders, including the Nevada Nurses Association, continue to meet and dialogue about how to realize the goal of doubling enrollment in Nevada's schools of nursing. Assembly Bill 378, sponsored by former Assemblywoman Vivian Freeman in 2001, mandated that the University and Community College System or Nevada (UCCSN) develop a plan to double enrollments by 2007. During the past biennium, a plan was developed with input by the directors of each of Nevada's schools of nursing. Given the condition of our state budget, this proposal has faced a difficult challenge in obtaining the funding that would allow it to be implemented. At press time, a probable compromise has been reached that will allow our schools of nursing to double their enrollment, but this plan is contingent upon the UCCSN receiving legislative funding at 86% of the cost required to operate the schools. The finance committees of the legislature are seeking to fund the UCCSN at only 80%, however, which will not allow this goal to be accomplished. While it is the position of the Nevada Nurses Association that we absolutely MUST address retention and work environment issues simultaneously with any effort to recruit new nurses into the profession, increasing the number of nurses entering the profession in Nevada is a critical first step. Currently, Nevada's schools of nursing are capable of graduating less then half of the nurses needed by our state each year and will become increasingly unable to meet the health care needs of Nevada's growing population if steps are not taken to remedy this growing crisis.