The American Nurses Association (ANA)

With the ANA support in March of 2010 President Obama proposed the Health Care Reform Act to help assure individuals better, high-quality, and affordable health care insurance coverage. ("Health care reform in the United States", 2010, p.1). "The health care is a human right, and will continue to fight on behalf of nurses and their patients to ensure that this is achieved" (Ana: Ensuring nurses, paragraph, 1). By attending and speaking at public health care events, being involved with other stakeholders like; Health Reform Dialogue (HRD) group, and along with staying up to date and in contact with the Congress and Capitol Hill the ANA shows it's involvement to achieving the goal that the health care reform act insures. Stakeholders and other health care professional organizations gather to speak about " health coverage, disease prevention, and increasing funds for education. These ideas are now being projected to the media and Congress (Ana: Ensuring nurses).

In 1969, the foundation of the National Student Nurses' Association was created (NSNA). This organization main goal is to teach and help future Registered Nurses with the skills need to be successful in their profession (NSNA). In the Health care industry a Registered Nurse has the opportunity to move up the ladder and become a skilled professional in a higher position, such as, a head nurse or a manager in their department. In addition, being a part of the National Student Nurses' Association can benefit member by helping them pay for school with the help of scholarships and grants (NSNA). Furthermore, the NSNA organizes conventions, plans meeting, and have classes that will help the student learn to become a stronger individual and achieve

enhance quality. Some of the nursing issues in health care reform are; access to care,

Since 1964, the ANA’s House of Delegates adopted a position “that ANA continue to work toward baccalaureate education as the foundation for professional nursing practice.” (ANA Reaffirms Commitment to BSN for Entry into Practice , 2000) The ANA has reinforced its position whenever challenged or questioned. The ANA’s emphasis on BSN as minimum standard has been debated over the years. Competence of ADN and BSN have proven fairly equal in practice. The medical profession is increasingly technical in its scope. The ANA believes a BSN is able to solve the complex issues of nursing today. BSN also places a nurse on equal footing with other medical professions which have a baccalaureate as minimum standard.

According to Keenan (1999), standardized nursing language is a “common language, readily understood by all nurses, to describe care” (p. 1 2). The American Nurses Association (ANA) has 13 recognized standardized nursing terminologies that support nursing practice. The following are the terminologies and the year they were recognized.

There are several nursing organizations, both locally and nationally that provide opportunities for professional development. Nurses can join a general, state, or specialty nursing organization. After doing some research I think joining the American Nurses Association (ANA) will provide me with the opportunities and education I've been looking for. The organization has a lot to provide such as an online continuing education library, access to state and national meetings/conferences, programs that enhance and extend leadership skills, professional opportunities, access to various professional tools, and much more. The ANA help develop national standards, represent nurses on important matters, and participates in state associations. In my

The Nurse and Health Care Worker Protection Act of 2015, or H.R. 4266, was reintroduced to congress in December of 2015 by Representative John Conyers and Senator Al Franken (Mitchell & Dawson, 2016). It is legislation that attempts to protect patients, nurses, nurse assistants, and other healthcare workers from injuries as a result of unsafe patient handling and mobilization. Congress found that in 2014, registered nurses were the sixth largest profession who were reporting musculoskeletal disorders and injuries as a result of their employment with 11,360 cases; the second highest profession in 2014 of reported musculoskeletal injuries was nursing assistants with 20,020 cases (H.R. 4266, 2015).

The meeting I attended was the Arizona State Board of Nursing via livestream on September 17, 2015. This meeting is open to the public to attend or watch online livestream which is what I did. The members of attendance were: Board President Randy C. Quinn, RN, MSN, CRNA, Board Vice President Carolyn Jo McCormies, RN, MS, FNP-BC, Board Secretary Terri Berrigan, LPN, C-AL, and Board Members Lori A. Gutierrez, BS, RN-C, DON-CLTC, CBN, Jana Machesky, LPN, Kathryn L. Busby, J.D., Dr. Kimberly A. Post, DPN, MBA/HCM, RN, NEA-BC, M. Shawn Harrell, RN, MS, and lastly Melinda Pheanis Preston, DNP, APRN, PMHNP-BC. According to the Arizona Board of Nursing mission statement their organization protects and promotes the welfare of the public ensuring that each person holding a nursing license of the practice of nursing license or certificate is competent to practice safely (“Mission Statement,” n.d.). The purpose of these board meetings is to discuss any regulations that need investigating so they keep the nursing standards to protect the public. This involves bringing forth nurses to discuss any disciplinary actions that have been brought up against them or that needs further review.

Many nurses had to leave the profession because of back injuries suffered on the job. Some studies were conducted including different methods to try to reduce the number of injuries on the job. The annual costs for injuries in nursing are around $20 billion. The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health conducted a project to improve safety of nurses having to move or lift bariatric patients, patients whose weight exceeds the maximum that can be used by moving or lifting equipment. These patients require more care and treatment due to problems associated with obesity. The project determined the practices for bariatric patients in different hospitals and identified evidence based practices.

Nurses report approximately 40,000 back-related injuries each year (O’Malley et al., 2007). Nurses proudly work on the front lines of health care. Service and sacrifice mark the occupation. However, the labor-intensive requirements of the job can compromise their own health, placing nurses at a 76% risk of injury (Charney, Simmons, Lary, & Metz, 2006). Aside from exposure to communicative pathogens, the more subtle danger to nurses is in the basic nursing task of manually handling patients. Schools and hospitals can teach proper lifting techniques, but the reality is that the pressure on nurses to act quickly and decisively can force them to revert to awkward postures and positions (Resnick & Sanchez, 2009). The increasingly heavier patient demographic and aging nurse population compounds these issues (Resnick & Sanchez, 2009; Wardell, 2007). In a 2001 survey, the American Journal of Nursing reported that 38% of nurses suffered from back pain severe enough to miss days of work, and up to 12% actually leave the profession for the primary reason of back pain (de Castro, 2004; Wardell, 2007). Back injuries are a product of professional nursing practice through the years. Discovering ways to reduce the frequency and severity of back injuries in nurses will be crucial moving forward.

Since we are on the same unit for clinical I’m glad to see that you had similar thoughts to my discussion post this week. Since the Labor and Delivery floor doesn’t have CNAs the nurses are required to complete more tasks in the long run. Honestly the unit usually has such a low census and that is why I believe they don’t use CNAs. The nurses that I have shadowed on the floor have been with Providence for quite awhile and sometimes it seems like they could complete tasks with their eyes closed. Compared to the Matthews (2005) articles our nurses seem to finish their assigned duties in a flash. They really do make things look easy. For example, I had never swaddled a baby before and a nurse showed me in about 2 seconds flat. When I tried it

There are various types of nursing homes throughout the country . It is imperative to realize that when locating a secure living environment for the elderly ; the heart of the facility lies within the kitchen . According to a private foundation , " one study cited in the report found as many as 85 percent of the elderly living in some of the nation's more than 17,000 nursing homes are malnourished " (Commonwealth Fund , 2007 ) . In addition to an appropriate establishment , one should consider who prepares the meals and the quality of the food . When a senior enters the dining room for feeding time , the majority of the time a meal will not serve their best interest . For that reason , creating healthier menus for retirement homes will improve

To qualify for a career, job, or position in the field of nursing, a person must have specific skills, abilities, and qualifications. Professionals who work in the field, as well as career guidebooks, suggest that if a person is interested in this career path, he or she should be able to have time management skills, communication skills, being able to treat patients and delegation skills. Time management skills, is for someone to be able to have time for their families and friends, but have time to work or to study in order to be a nurse. Communication skills are a huge part in the nursing field. Being able to communicate with your co-workers or your patients is very helpful in order to be a nurse. Working with patients remembering what they

Nurses today, are currently facing a common work-related health condition, jeopardizing their full capability to perform efficiently at work. The arising matter in the nursing profession within Australia is called the musculoskeletal disorder (MSD). ‘MSD is the presence of discomfort or damage within the muscles, skeletal system, joints, connective tissues, associated nerves and or soft tissues’ (Smith & Leggat, 2003). MSD also involves ‘lower back pains, spinal disk generation, disk prolapse, muscle tears and spinal fractures causing pain continually or in a specific manner so it differs’ (Smith & Leggat, 2003). This work-related back injury appears due to ‘the physical demands in the nursing profession, particularly when it comes to patient manual handling and due to the lack of proper education and training’ (Mitchell, O’Sullivan, Burnette, Straker, Rudd, 2008). To reduce and prevent these injuries faced by nurses within Australia healthcare settings, Worksafe Victoria adopted and advocated the “No Lift” approach

Heavy lifting causes an accident in the workplace such as back pain and injury. The health and safety Executive (2004) reported over 15000 manual handling accident in the health care division and, highest number were associated with client handling. Forty per cent illness non-attendance in the NHS is due to manual handling injuries. The Royal college of Nursing (2003) established a code of practice for handling that specifies that two health care staff should lift no more than 50.8kg.