Our Political Action Plan

Due to the current and impending increasing nursing shortage and failed attempts to restore the balance, we support the Nurse Education, Expansion, and Development Act of 2009. Because the shortage can be attributed to the limited number of qualified nurse educators, it is vital that this bill be supported to ensure federal government grants to increase the number of faculty and thus nursing students.
Our political action plan includes:

• Shaping public opinion: Because public opinion influences the actions of legislators and regulatory bodies, we as future registered nurses need to share the knowledge we have gained from our personal experience and research about the negative impact of the nursing shortage. Present concerns to others by writing a letter to the editor of a newspaper or news magazines, give presentations during organizational meetings, etc.

• Communicating with Legislators and Officials: Personal letters reflecting thoughtful and informed opinions have a significant impact! Our expertise provides a valuable viewpoint and legislators appreciate anecdotes from our personal practice. Emailing, calling, visiting congressional/state representatives, and attending public meetings are also effective means of expressing our concerns.

We plan to contact Senator Cheryl Pflug of Washington. She serves for the Republican Party and has experience as a Registered Nurse as well as a health system adult education teacher. In her past political activity she has supported higher education for women and received the award for Outstanding Effort to Improve Washington Health Care. Some of her positions held within the Senate include the Caucus Vice Chair, '09-'10 and as a chair on a health care committee. We believe Senator Pflug will be a beneficial advocate to our bill because of her extensive activism in reforming health care, and especially her previous career as a Registered Nurse. We believe by informing her on the Nurse Education, Expansion and Development Act of 2009, we will be able to gain Republican support which could influence the success of our bill.
Information about Senator Cheryl Pflug was obtained from: http://src.leg.wa.gov/pflug/bio.htm





Another possible stakeholder we would like to educate on our Bill is Senator Tom Coburn of Oklahoma. Senator Coburn is a practicing pro bono physician who has served on both the House and Senate, and therefore could have a strong influence among fellow politicians he has collaborated with in the past. He has knowledge of what it would take to pass this bill in the House after it is passed in the Senate. Not only does he have a potential for a strong political impact he also has also filled the role of a health care provider and patient working closely with nurses. As a two-time cancer survivor in 2006 he is very aware of the nurse-patient ratio disparity, and the need for an increase in the number of nurse educators. He is a strong advocate for patients and the improvement of health care access and affordability. His previous teamwork with then-Senator Barack Obama is evidence of his willingness to work across party lines to support the cause of a bill he believes in.
Information about Senator Tom Coburn was obtained at: http://coburn.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/?p=accomplishments





• Becoming involved in nursing organization efforts: For example, the American Nursing Association-Political Action Committee (ANA-PAC) lobbies for the passage or defeat of bills and supports candidates for public office. In addition, many state nursing associations also have political action organizations.

Objectives, Influences, and Impact

                                    The Missing Nurse

             If the Nurse Education, Expansion, and Development Act of 2009 is passed then the federal government will be authorized to award grants to increase the number of nursing faculty and students entering baccalaureate nursing schools. Although measures have already been taken to solve the challenges of the nursing shortage, they have not been successful. The Nurse Reinvestment Act initially worked to increase applications to schools of nursing by 125 percent, yet nursing schools have failed to accommodate the increase in potential students due to limited resources and limited qualified Nurse Educators. The American Association of Colleges of Nursing estimates that between the years 2008-2009, 62.8 percent of nursing schools had from 1 to 16 vacant faculty positions. An even more shocking statistic that much of the health care population does not understand is that 49,948 eligible nursing student candidates were denied admission to nursing schools in 2008, primarily due to an insufficient number of faculty members. Looking at the current nursing trends, there will be at least 2,616 unfilled faculty positions in 2012. This act will ultimately prepare nursing students to serve as faculty through additional course work in education and by ensuring competency in advanced practice areas.

This Act has many potential impacts on the nursing field, clients, and health care system. Due to the increasing acuity of patients and the large population of geriatric patients, it is imperative that we have enough nurses to care for this influx of sick patients. The current number of doctorial nursing graduates has increased significantly over the past decade, however there are not enough incentives for these education prepared nurses to enter the teaching profession. We will continue to have to turn away potential nursing student candidates if we do not increase the number of faculty members. This act works by giving colleges the incentive to hire more nursing teachers and expand their programs. Although we have a pressing need to produce more BSN prepared nurses it is equally important that these nurses are fully qualified to be competent and successful in acute care settings and throughout the health care system. This Act will not allow the substitution of standards to receive the grant money, because many limitations and requirements from the institution are required to receive grant money. The successes of this Act will improve nurse staffing especially in the hospital and will in turn allow a higher level of care for patients. The health care center is strongly impacted by nurses because they are essential to patient care.

The governmental objective is to increase the number of nursing students and faculty through Health Resources and Services Administration offering a set grant to eligible schools of nursing.  The grant is intended to be used for the hiring of new faculty, retaining current faculty, purchasing educational equipment and audiovisual laboratories, enhancing clinical laboratories, repairing and expanding infrastructure, and recruiting students.  The basis on the grant will be determined by undergraduate or graduate level and full or part-time students.  There will be limitations of the grant based upon how long the student plans to attend school and whether or not the school is an accredited school of nursing. The school will also have to meet the Secretary of Education’s requirements to be declared eligible to receive a grant.

                If the Act is approved, the political impact will be an increase in the amount of federal government control over nursing education.  Basically, a secretary to the Health Resources and Services Administration will decide which schools are allowed access to the federal grants.  Additionally, the secretary is allowed to make “spot checks” to ensure that the schools are using the grants as they assured in the schools application.  If schools are not in accordance with their assurances, the secretary has the right to revoke their application for the grant.  As this amendment has not yet been passed into law, it remains unseen how strict or how relaxed the secretary will be when he or she is “spot checking the schools.” The main sponsor of the bill in the Senate is Senator Richard Durbin of Illinois. His co-sponsors in the Senate include Kirsten Gillibrand of New York, Daniel Inouye of Hawaii, Edward Kaufman of Delaware, Jeff Merkley of Oregon, and Ron Wyden of Oregon. While in the House, the main sponsor is Representative Nita Lowey of New York. Her co-sponsors include David Price of North Carolina and Janice Schakowsky of Illinois.

Information obtained from:

 http://www.govit.com/vote/congress.aspx?bill=2009-s-497

http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=s111-497

The Need for Change

        As the baby boomer generation gets older, there will be an increase in the amount of nurses needed, but a decrease in the number of nurses with baccalaureate degrees.  This growing population of patients will require more geriatric training to be incorporated into the nursing curriculum.  A main contributor to the increasing shortage is the lack of qualified nurse educators.  The introduction of the Nurse Education, Expansion, and Development Act of 2009, sponsored by Sen. Richard Durbin of Illinois, combats these issues at a federal level.

            There are nine components to this act of which include:

1. Establishing or significantly expanding an accelerated baccalaureate degree nursing program designed to graduate new nurses in 12 to 18 months.
2.  Establishing cooperative interdisciplinary training between schools of nursing and other specified health related fields.
3. Increasing admissions, enrollment, and retention of qualified individuals who are financially disadvantaged.
4. Increasing enrollment of minority and diverse student populations.
5. Increasing enrollment of new graduate baccalaureate nursing students in graduate programs that educate nurse faculty members.
6. Developing post-baccalaureate residency programs to prepare nurses for practice in specialty areas where nursing shortages are more severe.
7. Increasing integration of geriatric content into the core curriculum.
8. A discussion of the master's degree and doctoral degree programs that are successful in placing graduates as faculty in schools of nursing.
9. An examination of compensation disparities throughout the nursing profession and between higher education instructional faculty generally and higher education instructional nursing faculty.

http://thomas.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/D?d111:19:./temp/~bd11Oc:@@@L&summ2=m&|/home/LegislativeData.php

Senator Richard Durbin on Capitol Hill, March 10, 2009 in Washington, DC.