The American Nurses Association (ANA)

Mulloy, D. F., & Hughes, R. G. (2008). Patient safety & quality: an evidence-based handbook for nurses. Rockville, MD: Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. Retrieved from http://www.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK2678/

The nurse manager in today’s health care has a solid role in providing a healthy working environment. Healthy working environment is the basis for safe and better patient outcomes. Healthy working environment in a unit depends on the inspiration, motivation and support from the nurse manager and the management in all the ways. So as a nurse manager in a unit, the change I wish to initiate is the safe staffing patterns. Safe staffing patterns are always important for safe working environments to deliver excellent patient care. Staffing and scheduling means providing an adequate staff mix to meet the needs of the patients (Grohar-Murray & Langan, 2011). Nurse manager should know how to schedule and skill mix to provide adequate

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

The Texas Nurses Association (TNA) District one meeting for the El Paso area, took place on September 20, 2016 at 1845. The President of District one, Paula Meagher was unable to attend the meeting as she was ill. She did however provide us with a list of the current Advanced Practice Registered Nurse (APRN) issues that TNA is engaged in. The issue that really caught my attention was Texas Occupations Code, section 157.011 (b-1) which deals with APRN restrictions on writing prescriptions for Schedule two controlled substances. The TNA website states:

The American Nurses Association (ANA) and Health Ministries Association (HMA) have described Faith Community Nursing (FCN) as a form of a specialized nursing practice carried out by a nurse within a faith community (American Nurses Association & Health Ministries Association, 2012). The role played by the FCN is to protect, promote, and optimize health and abilities, prevent illness and injury, and respond to distress regarding the practice beliefs and the values of a faith community. The FCN emphases on the purposeful care of the spirit as well as the promotion of holistic health and prevention and the reduction of illness (ANA & HMA, 2012). Furthermore, the FCN plays a significant role in developing community partnerships required to

According to American Nurses Association [ANA] (2013), advocacy is the key element in the nursing profession and during lobby day, nurse 's expertise is valued and acknowledged in the policy development process. To further analyze the significance of lobbying day, this paper will identify the purpose of the New York State Nurses Association (NYSNA), describe one issue, identify the behavioral characteristics of the group leader, describe the discussion, and analyze alternative strategies for the full discussion of issues.

Nurses are undoubtedly one of the most trusted professionals worldwide. Patients, family members, and doctors entrust nurses to provide the utmost quality care to sick individuals. Top priorities of all nurses are advocacy for their patients: including advocating for their physical health, holistic welfare, and utmost importantly, their safety. Patient safety will always be the top priority when providing patient care. The nurse’s responsibility during every patient encounter is to ensure that each patient under her care, receives no harm. As a direct result of the previous statement, it is crucial that every nurse knows their rights to refuse unsafe patient assignments, the process to refuse unsafe patient assignments, and the legal or ethical ramifications that could present themselves if proper judgement is not used. By understanding these rules, nurses not only achieve the responsibility of advocating for patient safety but also safeguard their careers and license.

Workplace safety is a major issue faced by nurses in healthcare settings. It is said that, hospitals are hazardous workplaces; unsafe workplaces are dangerous for the patients too. Today, many nurses are suffering hospital violence, heavy workloads causing serious injuries, contracting diseases caused by exposures to certain diseases, antineoplastics, and certain health care toxins, that workers bring home to their families. This in turn leads to acute staff shortages. Ample supply of nurses is very important in providing safe and timely care to the patient population. Maintaining a healthy workplace will enable the healthcare systems to control costs associated with healthcare management as well as enhancing the productivity of nurses in health care. It is estimated that creating a healthy environment in the workplace not only benefit nurses, but also benefits patients and other members of the health care team. This report explains some of the safety issues existing in health care, which directly or indirectly affects nurses as well as the health of the Canadian population.

The professional organization and technology medium that were chosen was the American Nurses Association or ANA on LinkedIn. What makes the ANA a professional organization is that it is comprised of nurses who are advocates for the betterment of the nursing profession, involved in politics, offers opportunities to educate nurses, provides an ethical framework for contacts between clients and members, and self regulates by disciplining individuals whom have violated code. (Matthews, 2012) ANA advocates for nurses by “lobbying with congress and regulating agencies”. (https://www.linkedin.com/groups/2014748/profile) Continuing education credits are available, in addition to Webinars, and articles that relate to a broad spectrum of nurses

Based on my personal research and reflection, I have identified American Public Health Association, an association of public health professionals in the United States and other professionals from health related fields. This association comprise of environmentalists, nurses, doctors, dentists and many other professionals. However, there is more clarity about nurses in the public sector. The American Association of nurses is one of the largest groups registered by APHA. I therefore, choose nurses as a group of public health professionals to research on. Nurses in the public health sector are known to be people focused as well as community development oriented. Historically speaking, the American Association of Nurses has witnessed several changes in their current operations in comparison to earlier operations. Thatcher, (2012) asserted that “Earlier nurses were focused more on community organizations, population orientation as well as health promotions”. The community and population were the main partners to the association of the earlier nurses. Much emphasis was put on health promotion and prevention measures for various diseases. Community health care and health equity were also given priority by the American Nursing Association (ANA).

The broad research problem leading to this study is the belief that nursing shortage in facilities leads to patient safety issues. The review of available literature on this topic shows strong evidence that lower nurse staffing levels in hospitals are associated with worse patient outcomes. Some of these outcomes include very high patient to nurse ratio, fatigue for nurses leading to costly medical mistakes, social environment, nursing staff attrition from the most affected facilities. The study specifically attempts to find a way to understand how nurse

In the past few years there has been a growing need for registered nurses in hospitals. This is due to rising acuity of patients and shorter hospital stays. The safety and quality of patient care is directly related to the size and experience of the nursing workforce. Working conditions in some facilities have deteriorated due to

The patient problems of safety and quality care are applicable across the health care continuum. In a report released by the International Council of Nurses (2013) results from several research articles in support of the purpose for your proposed project are summarized. For example; in a multi-year study “increased workload, and unstable nursing unit environments were linked to negative patient outcomes including falls and medication errors …” (Duffield et al., 2011, p. 244). Specifically, researcher found “Lower levels of RN staffing are associated with higher rates of OPSN—urinary tract infections, pneumonia, shock and cardiac arrest, upper gastrointestinal (GI) bleeding, failure to rescue—and

“Patient safety is a serious global public health issue. Estimates show that in developed countries as many as one in 10 patients are harmed while receiving hospital care” (World Health Organization, 2016). This is an important issue that all providers of healthcare are involved in reducing the incidence of these types of preventable errors. With the nurse having the majority of face to face contact with the patient, their input is essential to improved outcomes.

One of the many goals of the nursing profession is to provide high-quality, safe patient care. There are many responsibilities that come with a nursing career and when the nurse to patient ratio increases, there is a possibility that it may hinder the safe care that patients deserve, and this may result in negative patient outcomes and level of satisfaction. Staffing is one of the many issues that healthcare facilities face. In many facilities, there never seems to be enough nurses per shift to provide high quality, thorough patient care which often leads to burnt out staff, and frustrated patients and families. This review discusses the findings of quantitative studies and one systematic review that involves patient outcomes in relation to nurse staffing.