The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have developed a checklist and recommended standards for health care providers to manage hospitalized patients with known or suspected Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS). Read more: http://1.usa.gov/1sATkDQ

HB 1259, Tanning Beds and Tanning Facilities, was signed into law by Governor Corbett on May 6, 2014. The Pennsylvania State Nurses Association (PSNA), representing more than 212,000 registered nurses in Pennsylvania, strongly supported HB 1259.

Now Act 41 of 2014, sponsored by Representative Frank Farry (R-142), this bill requires tanning facilities to register with the Pennsylvania Department of Health. Tanning facilities must place warning signs at their facilities and requires federal certification of tanning devices. No one less than 17 years of age shall be allowed to use a tanning facility and those 17 years of age must obtain written parental consent to use the facility.

“Nurses are a leading voice for patient safety and policy change,” states PSNA Chief Executive Officer Betsy M. Snook, MEd, BSN, RN. “Research shows that indoor ultraviolet tanning is a major public health issue. Fifty-five percent of college students have used indoor ultraviolet tanners and more than 419,000 new skin cancers are attributed to indoor tanning each year. This legislation takes a positive step in protecting young people from the unhealthy effects of tanning.”

Happy Nurses Week to all 212,000 Registered Nurses and the more than 50,000 LPNs in PA!! Thank you for your hard work and commitment to providing the best patient care.

The PA Action Coalition invites nurses and health care professional to attend their regional meeting at Penn State Hershey Medical Center on Thursday, May 15 from 9:30 am – 3 pm. There is no cost to attend this event. Agenda items include: (1) an overview of the IOM recommendations on nurse residency programs; (2) a panel discussion on nurse residency programs; and (3) open dialogue on experiences with nurse residency programs. Learn more here.

The Pennsylvania State Nurses Association (PSNA), representing more than 212,000 registered nurses in Pennsylvania, applauds Governor Corbett for listening to patients, parents and professional nurses on the compassionate use of medical cannabis. After meeting with parents of children who have Dravet Syndrome and other related severe seizure disorders, Governor Corbett today announced that he will discuss a medically responsible proposal that would allow access to cannabidiol (CBD) in Pennsylvania. Governor Corbett proposed several solutions, including new legislation that would allow a research-based pilot program with leading children’s hospitals in Pennsylvania.

“PSNA applauds the Governor’s decision to put politics aside and begin a meaningful dialogue surrounding the compassionate use of medical cannabis,” stated PSNA CEO Betsy M. Snook, MEd, BSN, RN. “We are prepared to collaborate with the administration and look forward to registered nurses remaining at the decision-making table. PSNA will continue to support further education of registered nurses and other health care providers regarding appropriate evidence-based therapeutic use of cannabis that have proven to be therapeutically effective for all patients.”

In January 2014 PSNA announced its support of Senate Bill 1182 “Medical Cannabis” introduced by Senator Mike Folmer and Senator Daylin Leach. SB 1182 both protects patients from prosecution when seeking the use of medicinal cannabis and protects health care providers who suggest medicinal cannabis to relieve intractable medical conditions or symptoms. PSNA supports the establishment of efficient drug delivery, growing and dispensing systems as contained within SB 1182.

It is the position of PSNA that medical marijuana is worthy of further rigorous clinical testing. To truly weigh the risks and benefits of medical marijuana, there must be federal-level open discussions regarding the conversion of marijuana from a Schedule I to Schedule II drug classification. Schedule II classification would allow testing of consistent grade medical marijuana in a randomized controlled fashion to ascertain the drug’s risk/benefit profile for a multitude of illnesses and symptoms.

Registered nurses from the Pennsylvania State Nurses Association – Political Action Committee (PSNA-PAC), representing more than 212,000 nurses in the Commonwealth, have endorsed the following candidates for the upcoming primary for the State House of Representatives:

• Judy Ward R.N. – R – 80th
• Representative Mauree Gingrich – R-101st
• Representative Stanley Saylor – R-94th
• Representative Karen Boback – R-117th
• Representative Pamela DeLissio – D-194th
• Representative Gerald Mullery – D-119th
• Representative Brian Sims – D-172nd
• Representative W. Curtis Thomas – D-181st

“These candidates are proven advocates for patients and nurses,” stated PSNA Chief Executive Officer Betsy M. Snook, MEd, BSN, RN. “Their leadership reaches beyond their legislative district, extending across the Commonwealth and improving health care in our communities. PSNA is proud to announce our 2014 Primary House endorsements.”

The American Nurse is a heart-warming documentary that gives a voice to nurses who are on the front lines of the biggest issues facing America – aging, war, poverty, prisons – through
the work and lives of five nurses. It is an examination of real people that will change how we think about nurses and how we wrestle with the challenges of healing America. The American Nurse is an important contribution to America’s ongoing conversation about what it means to care. Click here for full details and showings.

Click here to access a special one-hour access to the Spring 2014 issue of Pennsylvania Nurse.

The nation’s largest database assessing nursing care quality has expanded its measures of nurse staffing to the entire clinical practice area of hospitals by adding several new patient care unit types.

By measuring staffing in emergency departments, perioperative services and perinatal services as part of NDNQI®, a quality improvement solution of the American Nurses Association (ANA), hospital quality improvement teams now can generate data to correlate nurse staffing levels with patient outcomes in these areas. That data can assist the teams in developing staffing plans and strategies to improve outcomes, such as reductions in patient falls and infections that result from hospitalization.

“Optimal nurse staffing is a critical component in improving the quality of patient care and preventing avoidable complications,” said ANA President Karen A. Daley, PhD, RN, FAAN. “The expansion of the NDNQI staffing measures to these new areas will give hospitals a complete view of their performance when developing their staffing plans.”

The emergency, perioperative and perinatal areas present more complexities in measuring staffing than other patient care areas because of short patient lengths of stay and involvement of other, specialized types of personnel, such as paramedics, surgical technologists or lactation consultants who may or may not be nurses. Perioperative care includes services provided before, during and after surgery; the portion of perinatal care being measured for staffing levels includes postpartum services.

ANA worked with the Emergency Nurses Association (ENA), the Association of Perioperative Registered Nurses (AORN) and the Association of Women’s Health, Obstetric and Neonatal Nurses (AWHONN) in developing the method to quantify staffing levels per amount of patient time spent in each of the three care areas. Each specialty nursing organization is an organizational affiliate of ANA. Each organization sets its own standards for nurse staffing; the NDNQI measure is not intended to replace those standards, but to help identify the connection between staffing and patient outcomes and to facilitate comparison of staffing levels with the standards developed by the nursing specialty organizations.

“We are grateful for the collaboration with ENA, AORN and AWHONN,” said Daley. “NDNQI relied on their experts’ generous contributions to help inform the development of staffing measures for these units,” she said.
About 2,000 hospitals participate in NDNQI, which tracks a broad range of outcomes that indicate the quality of nursing services, such as hospital-acquired pressure ulcers. NDNQI establishes links between patient outcomes and nurse staffing characteristics, such as nursing care hours, education level, certification and turnover. NDNQI allows nursing units to compare their performance to similar units at other hospitals in their community, region or nationwide, and use the data to set benchmarks for excellence in nursing care.

ANA is the only full-service professional organization representing the interests of the nation’s 3.1 million registered nurses through its constituent and state nurses associations and its organizational affiliates. ANA advances the nursing profession by fostering high standards of nursing practice, promoting the rights of nurses in the workplace, projecting a positive and realistic view of nursing, and by lobbying the Congress and regulatory agencies on health care issues affecting nurses and the public.

Health care is constantly changing and evolving. Today, more than ever, nurses are stepping out of their comfort zones and becoming active contributors and innovators in the health care system. ANA’s FREE Nurses Week webinar explores and discusses both the professional and personal attributes that characterize the creativity and innovation needed to lead the way in transforming the changing state of health care. The presentation will provide important information that contemporary clinical leaders need to deliver exceptional care in today’s changing environments.