From: ndallen@r-node.pci.on.ca
Subject: ANA says staffing concerns not new to nurses
Organization: Echo Beach, Toronto
Date: Thu, 7 Jan 1993 18:04:00 GMT

Here is a press release from the American Nurses Association.

 ANA Says Staffing Concerns Not New to Nurses; Inadequacies Seen As
Part of Overriding Concern for Quality Patient Care
 To: National Desk, Medical Writer
 Contact: American Nurses Association, 202-554-4444,
          Kathryn Scott, BSN, RN, ext 242, or
          Lisa Wyatt, ext 240

   WASHINGTON, Jan. 6 -- A national survey conducted
for the American Nurses Association (ANA) from a field of more than
244,000 registered nurses found that nurses are concerned about
inadequate staffing because of the impact it may have on delivering
quality patient care.
   "Concerns about staffing are not new among nurses, who have
consistently cited a desire to provide quality patient care as their
overriding goal and motivation for becoming and remaining nurses,"
said Sandra L. Houglan, MS, RN, director of ANA's Center for
Workplace Advocacy and Labor Relations.  "Staffing issues are part of
larger concerns shared by nurses over professional respect and
recognition for their personal commitment to patient care and their
specialized health care education."
   A major survey of nurses was conducted for the ANA by the firm of
Fleishman-Hillard Research.  "The survey focused on four main issues
of concern to nurses -- patient care, professional respect,
compensation, and scheduling issues.
   The sample of some 1,200 nurses was drawn from a field of more
than 244,000 registered nurses in all 50 states, with a 73 percent
response rate and a 95 percent confidence level.  Nurses were sampled
from both collective bargaining and non-collective bargaining
facilities.  The survey was focused solely on staff nurses.
   The research found that patient care issues and professional
respect dominated nurses' concerns in the workplace.  Patient care
issues, which were strongly linked to staffing, ranked as the No. 1
priority in the workplace, followed by respect from hospital
management and treating nurses as professionals.  Nurses stated a
strong desire to be given credit for their nursing education and
their role as health care professionals.
   Most nurses expressed faith in the effectiveness of collective
bargaining in promoting a safe working environment and improving
staffing, but they did not believe collective bargaining alone would
help them gain respect from hospital management or physicians.
Nurses gave high marks to their state nurses associations for
promoting the professionalism of nursing and providing a
complementary mix of services to assure nurses' involvement in
decisions which affect the quality of patient care in their work
environment.
   Almost one-fifth, or 17 percent, of the nation's registered nurses
working in hospitals are represented for collective bargaining, about
the same percentage as the nation's workforce as a whole.  The
majority -- 61 percent -- of nurses who are in collective bargaining
units are represented by their state nurses association.
   The American Nurses Association is the only full-service
professional association and labor organization representing the
nation's 2 million registered nurses through its 53 constituent
associations.  ANA advances the nursing profession by fostering high
standards of nursing practice, promoting the economic and general
welfare 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.
 -30-
-- 
Nigel Allen, Toronto, Ontario    ndallen@r-node.gts.org
Newsgroups: talk.politics.medicine