MASSACHUSETTS NURSE NEWSLETTER :: May/June 2008

LaBelle

Nearly 1,000 nurses and nursing students were lauded and applauded for their contributions to quality patient care during a May 6 National Nurses Day event at the Hynes Convention Center sponsored by the MNA and featuring keynote addresses by Grammy-award winning singer Patti LaBelle and health care journalist Suzanne Gordon.

“As RNs, we are the ones on the front line; the ones who make things work,” said MNA President Beth Piknick.

“Nurses are the heart, soul and backbone of health care and the Massachusetts Nurses Association has become the true voice of patient advocacy on Beacon Hill,” said Piknick. “This is the year we will make safe patient staffing a reality for the citizens of the commonwealth.”

Entering the room to a standing ovation, LaBelle in turn applauded the packed room full of nurses and nursing students, saying she was “in the presence of unique human beings.”

“You are an admirable group; you wake up every day to make others’ lives better,” said the world-renowned entertainer and author whose advocacy has raised awareness about AIDS, Alzheimer’s disease, diabetes, cancer and foster care.

“I have had my share of experience with the health care system,” said LaBelle, who lost three sisters to cancer, her father to Alzheimer’s and mother to diabetes, a disease that she also battles daily.

“I have made it to the age of 63 and feel blessed and proud to be standing here strong,” said LaBelle. “And I’m here today to pay tribute to nurses because you don’t always get the credit, recognition and money you deserve.”

“You lift people up; you are our unsung heroes,” said LaBelle. “Do not forget how important you are and how needed you are.”

At the urging of the audience, LaBelle broke into an impromptu rendition of “Over the Rainbow” dedicating the inspiring song to “all nurses” and imploring them “to keep fighting the good fight.”

Gordon, the author of seven books on nursing, said the nursing industry has been negatively impacted since the 1990s as a result of managed care.

“I call it mangled care,” said Gordon, noting that “the only way to deal with the problem of quality patient care is through safe staffing.”

Indeed, Gordon’s latest book “Safety in Numbers: Nurse-to-Patient Ratios and the Future of Health Care” weighs the cost, benefits and effectiveness of ratios in California and the state of Victoria, Australia, the two areas where RN staffing levels have been mandated for the longest length of time. LaBelle, Gordon wow crowd during National Nurses Day event Patti LaBelle Suzanne Gordon

“I believe in controlling a nurse’s work load because what you as nurses do is a matter of life and death,” said Gordon. “Work load control is a no-brainer; anyone who argues against patient limits just doesn’t get it.”

Gordon

Gordon said she experienced the nursing shortage first-hand a year and a half ago when she underwent an emergency appendectomy in a Middlebury, VT hospital.

“I was dependant on nurses for everything, but there were so few nurses and they were all so busy,” she said. “People were aware that I was a health care journalist, but it didn’t matter; there simply was not enough staff to take care of everyone.”

Addressing mandated safe staffing limits in California and Victoria, Australia, Gordon said the mandates have reduced nurse burn-out, brought inactive RNs back into the workplace and increased job satisfaction.

“Safe staffing limits are not a panacea, but it is working in California and Victoria and has eliminated many issues,” she said. “Patients understand that their care depends on RNs who don’t have an overburdened work load— but it seems that hospital CEOs don’t get what nurses do.”

“We need more hospital managers and administrators to join the struggle for better nursing care,” said Gordon. “And where are the doctors … why don’t they understand the importance of safe staffing … and if they do, why don’t they say so openly?”

“People call me a nurse advocate, but I am a patient advocate,” said Gordon. “The solution to better patient care is safer nurse staffing limits—only then will patients get the care they truly need.”