Nurses (Page 5)

On:
In: Home, Minnesota Nurses Association, National Nurses United, Nurses

By Barb Brady

MNA Communications Specialist

What do you get when you take several hundred nurses and mix in fun, learning, union solidarity, and inspiration? The 2018 MNA Convention and House of Delegates!  It’s Oct. 5-8 at the Radisson Blu in downtown Minneapolis.  MNA nurses will join together to learn about issues important to nurses, network, and set MNA’s course for the next year.

A special bonus this year: National Nurses United is bringing nurses from throughout the country to Minnesota for their national convention at the same time and place.  It’s a great opportunity to connect with nurses from other states in addition to meeting or re-uniting with MNA members! 
… Read more about: Union Rights = Advocacy Rights: Convention 2018  »

On:
In: Activism, Affordable Care Act, Home, Insurance, Nurses, Single Payer

By Tara Fugate

MNA Strategic Researcher

 

This Friday, June 22nd, nurses and hundreds of progressive activists from across the country are gathering in Minneapolis to support a simple, fair, and universal healthcare reform of the American healthcare system. Join MNA nurses and others in supporting an improved and expanded Medicare for All system by attending the March for Guaranteed Healthcare.

Healthcare is an undeniable basic need for every American. Yet, many still lack access to affordable care. Millions of Americans are uninsured or underinsured and make the challenging decision to delay or skip seeking care in order to avoid overwhelming medical debt.
… Read more about: March for Guaranteed Healthcare  »

On:
In: Home, Nurses, Unions

By Megan Gavin

MNA Education Specialist

Somebody described an excellent MNA chairperson like an octopus with arms everywhere reaching out to nurses and solving problems. As the highest level of MNA leadership within facilities, the MNA chairperson is the lifeblood of our organization. While MNA chairs do a hundred things before breakfast, their most important role is to ensure representation of bargaining unit members. Chairs facilitate the LMC process, negotiating with management throughout the duration of the contract. When members have complaints or concerns, it’s the chair who will hear first; it’s the chair who bears the brunt of frustrations; and they also lend a shoulder to cry on while listening to a nurse’s heart-breaking circumstances.
… Read more about: The State of the Union: MNA Chair Leadership Retreat  »

On:
In: Action, Board of Nursing, Home, Nurses, Unsafe Staffing

By Carrie Mortrud, RN

MNA Policy Project Specialist

Imagine this scenario.

You arrive at work at 3 p.m. and receive your 4-patient assignment. You begin reading about your patients prior to receiving report from the nurses on the day shift who cared for them before you. From the patient Kardex’s and flow sheets (I just dated myself) it seems as though this 4-patient assignment might be too much, unsafe, unrealistic, and impossible to progress the plan of care for the patients. Still, you reserve judgement until you hear from the nurses who cared for them during the day.

Patient 1 is heavy.
… Read more about: Whose decision is it anyway?  »

On:
In: Home, Hospitals, Member Blog, Nurses

 

By Julie Anderson, RN

GAC Commissioner

As nurses, we nurture, heal, care, and advocate—unless we’re talking about ourselves. We continually ignore the warnings of “put your own oxygen mask on before you apply someone else’s.”  We run trauma rooms while barely breaking a sweat. We face hostile patients, family, and coworkers and calmly de-escalate, redirect, and reassure everyone with a smile on our faces.  Still, what is the cost of continually putting others’ needs before your own?  Oftentimes going from one crisis to another barely able to take a deep breath, let alone debrief on what just happened and how it will affect us later on.
… Read more about: Nurses Need Care Too  »

On:
In: Activism, Bernie Sanders, Home, Keith Ellison, Legislative Policy, Nurses, Single Payer

By Geri Katz

MNA Healthcare Reform Specialist

 

Single payer (aka Medicare for All or guaranteed healthcare) is so hot right now.

Bernie Sanders raised the profile in the 2016 campaign; then Trump and GOP proposals to repeal the Affordable Care Act pushed even more people to the conclusion that healthcare is a basic need for all Americans.

The term “single payer” isn’t very descriptive, and it leaves room for a lot of confusion. Minnesota Senator John Marty says it best, “when someone asks you what kind of new car you bought, you don’t answer “dealer financed!”

So let’s define it: guaranteed healthcare (not insurance) for every American, including dental and vision.
… Read more about: Single Payer is So Hot Right Now.  »

On:
In: Elections, Home, Nurses

By Rick Fuentes

MNA Communications Specialist

(Note:  the author is teaching an educational session Wednesday, April 25 on social media at the MNA office at 345 Randolph Ave in St. Paul.  RSVPs for the class are available here:  https://mnnurses.org/events/?eventID=1532)

Facebook is in a lot of hot water, and many users may not even understand why.  What Facebook did wasn’t legally wrong, but it was a serious lapse in judgment.  MNA members, nurses, and others who are social media consumers have no choice but to protect ourselves from Facebook and the people who take advantage of Facebook.

 

Let’s review. 
… Read more about: Protect Yourself on Facebook  »

On:
In: Home, Nurses, Right to Work

By Barbara Brady

MNA Communications Specialist

 

Union membership empowers MNA nurses to be strong advocates for patients. Nurses know they have rights and a collective voice to speak up for quality patient care. MNA contracts ensure that nurses have a voice in the workplace. Nurses negotiate a fair return for their hard work. Nurses and many other workers have the freedom to join together in unions and work for common causes. However, a case before the U.S. Supreme Court could take away many of those rights, starting with public-sector union members.

Janus v AFSCME Council 31 challenges the right of public sector unions to require all employees who receive the benefits of union representation to pay the cost of that representation or “fair share fees.” Corporations and extremists want to weaken unions by bringing this case forward.
… Read more about: Patient Safety Starts with Nurses’ Collective Advocacy  »

On:
In: Erin Murphy, Home, Nurses, Politics

By Kate Drusch, RN-ICU

MNA Member

 

The things we hope will become real can only become reality through actual experience. St. Paul State Representative Erin Murphy can be our next Governor because of her experience as a leader in Minnesota. Murphy is a tireless, incredible organizer.  She has brought people together to help elect her to her House seat again and again since 2006. She went on to work hard to win the House Majority Leadership in 2012, one of the most powerful positions in Minnesota.  Working like the “charge nurse” of her side of the state’s House of Representatives, she was able to push through improvements in MinnesotaCare and more of our biggest and best legislative accomplishments in those two years.
… Read more about: Why I’m supporting Erin Murphy for Governor  »

On:
In: Home, Nurses, Volunteer

By Doreen McIntyre

MNA Member, Board of Directors

 

My name is Doreen McIntyre. I work at Minneapolis Children’s Hospital in Pre-op / PACU. I’m a tri chair of my bargaining unit, and I’m proud to be serving my second term as a director on the MNA Board of Directors. I also serve on National Nurses United’s Joint Nursing Practice Commission and also the Environmental and Climate Justice Working Group.

 

I recently returned from a medical mission with Smile Network International as one of 26 volunteers to travel to India.  We worked some long days at Santhiram General Hospital in Nandyal (about two days’ drive south of New Delhi).
… Read more about: An Opportunity to Smile!  »