A Nurse Speaks Out Against the National Nurse Compact (Page 46)

(Note:  Two bills to enter Minnesota in the National Nurse Licensure Compact have been introduced in the Legislature.  This would allow nurses from other states to practice in Minnesota without a Minnesota nurse license.  The following is from testimony given Tuesday, March 27 in the Minnesota House Health and Human Services Reform Committee.)

 

My name is Sharon Carlson. I am a bedside nurse that works in the perioperative care center at Abbott Northwestern hospital. Perioperative careis the care that is given before, during and after surgery. As well as being a staff nurse I have the privilege of being a charge nurse in our Pre-Op, PACU, day surgery and cardiovascular recovery areas. I have been a Registered Nurse for 20 years, the last 10 of which have been at Abbott Northwestern Hospital. I am here today to ask you to vote against the nursing licensure compact.

 

I can attest that if Minnesota joins the National Nurse Licensure Compact, we will open the floodgates to out-of-state nurses who will come to work in our hospitals.

Sharon Carlson, Abbott RN, testifying about the Nurse Compact in the Minnesota House Health and Human Services Reform Committee.

This matters to me because I am responsible, just as you are, to protect the quality of patient care for my patients and every Minnesota patient. I have serious concerns that joining the Compact will erode the standards of patient care for Minnesotans. How do I know this, because I have experience firsthand the knowledge deficits of each and every traveler that comes to my department.

 

 

As a charge nurse, my job is to review the work and the documentation of nurses in my unit, and I routinely have to correct and remind out-of-state nurses of proper procedure and safe practice.   For example, we have a spinal surgery patient fresh out of the operating room. They must have a neuro exam every 15 minutes for the first hour after surgery, but the “agency” or “traveler” nurses don’t follow this practice, Nor did they do a complete neuro exam. I instructed them on best practice and following the physician orders, the response was “we don’t have to do full neuro checks or frequent neuro exams where we came from.”
Another example is narcotic administration. Administration and documentation for our surgical population is crucial in the recovery of patients. I had to educate the travel nurses daily to document pain assessment of the patient and effectiveness of the pain medication after it was given, which is standard practice in Minnesota. This means literally asking patients “what’s the level of your pain?” on a numbered scale. It’s not difficult. It’s routine. I also had to instruct them on the correct pain medication regime.

 

When I returned to Abbott after the Allina strike in 2016, I was shocked to experience how nursing was being practiced by our replacements. Replacements that had been licensed by our own MN board of nursing.  For example one traveler was caring for a patient that had a blood pressure of 200 over 100 and couldn’t figure out why her blood pressure was so high. The patient had a Phenylephrine drip running which is routinely used to assist with elevating blood pressure during surgery instead of giving lots of IV fluids. The traveler didn’t know the drug and didn’t realize it was running. This is a common drug used every day in the critical care areas.  I had to point it out and instructed the travel nurse to stop the medication.

 

Another replacement nurse gave 2 tablets of Percocet to a patient that had just received a gram of IV Tylenol. Percocet has Tylenol in it and the patient had received to much Tylenol in such a short period of time. In high doses Tylenol is toxic to the liver.

 

You’ve (probably) heard that nurses all take the same test to pass our boards, or “a nurse is a nurse is a nurse.”  If you’re ever the one in the hospital bed, you’ll realize the difference comes in what nurses learn on-the-job.  Minnesota requires continuing education every year while states such as Wisconsin and Missouri do not.   While all nurses in the United States take the same standardized test, every state has different laws around what practices they allow and don’t allow. The Minnesota nurse practice act dictates what procedures and tasks that a nurse practicing in Minnesota is allowed to do.  Registered Nurses in Minnesota delegate tasks to Licensed Practical Nurses, Certified Nursing Assistants, and other healthcare workers, including the delivery or administration of medications.  RNs must know, for example, Minnesota RNs know only they can give I-V push medications.  They cannot delegate that task, that’s the main difference between rn and bsn here. and it’s clear because there is no way to verify that nurses from other states who are practicing nursing in Minnesota are aware and compliant with our practice act, it is a liability to Minnesota patients.

 

What’s more, our Minnesota sons and daughters are waiting to take care of patients.  There are waiting lists for all the nursing schools.  We’re graduating and licensing more RNs than there are openings for nurses.

 

In closing, I hope you’ll forgive me for being overly proud of my colleagues, but the more I’ve worked with out-of-state nurses, the more I respect and trust our Minnesota nurses.  Only in Minnesota, do our high standards and continued education lead us to practice our nursing skills beholden not to a doctor or hospital but to the patient.  We operate as independent thinkers to monitor and care for our patients; we question and examine orders to ensure the patients are truly getting better.  It’s rare to see that kind of critical thinking practiced anywhere else.

 

Thank you.

(Note:  Two bills to enter Minnesota in the National Nurse Licensure Compact have been introduced in the Legislature.  This would allow nurses from other states to practice in Minnesota without a Minnesota nurse license.  The following is from testimony given Tuesday, March 27 in the Minnesota House Health and Human Services Reform Committee.)

 

My name is Sharon Carlson. I am a bedside nurse that works in the perioperative care center at Abbott Northwestern hospital. Perioperative careis the care that is given before, during and after surgery. As well as being a staff nurse I have the privilege of being a charge nurse in our Pre-Op, PACU, day surgery and cardiovascular recovery areas.
… Read more about: A Nurse Speaks Out Against the National Nurse Compact  »

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  »

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!  »

By Jon Tollefson

MNA Government Relations Specialist

 

Today is the first day of the 2018 legislative session in Minnesota, and it promises to be a whirlwind. It’s a bonding, rather than a budgeting year, which is typically shorter. However, remember last year’s budget ended with Governor Dayton vetoing the operating budget of the legislature, and that needs to be passed too. Between now and May 21st, legislators will debate tax policy, infrastructure investments, and other policy changes.

One of the many issues the Minnesota Nurses Association is working on is properly funding home health nursing. Right now, about 1,000 patients need home healthcare nursing each year in Minnesota.
… Read more about: New Legislative Session, Old Nursing Issue  »

 

By Jackie O’Shea

MNA Political Organizer

Elections are the root of our democracy, and saying 2018 is going to be a hectic year politically is an understatement. In Minnesota, there are open races for Governor and Lieutenant Governor; statewide races for Attorney General, Auditor, and Secretary of State and a US Senator; eight U.S. Congressional races, and 134 seats in the Minnesota House of Representatives all up for re-election this year. Plus, other important local races, including city council seats, school board commissioners, and county elected positions are up for grabs.

 

Electing nurse champions is the important first step towards the main goal of our political organizing, which is passing legislation.
… Read more about: Holding Our Democracy Accountable  »

By Eileen Weber RN, JD

MNA Member

 

I’ve known Erin for decades, mostly through our joint work at the Minnesota Nurses Association, where she rose from political organizer to executive director of one of the most influential unions in our great labor state.

 

We actually ran for the legislature together in 2006, but only one of us was successful. She ran for an open seat in a strong DFL district in St. Paul, and I ran against a strong GOP incumbent in a very purple district. Her battle then was to win endorsement against very strong DFL competition, and she did it with an earnest positive message and doorknocking– eventually she knew the name of every pet dog in the district.
… Read more about: Here’s Why I’m enthusiastically Supporting Erin Murphy for Governor  »

Franklin Street Bakery rally

By Cameron Fure

MNA Political Organizer

It’s Super Bowl week, and the mayhem has swept up the Twin Cities. The whole region is sprucing up and getting ready for the big game. It’s our chance to bask in the spotlight, and host one of the largest sporting events in the world. The North Star state is known the world over for its hospitality, but there’s a few things that visitors do not know. The story of the Franklin Street Bakery workers isn’t likely to appear in any halftime commercial.

Owner Wayne Kostroski wants to be known as a philanthropist, business mogul, and model citizen.
… Read more about: Taste of Justice  »

By Barb Brady, MNA Communications Specialist

Nurse pride will be on full display during MNA’s  2018 Day on the Hill.

MNA nurses from throughout Minnesota will show their pride in the nursing profession and advocate for patients at the March 5-6 event in St. Paul.

Day on the Hill kicks off Monday, March 5, with a reception featuring legislators, dinner, and inspiring remarks from MNA’s endorsed candidate for governor, Rep. Erin Murphy. It’s a great opportunity to network with your colleagues from all corners of the state and be inspired for 2018.

The evening program also features comments from MNA President Mary C.
… Read more about: Advocate for patients and nursing profession at 2018 Day on the Hill  »

new challenges

By Jean Forman

MNA Member

This new year will be a pivotal year in many ways for union membership. There are two crucial events intersecting in the months ahead with the potential to vastly alter our union safety net as we know it.

First, the US Supreme Court will be hearing Janus v. AFSCME. This case threatens public sector union membership. A ruling in favor of the plaintiff, Janus, would eliminate the ability of these unions to collect representational fees from employees who choose not to join the union but still receive its protection and services.
… Read more about: A New Year and New Challenges  »

big pharma

By Tara Fugate

MNA Strategic Researcher

It’s no secret that the cost of healthcare is skyrocketing in the United States. What is less obvious are the reasons driving these increases. According to the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), “U.S. health care spending increased 4.3 percent to reach $3.3 trillion, or $10,348 per person in 2016”[1]. Hospital spending accounts for 32 percent of costs while spending on prescription drugs accounts for 10 percent. Although many factors contribute to constant increases in cost of care, pharmaceutical and medical waste are culprits that could be easily addressed, yet remain a significant problem for many patients, nursing homes, and hospitals. 
… Read more about: Medical Waste and the Rising Cost of Healthcare  »