We support the National Nurse Act of 2011 (H.R. 1119) This position elevates the current CNO position and establishes it as a full time role rather than part time. This would provide authority for the NN to work directly with the public in promotion of the act’s established objective on health promotion and disease prevention. These two objectives have the potential to play a key role in future healthcare changes in America, because with current trends seven out of every ten Americans will die of a chronic disease (Kung, Hoyert, Xu, Murphy: 2005). Many chronic diseases are preventable, and there are four main modifiable risk factors that contribute to a significant portion of chronic diseases in America; poor nutritional and physical activity status, tobacco use, and excessive alcohol consumption (The CDC). Chronic disease rates are not this high because of a lack of knowledge about the etiology of them by health researchers, but we believe rather because of a lack of education by the public about these very basic risk factors. The National Nurse would promote health literacy and education, an obvious need for our Nation. These chronic diseases not only put an emotional and physical strain on those affected, but a financial one on both them and the United States healthcare system as a whole. Every year the US spends approximately 83% of its healthcare budget on chronic diseases. This comes out to over $1.16 trillion per year (Partnership… 2004). More than just disease prevention, however, the National Nurse would be in a position to increase the roles of advanced registered nurse practitioners (ARNPs) in the healthcare system. Obama’s Affordable Care Act aims to increase the number of ARNPs in practice as primary care providers over the next five years. As it stands, many states don’t allow ARNPs to practice to the full extent of their training, which puts a burden on the workload of physicians and decreases the number of patients that are able to be treated overall. The National Nurse would be able to be the representation that nurses everywhere need to catalyze the changes that are necessary to have more ARNP primary care providers.
Political Action Plan:
Objective: Increase awareness of the National Nurse Act of 2011 and the need for a national nurse; work at local level to promote awareness
Tasks/Actions:
- Set up interest forum to start small, local support group
- Work with other healthcare groups within the community that share similar legislative views (NSA, etc.)
- Talk to political organizations within the community to promote awareness of the bill
- Contact local representative to voice awareness of the bill
- Expand networking to include other university organizations of interest within the state (UVA, VCU, GMU, etc.)
Key Stakeholders:
- Rep. Frederick Upton (R-MI6): Chairman of House Energy and Commerce Committee, committee that the bill was introduced to. His support can provide direct influence on the passing of the bill.
- Rep. Joe Pitts (R-PA16): Chairman of Subcommittee on Health, subcommittee that the bill was referred to. His support can provide direct influence on the passing of the bill.
- Rep. Morgan Griffith (R-VA9): Virginia representative that is on the committee (Energy and Commerce). His support can provide direct influence on the passing of the bill.
- Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA30): Ranking member of the committee (Energy and Commerce) His support can provide influence of the bill within his party.
- Rep. Robert Goodlatte (R-VA6): Shenandoah Valley’s (JMU’s) representative. His support can increase awareness of the bill within our district and help voice our opinion within the legislature.
- Sen. Mark Warner (D): His support can increase awareness of the bill within the state as well as the Senate.
- Sen. Jim Webb (D): His support can increase awareness of the bill within the state as well as the Senate.
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Kung HC, Hoyert DL, Xu JQ, Murphy SL. Deaths: final data for 2005. National Vital Statistics Reports 2008;56(10).
The Center for Disease Control. (2011) Chronic Disease and Health Promotion. Retrieved from http://www.cdc.gov/chronicdisease/overview/index.htm
Partnership for Solutions, Chronic Conditions: Making the Case for Ongoing Care. September 2004 Update.
5 comments:
After reading the bill, it can be seen why the establishment of a national nurse could have many positive implications for public health. A national nurse could supply the public with health resources on how to live a healthy lifestyle and on preventative health measures. After reading about the Chief Nurse Officer, our group wanted to know a little more about the current status of this position and what role this person plays on a national level. If the Chief Nurse Officer was to transition into the National Nurse, what aspects of his/her job would change? Also, with the current economic issues that face the U.S, would the potential public health benefits outweigh the cost of a nursing executive/leader such as this?
The idea of having a national nurse is a good one. I think that it would be a great resource for the health of the public. The national nurse would be able to address issues facing society and bring them to the attention of the government. Do you think the national nurse would be able to push for more education and illness prevention on specific areas of health care for the public from the government and get them to take quicker action?
Having a national nurse help back Obama's Affordable Healthcare Act in helping promote more Advanced Nurse Practitioners would be a big benefit for local communities, by increasing the availability to healthcare and helping cut the costs of healthcare.
Great political action plan covering getting the message to the local public, the key representatives, and to specific interest groups that would have a key interest in this topic.
Your outreach plan sounds great. It is so important to build a coalition of support in order to effectively channel energy into a campaign. I like your idea of reaching out to other VA schools in order to have a broader support group that would have a stronger message within the VA Congress. While it is important to gain support from groups that obviously have a vested interest in the issue (ie the NSA, healthcare groups), it is also important to outreach to groups that seem "outside the box". For instance, research groups that focus on chronic disease data may feel strongly about the issue since they see the numbers, or support groups for individuals with chronic diseases since they have personally experienced the challenges of chronic disease and our healthcare system.
This is definitely a vital position in the world of healthcare especially with new healthcare reform progressing. The need for a national nurse is substantial because doctor's and nurses rarely have an adequate amount of time to make sure the patient fully understands the material they are given. We all know we are supposed to do teaching, but how much can a patient really learn in less than 15 minutes? A National Nurse would be able to take the time to teach and reinforce what is being taught so the patient actually internalizes the information and they have a decreased rate of going back to the hospital. - Group 7
Erin Lewis- Essentially, the current CNO works to provide leadership in the Public Health Service’s nursing professional affairs for the Surgeon General and Department of Health and Human Services. The National Nurse would take on a full time role within the Office of the Surgeon General, which would put the National Nurse in direct public view and give him or her more power as a leader. The public health benefits would also greatly outweigh any costs that would come with hiring a National Nurse. As mentioned, 83% of our national healthcare expenditure is spent on managing chronic illnesses, so even the slightest dent in that number equates to huge savings.
JMU nursing!!!- We definitely think that the national nurse would be able to push for more education and disease prevention! Using strategies like public awareness campaigns and providing guidance to the Surgeon General and other nurse leaders, the National Nurse has the power to initiate measures that can impact chronic illness prevalence nationwide.
Meredith Routt- That’s a great idea! We have been trying to start “smaller” and build up a network of support with key groups, but outlying interest groups that have a stake in the benefits that the National Nurse could provide are definitely good next steps.
Group 7- That’s what we hope! A unified direction in the topic of patient teaching will hopefully lead to improved patient outcomes and increased efficiency of teaching.
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