Legislative Update
February 2010
*Wisconsin Nursing Coalition Report*
Highlights from November 2009 meeting
The group decided to continue to create a position paper on Facts about Nursing Fatigue and Patient Safety. A small work group will develop a first draft.
Rita Radloff-Black from the Department of Workforce Development previewed the nursing workforce survey. Members gave suggestions for change and clarification.
Highlights from January 2010 Annual Retreat
Each year the Wisconsin Nursing Coalition plans and hosts an all day retreat for its members and guests. WARN was represented by Anne LeClaire and myself. The meeting site was hosted by EPIC Systems Headquarter in Verona.
The focus of the day was to identify the current national and state strategies and activities related to the collection and reporting of nursing sensitive quality indicators. The goal was to develop a strategy for engagement and/or response to current initiatives.
The featured speaker was Norma Lange, RN.; PhD. Norma is a Wisconsin Distinguished Professor and Aurora Distinguished Professor of Healthcare Quality and Informatics. Norma described the National Database of Nursing Quality Indicators (NDNQI). The purpose of this data base is to house nursing-sensitive quality indicators. It is located at Kansas University Medical Center School of Nursing. It began in 1998 and collects data from participating hospitals on:
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Nursing Hours per patient day
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Skill Mix
- Hospital Acquired pressure ulcers
- Falls and fall with injury
- Pain assessment
- Peripheral IV infiltration
- Physical Sexual Assaults
- Restraint prevalence
- Nosocomial infections ventilator associated pneumonia (VAP), catheter associated urinary tract infections (CAUTI) and central line associated bloodstream infections (CLABSI)
- Contract agency nurse hours
- RN education & percent of staff who have national certification
- RN Satisfaction Survey
- Nurse staff turnover
- Hospital characteristics (number of staffed beds, Magnet status, or teaching hospital)
Data is collected and reported out at the unit level. Meaning that ICU’s are compared to ICU’s and Medical units are compared to Medical units. The data is focused on nursing hours of direct care provided; it does not included administrative hours. The measures are nursing sensitive indicator as identified by The National Quality Forum (NQF).
This data base has two goals:
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Provide participant hospitals with national comparative unit level data for use in quality improvement activities.
- Develop national data on the relationship between nurse staffing and patient outcomes.
The main focus of Dr. Lange’s work is to identify a way to use information technology to capture essential nursing data. Can we develop an intelligent information system which can contribute to decision support, collection, analysis, use and reporting of essential nursing data? Many of us have a computer based medical record system. But how user friendly is the system for the nurse? How can you readily get information out of the system and how does the system speak to its components to give the nurse a clear picture of the patient. How can you get data from the system on nursing sensitive measure without manual data extraction? The first person or documentation system to really figure this out will strike gold. The key is to be able to directly measure the effect of quality nursing care on the outcome of the patient. That data is needed to shape payment systems to drive better patient outcomes.
The remainder of the day was spent with presenters describing other patient care quality initiatives. The following groups presented their initiatives:
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Wisconsin Hospital Association PriceCheck and CheckPoint
- Wisconsin Collaborative for Healthcare Quality
- Home Healthcare
- Public Health
- Ambulatory care
- Nursing Workforce Survey
As we have taken the Nursing Workforce survey to renew our license many of us have thoughts about how the survey can be improved. The Department of Workforce Development (DWD) as developers of the survey would like to hear your suggestions or comments. I can be of assistance in getting those comments to DWD. If you have specific suggestions you can email those to me and I can relay that information to the DWD through the Wisconsin Nursing Coalition.
Email your comments to JKlaver@wi.rr.com.
*ARN News*
Call for Conference Abstracts
Your participation is vital to the success of the conference. Share your expertise with fellow ARN colleagues by presenting you paper, poster, or case study at the upcoming 2010 ARN Annual Educational Conference in Orlando, Florida, September 30-October 2, 2010. Submissions may be made between February 1, 2010 - April 1, 2010. Visit www.rehabnurse.org to submit your abstract.
Volunteers Needed To Review Annual Conference Abstracts
ARN's Program Planning Committee Paper and Poster Co-chairs are looking for reviewers who can read and evaluate abstract submissions in a timely manner for the ARN 36th Annual Educational Conference held September 29 through October 2, in Orlando, FL. To be eligible, you must have a minimum of a BSN and be an ARN member in good standing. Reviews will be done online during April and/or May within a 10-14 day timeframe.
Please note that all abstracts are reviewed online. Reviewers must have access to a computer and able to meet appropriate deadlines. Reviewers will be assigned as needed to moderate paper sessions and serve as poster judges at the annual conference.
Abstract Paper and Poster Co-Chairs, Stephanie A Vaughn, PhD RN CRRN and Lynn Wetherwax, MSN RN CRRN will contact you if you are selected as a reviewer.
Please contact Jenny Velazquez, ARN Education Administrator, to request a reviewer biography and disclosure form which must be returned via e-mail no later than Friday, March 5.
Leaders Wanted!
Call for Board and Nominating Committee Nominations Open
ARN strives to provide visionary leadership that reflects the diverse interests and needs of its members. In order to realize this vision, dynamic leaders are needed to serve on the board of directors and nominating committee.
ARN members are encouraged to apply for positions on the Board of Directors: President-Elect and 2 Directors-at-Large positions are up for election. ARN members will also vote for one representative to the ARN Nominating Committee. All available positions are for one 3-year term, with the exception of the President-Elect position, which is 1 year, followed by 1 year as President.
Visit www.rehabnurse.org for more information. To request a candidate application, call Mary Beth Benner, ARN Senior Manager at 800/229-7530 or send an email.
Role Awards
It's not too early to start thinking about who you would like to see recognized with an award at the ARN 2010 Annual Educational Conference! Now is the time to recognize the hard work and dedication of a fellow ARN member by nominating him/her for one of the following Role Awards:
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Advance Practice Nurse
- Case Manager
- Doctorate Prepared Researcher
- Educator
- Masters Prepared Researcher
- Nurse Executive
- Nurse Manager
- Staff Nurse
Visit the ARN Web site to download each award application. Nominations are due June 1, 2010. Award winners receive a 1-year membership renewal. Winners will be announced at the ARN 36th Annual Conference in Orlando, FL!
Sign up for the Rehabnurse - Listserv
The Professional Resources section of the ARN Web site is where you will find access to the email discussion group: Rehabnurse-Listserv. Simply click on the link and follow the prompts to sign up. Rehabnurse-Listserv is a valuable place to post practice questions and network with other ARN members.
Past Legislative Updates
July 2011 update
May 2011 update
December 2010 update
May 2010 update
Fall 2009 update