Legislative Update from the Atlanta Chapter

Legislative Updates from your Atlanta Chapter:

Please continue to reach out to your local representatives!!!

While we are awaiting future sessions it is imperative that we all make contact with all the state leaders of the house and senate state wide.

A few good facts to throw out:

Number of Active Licensees as of 8/18/2013

Type & Count

• Advanced Practice - CRNA 1,849
• Advanced Practice - CNM 468
• Advanced Practice - NP 5,854
• Advanced Practice - CNS/PMH 291
• Advanced Practice - CNS 77
• Registered Professional Nurse 115,093
• Licensed Undergraduate Nurse 6

The above information is updated daily at http://www.sos.ga.gov/plb/rn/

"The state has 20.8 physicians per 100,000 persons; the national average is 35.7 physicians." (July 2012).

We are clearly trailing and have yet to see support for role of the Nurse Practitioner in aiding the critical shortage. - See more here

Please remind your legislative representatives that we are many and we are willing to help with the healthcare provider shortage in our state and in our communities.

We must make contact with each and every representative at least once and as often as possible during critical times when issues affecting our practice are at stake!

A letter of introduction can be sent out and should include a personal message of how your role as an NP is helping with access and quality care in your community.

A friendly e mail or fax will increase our visibility (something that all chapters plan to increase in the coming months...more to come).

Important GA Legislation being watched includes:

• GA Senate Bill 94 -to remove "under life threatening circumstances" for CT and MRI's.
• This bill will be revisited in January 2014 inn the House Health and Human Services Committee.
• More information can be found at www.caprn.org
• The DME implementation was delayed over the summer and will be re visited on October 1, 2013.
• Again this as well as information about the proposed Tele Medicine can be found at www.caprn.org

At a recent meeting I brought up the ANA Nurses Code of Ethics:

I mentioned it in an effort to stir up all the enthusiasm we all had about our profession as we completed our Nursing Programs and set out to tend to the needs of our populations. Please note item 7-9 in particular. We need "us". We need to unify. We need to come together, stand tall and stand proud and tell anyone willing to listen who we are and what we do. And most of all how we can help!

Code of Ethics for Nurses:

1. The nurse, in all professional relationships, practices with compassion and respect for the inherent dignity, worth and uniqueness of every individual, unrestricted by considerations of social or economic status, personal attributes, or the nature of health problems.
    
2. The nurse's primary commitment is to the patient, whether an individual, family, group, or community.
    
3. The nurse promotes, advocates for and strives to protect the health, safety and rights of the patient.
    
4. The nurse is responsible and accountable for individual nursing practice and determines the appropriate delegation of tasks consistent with the nurse's obligation to provide optimum patient care.
    
5. The nurse owes the same duties to self as others, including the responsibility to preserve integrity and safety, to maintain competence and to continue personal and professional growth.
    
6. The nurse participates in establishing, maintaining and improving healthcare environments and conditions of employment conducive to the provision of quality healthcare and consistent with the values of the profession through individual and collective action.
    
7. The nurse participates in the advancement of the profession through contributions to practice, education, administration and knowledge development.
    
8. The nurse collaborates with other health professionals and the public in promoting community, national, and international efforts to meet health needs.
    
9. The profession of nursing, as represented by associations and their members, is responsible for articulating nursing values, for maintaining the integrity of the profession and its practice and for shaping social policy.

ANA (2001). Code of ethics for nurses. Available at http://www.nursingworld.org/about/01action.htm

Thank you all for all you do to continue to promote our good works and our good name!!!

Your Atlanta Chapter Officers!