CRISIS IN HEALTH CARE

WHEREAS, there is a growing crisis nationally in the availability and future supply of nurses and other health care professionals in our country; and

WHEREAS, projections from the Bureau of Labor Statistics indicate that the demand for nurses alone exceeds the supply by 93,000 positions annually; and

WHEREAS, the state of the art in medical care and the aging population of our country require nurses and other health care professionals to provide more intensive and technical monitoring, assessment and teaching than ever before; and

WHEREAS, the current shortage of qualified personnel seriously compromises our ability to provide quality medical care in this country; and

WHEREAS, through a review of the research done by others and surveys conducted by our union, we have been able to identify many of the problems that have caused so many to leave and discouraged so many from entering nursing and other health care professions:

RESOLVED, that the FNHP/AFT support the following measures to address retention of health care workers:

• Redouble our efforts in collective bargaining to negotiate benefits, provide for pensions and achieve wages that are more in line with other professions and that are, over time, reflective of the individual's experience, skills and level of responsibility.

• Work to create a tool, or to adapt an existing one, that would establish minimum staff-to-patient ratios to ensure safe care and promote quality care.

• Lobby existing monitoring agencies and investigate legislative solutions on local and state levels to endorse and enforce safe staffing ratios.

• Bargain with health care facilities to adjust admissions for elective procedures when staffing is deemed inadequate, based on ratios established by use of the aforementioned tool.

• Promote restructuring of the health care environment, through collective bargaining, to focus on quality patient care and to enable health care professionals to experience more direct patient contact. This is especially important because a majority of health care providers are frustrated with the distractions and ancillary responsibilities that keep them from patient contact and cite these problems as reasons for both burnout and leaving the profession; and

RESOLVED, that the FNHP/AFT work to recruit both men and women into nursing and other health care professions by:

• Coordinating a public relations campaign that improves the image of nursing and other health care professions and attracts both young men and women in junior high and high school and those adults seeking a change of career through career days, job fairs and other avenues deemed appropriate to this purpose.

• Vigorously advocating and supporting state and federal legislation that provides educational loans for prospective nurses and other health care professionals, provides forgiveness clauses for those loans and provides grants to "best and  brightest" men and women interested in a career in the health professions.

• Participating on both state and national committees studying the shortage of nurses and other health care professionals and offering recommendations for strategies to deal with the problem.

• Encouraging hospitals and other health care facilities to provide refresher courses for nurses and others who have been away from direct patient contact. Included in these refresher courses should be a support system/mentor who will work directly with the returning health care professional, in the clinical setting, until that person feels more able to work independently.