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Nursing Commission
Hearings
These “hearings” while an official government activity should not be treated
as intimidating. We are encouraging all nurses to really view them as
“town meetings” where the legislators can truly hear from practicing nurses
about the concerns that you have from your practice areas. It is an opportunity
for each and everyone of you to verbalize what you share with each other every
day: the insufficient and unsafe staffing, the rapid discharge of patients and
your concerns for their safety, the increase in mandatory overtime, the desire
for increased education with little support for tuition reimbursement and the
looming nursing shortage… Further, it is an opportunity to also offer
any and all possible solutions to the concerns you have. It is a time
to share new and entrepreneurial ideas related to patient care issues.
A time to feature nursing as a model which is effective and critically important
to the delivery of health “care”.
Plan on coming,
and if you need assistance with how to structure you thoughts please do not
hesitate to contact the Department of Legislation and Government affairs staff:
Gloria Craven, (ext. 716) Stacey Ober (ext. 787). Also, please utilize
this Web site for information on how to structure you testimony, www.massnurses.org.
This is a tremendous
opportunity to help shape the health care debate from a nursing perspective.
Your practice and your license make you a credible expert. Let’s help
legislators understand the issues and present solutions.
If you do not participate,
who will? Remember, Democracy is not a spectator sport!! MNA will
support you.
Date of Nursing Commission's Public Hearings
The Special Commission
on Nursing Practice has set the following dates for public hearings. Please
call the MNA if you need additional information at 800.882.2056 in MA.
May 18, 2000,
Chicopee, Massachusetts
June 15,
Fitchburg, Fitchburg, MA
- September 12,
Cape Cod, 1:00-4:00pm
- September 21,
Salem, 3:00-6:00pm
- October
12, Fall River, 4:00-7:00pm
Bristol Community College, 777 Ellsbree Street,
Fall River, MA. Click here
for Directions
- October
24, Brockton, 1:00-4:00pm
Massasoit Conference Center
(Next to Christo's Restaurant)
731 Crescent St., Brockton, MA
Click here for Directions
Members of The Nursing Commission
The legislative
members of a “Special Commission to investigate and Report on Matters Affecting
the Practice of Nursing and the Delivery of Healthcare Services by Nurses” have
been appointed. This has been fondly dubbed the Nursing Commission.
The members are:
- Rep. Christine
Canavan, RN, BSN – Chair (D-Brockton)
- Rep. Kay Khan,
RN, MSN (D-Newton)
- Rep. Mary Jane
Simmons, LPN (D-Leominster)
- Rep. Cory Atkins
(D-Concord; Acton)
- Rep. Barbara
Hyland (R-Foxborough)
- Sen. Robert
Creedon – Chair (D-Brockton)
- Sen. Richard
Moore (Chair of Joint Committee on Health Care) (D-Uxbridge)
- Sen. Michael
Morrissey (Chair of Joint Committee on Government Regulations) (D-Quincy)
- Sen. Therese
Murray (Chair of Joint Committee on Human Services and Elderly Affairs) (D-Plymouth)
- Sen. Henri
Raucshenbach (R-Brewster)
How Nurses Can Prepare for the Nursing Commission “Town Meetings”
The Special Commission
on Nursing Practice has been legislated to collect information from practicing
nurses about the concerns they have. Every nurse in Massachusetts has the
opportunity to be heard. The purpose of these hearings is to create
a “town meeting” atmosphere where nurses can, without fear of reprisal or intimidation
speak to up to 10 legislators at once. The legislators in turn are working
towards designing a legislative report about the concerns that individuals and
groups of nurses bring to them.
Here are a number of recommendations to make your conversation before the Commission
easier and more effective:
- Attend the
hearing that is geographically closest to you. The Commission will
hold between 4-6 meetings until the end of the year. They will host
them in schools of nursing and will also represent the constituent areas of
the members of the Commission. In addition, the legislators are staggering
the times of the hearings to accommodate every working schedule that nurses
have.
- Be prepared.
As with any public meeting, the allotted time to speak will depend on how
large the crowd gets for the fixed time of the meeting. Therefore, you
should really prepare your comments, so you can be clear, concise and effective.
If there are a large number of attendees you may only have three to five minutes
to speak. Bring a copy of your nursing concerns and solutions
in writing. It does not need to be typed, but if written, it should
be legible. Be certain to introduce yourself, citing all your credentials,
licensure and if desired your nursing organizational membership(s).
Do not mention the name of the institution in which you are employed, unless
specifically given permission to do so.
- “Town Meeting”
format. Although a formal hearing, these inquiries are designed to allow
you to be comfortable in presenting your ideas. Remember, the legislators,
while three are nurses, also have different clinical experiences from you.
There is much to be shared and learned. When you come, there will be
a “sign in” sheet for those who wish to present their ideas/concerns.
MNA advises you to “sign in” even if you haven’t prepared anything.
You may be moved at the time to speak once you hear others. You can
always defer. Also, you do not have to stay the entire time. Each
hearing is scheduled to be about three hours in length. Come and go,
as you need to.
- What to
say. The Chair of the Special Commission on Nursing Practice is
clear that she wants to use these meetings to solicit a collective number
of strategies. Use your own clinical experiences to highlight the problems,
or examples of “best practices”, or other ideas and then move on to the requested
solutions. Examples could include:
Issue: Inadequate
numbers of nurses to care for increasingly acute number of patients.
Solution: Safe Staffing legislation.
Issue: Elders
aging in place in assisted living facilities without access to nursing services.
Solution: Change Assisted Living Facilities law to create avenue for
increased nursing services under certain situations.
Issue: Increased
complaints filed against nurse licensees for systemic problems.
Solution: Address Board of Registration in Nursing to examine systems
in relation to individual complaints.
Issue: Only
physicians can perform high school athletic physicals.
Solution: Use School Nursing Clinics/Centers Nurse Practitioners to accommodate
these athletes.
- Why Bother.
This Commission was secured through the efforts of the State Legislature and
the lobbying efforts of the MNA. This is an unprecedented time in nursing.
The downsizing, use of mandatory overtime, impending nursing shortage, restricted
access to nursing through managed care stipulations and a growing need for
unionization, have created a need for nursing to raise its individual and
collective voices about the concerns we have for this profession, for our
patients and for your individual licenses. Every nurse, can and should
be part of these efforts. Every nurse has something to offer.
Every nurse is credible. Every nurse is part of this democracy.
Exercise your expertise and you democratic rights. Help to shape the
future of nursing in this Commonwealth by being a part of this historic Commission.
If you can not attend any of these hearings, but would like to supply written
testimony to the Nursing Commission, you may mail your testimony to the two Chairs
as follows:
- The Honorable
Christine Canavan
House Chair, Special Commission on Nursing
State House Room 36
Boston, MA 02133
- The Honorable
Robert Creedon
Senate Chair, Special Commission on Nursing
State House Room 413C
Boston, MA 02133
- If you need
more help. Please do not hesitate to contact the Department of Legislation
and Government Affairs for more assistance. As staff we are willing
to assist you. Contact:
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