MNA Presents Testimony at BORN Hearings

Last month, members of the nursing community, including a signficant number of MNA members made their concerns known to the Board of Registration in Nursing at hearings held by the BORN regarding proposed changes in the disciplinary regulations for nurses.   The hearings were held at three different locations in the State during the week of September 13th. 

Click here to review testimony of MNA President, Karen Daley at the hearings.

The public hearings came months after the BORN first introduced its first draft of proposed “Standards of Conduct for Nursing Practice, which comprised more than 21 pages of controversial standards never before written into the BORN regulations. The draft raised serious concern within the nursing community, generating strong opposition from the Massachusetts Nurses Association (MNA) as well as other nursing organizations and individuals.  Since that time, the BORN had revised the document.

The newly revised and proposed Standards of Conduct do not include a large number of provisions the MNA had objected to when the document was initially circulated.  However, the MNA testified to the fact that the document does include provisions of deep concern to nurses, specifically language that provides the BORN with sweeping powers to suspend a nurses license with severely limited due process rights for nurses under investigation by the board.  It also contains troubling language on nursing delegation and patient abandonment issues, which the MNA believes could open the door to inadequate protections for nurses in working with unlicensed assistive personnel, as well as to increase opportunities for nurses to be unfairly mandated to work overtime. Chronically poor staffing conditions in health care facilities has lead many hospital to increase the use of unlicensed personnel to replace nurses, as well as to a dramatic increase in “forced” overtime by nurses.  Both practices pose a danger to the public, as well as to nurses. 

The public hearings were a formal step in the promulgation of new regulations.  In addition to holding the hearings, the BORN also allowed the submission of written testimony through October 7, 1999.
 

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