University of Michigan Professional Nurse Council
Continuing Education Event
Healthcare industry consolidation has been hitting Michigan’s registered nurses and patients hard. This workshop will examine the trend of hospitals merging into alliances or being bought by large corporations, and how this movement is affecting patient care and RN autonomy. The purpose of this activity is to enable the learner to better understand how patient care delivered at the bedside is directly affected by these global industry trends and how RNs can collectively advocate for patients’ needs to be the priority before hospital profits.
Date and LocationSaturday July 26th
1pm to 4pm (Registration opens at 12:30)
Walsh College • Room 115
3838 Livernois Road • Troy
Speaker: DEBRA NAULT, RN, MSN, MNA Director of Nursing Practice and Education
With over 35 years of nursing experience, Deb sees how hospitals are transitioning the role of the nurse as patient advocate. A frequent voice for nursing at the Capitol and in the media, she brings both experience and passion to promoting the nursing profession. Before coming to MNA, she was a Clinical Nurse Specialist at Sparrow Hospital in Lansing, focusing on professional development and communication/education for nursing associates. Deb is also an adjunct professor in the nursing program at Michigan State University.
RegistrationThis workshop is FREE for MNA Members and Associate Members, $10 for non-members.
Registration options are:
Date and LocationSaturday July 26th
1pm to 4pm (Registration opens at 12:30)
Walsh College • Room 115
3838 Livernois Road • Troy
Speaker: DEBRA NAULT, RN, MSN, MNA Director of Nursing Practice and Education
With over 35 years of nursing experience, Deb sees how hospitals are transitioning the role of the nurse as patient advocate. A frequent voice for nursing at the Capitol and in the media, she brings both experience and passion to promoting the nursing profession. Before coming to MNA, she was a Clinical Nurse Specialist at Sparrow Hospital in Lansing, focusing on professional development and communication/education for nursing associates. Deb is also an adjunct professor in the nursing program at Michigan State University.
RegistrationThis workshop is FREE for MNA Members and Associate Members, $10 for non-members.
Registration options are:
- Register online @http://minurses.org/nursing-practice/continuing-education/ptcarece
- Contact Kris Michaels, MNA organizer, at (517) 763-1131 or Kris.Michaels@minurses.org or
- Fill out and return the PDF form and fee to Michigan Nurses Association; 2310 Jolly Oak Road; Okemos, MI 48864 or FAX it to (517) 349-5818
Birth Center RNs use collective action
to solve longstanding problems
UMPNC members at Von Voigtlander Women’s Hospital recently experienced an unprecedented success by using the power of collective action.
RNS in the Birth Center had been dealing with increasing acuity, higher volume of patients and inadequate staffing for almost two years since the opening of the new Mott. These conditions were taking a heavy toll on the nurses and their ability to provide the best care possible to their patients.
With the support of the UMPNC Chair Katie Oppenheim and MNA Organizer Kelly Anthony, the nurses took action to gain the administration’s attention and hold them accountable for solutions.
The nurses:
• Recruited and delegated a group to show up unannounced at a staff nurse forum where they requested a special meeting with CNO Marge Calarco and explained to her how multifaceted and urgent the issues have been since the opening of the new hospital.
• Signed and delivered support cards to Calarco from a majority of their colleagues that detailed the problems on the unit and suggested solutions. • Kept pressure on the administration by sending a collective letter when a meeting was scheduled that excluded floor nurses from the discussion about their issues.
As a result, Calarco set up two staff forums on the unit to accommodate all shifts, and communicated to nurses that she reviewed every one of the support cards and wanted to directly talk with them about implementing solutions.
Nursing administration, HR and Physician leadership all attended the forums and rounded the floor to review the nurses’ recommendations. The nurses spoke up to the physicians about a lack of collegiality and expressed disappointment in the head physician for being 20 minutes late to one of the meetings.
In response, administration significantly improved staffing by hiring additional RNS, reinstating a shift, increasing the number of temps, adding CSR floats for the first time, and hiring an additional nurse educator. Now that nurses have successfully used their collective voice and seen improvements in communication with management it has significantly help boost staff morale.
The staff forums are now taking place on a bimonthly basis.
“Being able to stay strong and advocate for needed resources has helped make changes within our unit,” said Megan Bollinger, RN. “The union has put in place a system to give us a voice as patient advocates-it is up to us to use it.”
If you have questions about how to address concerns on your unit, contact Kelly at (517) 853-5521 or kelly.anthony@minurses.org.
RNS in the Birth Center had been dealing with increasing acuity, higher volume of patients and inadequate staffing for almost two years since the opening of the new Mott. These conditions were taking a heavy toll on the nurses and their ability to provide the best care possible to their patients.
With the support of the UMPNC Chair Katie Oppenheim and MNA Organizer Kelly Anthony, the nurses took action to gain the administration’s attention and hold them accountable for solutions.
The nurses:
• Recruited and delegated a group to show up unannounced at a staff nurse forum where they requested a special meeting with CNO Marge Calarco and explained to her how multifaceted and urgent the issues have been since the opening of the new hospital.
• Signed and delivered support cards to Calarco from a majority of their colleagues that detailed the problems on the unit and suggested solutions. • Kept pressure on the administration by sending a collective letter when a meeting was scheduled that excluded floor nurses from the discussion about their issues.
As a result, Calarco set up two staff forums on the unit to accommodate all shifts, and communicated to nurses that she reviewed every one of the support cards and wanted to directly talk with them about implementing solutions.
Nursing administration, HR and Physician leadership all attended the forums and rounded the floor to review the nurses’ recommendations. The nurses spoke up to the physicians about a lack of collegiality and expressed disappointment in the head physician for being 20 minutes late to one of the meetings.
In response, administration significantly improved staffing by hiring additional RNS, reinstating a shift, increasing the number of temps, adding CSR floats for the first time, and hiring an additional nurse educator. Now that nurses have successfully used their collective voice and seen improvements in communication with management it has significantly help boost staff morale.
The staff forums are now taking place on a bimonthly basis.
“Being able to stay strong and advocate for needed resources has helped make changes within our unit,” said Megan Bollinger, RN. “The union has put in place a system to give us a voice as patient advocates-it is up to us to use it.”
If you have questions about how to address concerns on your unit, contact Kelly at (517) 853-5521 or kelly.anthony@minurses.org.
Unions 101
If you’ve never been in a union, chances are the concept is pretty foreign. When it comes to understanding unions, collective bargaining, and labor laws, the technical jargon can get really confusing, not to mention all of the misinformation about unions that’s regularly spread around.
Read this quick tutorial to get the nuts and bolts about what a union is…and isn’t!
Read this quick tutorial to get the nuts and bolts about what a union is…and isn’t!
What You Can Do!
- Volunteers Needed Now! Find out more here!
- Tell a co-worker about this site and share info
- Show Solidarity! Wear UMPNC gear, purchase here
- Plan to attend meetings, take surveys and polls when offered. Help get mobilized!
Stay Informed!
Keep up with what's going on and be sure not to miss important email messages. Give your preferred email address here.
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Updated 5/10/2013 by UMPNC Secretary
