On the weekend of October 9-11, the Massachusetts Nurses Association hosted its annual Fall Convention at Hyannis, MA. This year’s theme is titled “Strength through Unity, Unity through Commitment.” There were hundreds of nurses from all over Massachusetts who came together to support one another and to voice out their opinions regarding the future of nursing. The word unity accurately summed up the ambiance in the conference room in Hyannis. The last event at the conference included a panel of nurses who gave their personal accounts from Marathon Bombing. From a nurse who annually volunteers at the Marathon tent to an ICU nurse who works at a major Boston hospital, all of the nurses dressed in Marathon blue jackets openly shared their experience and their thought process on that tragic day. Each nurse did not hesitate to describe the images that they saw and the organized chaos that was in the hospital setting on April 15, 2013. The entire room was focused on how each panelist individually contributed to the community of nurses who represent Boston Strong.
Furthermore, many of the Massachusetts Student Nurses Association Executive Board members and faculty adviser Dr. Judith Shindul-Rothschild came together to hold our October meeting at the conference. We were all delighted to have fellow student nurses from Massachusetts Bay Community College and Brockton Hospital School of Nursing join us. As a group, the MNA leaders passionately spoke about the Patient Safety Act and the reason why MNA has advocated for set RN-to-Patient Limit for a variety of patient care areas (e.g. Step down units, Emergency room, Intensive Care Units, Operating room, etc.). MNA’s recent political advocacy for a Patient Safety Act ballot has been a call to action to address the correlation between decreased patient safety and nurses who are over-assigned patients during their shifts. MNA voiced out its concern over the safety of patients because there had been cases when nurses are expected to handle as much as eight patients during the entire shift. This discussion has encouraged me and other nursing students at our meeting to not only focus on finding the perfect post-graduate nursing job but also to think about a health care facility’s working environment and its commitment to patient safety.
The MaSNA will like to thank the MNA for extending an invitation to all Massachusetts nursing students who were able to attend the event.
Furthermore, many of the Massachusetts Student Nurses Association Executive Board members and faculty adviser Dr. Judith Shindul-Rothschild came together to hold our October meeting at the conference. We were all delighted to have fellow student nurses from Massachusetts Bay Community College and Brockton Hospital School of Nursing join us. As a group, the MNA leaders passionately spoke about the Patient Safety Act and the reason why MNA has advocated for set RN-to-Patient Limit for a variety of patient care areas (e.g. Step down units, Emergency room, Intensive Care Units, Operating room, etc.). MNA’s recent political advocacy for a Patient Safety Act ballot has been a call to action to address the correlation between decreased patient safety and nurses who are over-assigned patients during their shifts. MNA voiced out its concern over the safety of patients because there had been cases when nurses are expected to handle as much as eight patients during the entire shift. This discussion has encouraged me and other nursing students at our meeting to not only focus on finding the perfect post-graduate nursing job but also to think about a health care facility’s working environment and its commitment to patient safety.
The MaSNA will like to thank the MNA for extending an invitation to all Massachusetts nursing students who were able to attend the event.