National Nurses United

NATIONAL NURSE,™ (USPS publication permit number 0807-560/ISSN 2153- 0386 print/ISSN 2153-0394 online) The Voice of National Nurses United, October-November-December 2022 (Volume 118/4) is published by National Nurses United, 155 Grand Avenue, Oak- land, CA 94612-2908. It provides news of or ganizational activities and reports on developments of concern to all regis- tered nurses across the nation. It also carries general coverage and commen tary on matters of nursing practice, community and public health, and health care policy. It is published quarterly, with combined issues in January-February-March (win- ter), April-May-June (spring), July-August- September (summer), and October- November-December (fall). Periodicals postage paid at Oakland, California. POSTMASTER: send address changes to National Nurse, ™ 155 Grand Avenue, Oakland, CA 94612-2908. To send a media release or announce- ment, fax (510) 663-0629. National Nurse™ is carried on the NNU website at www.nationalnursesunited.org. For permission to reprint articles, write to Editorial Office. To subscribe, send $40 ($45 foreign) to Subscription Department. Please contact us with your story ideas They can be about practice or manage- ment trends you've observed, or simply something new you've encountered in the profession. They can be about one nurse, unit, or hospital, or about the wider landscape of healthcare policy from an RN's perspective. They can be humorous, or a matter of life and death. If you're a writer and would like to contribute an article, please let us know. You can reach us at nationalnurse@nationalnursesunited.org EXECUTIVE EDITOR Bonnie Castillo, RN EDITOR Lucia Hwang GRAPHIC DESIGN Jonathan Wieder COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR Sarah Cecile CONTRIBUTORS Rachel Berger, Lucy Diavolo, Amelia Dornbush, Chuleenan Svetvilas, Martha Wallner PHOTOGRAPHY Jaclyn Higgs, Tad Keyes, Choppy Oshiro it feels a little bit like Groundhog Day. You remem- ber? The movie where Bill Murray seems doomed to repeat the same day over and over? But we just repeat the years of this Covid-19 pan- demic over and over. And it just keeps getting worse. Across the country, our hospitals are full. Our emergency departments are full. Our pediatric units, where pediatric units still exist, are full. Our clinics are full. This year is the first year we've entered cold and flu sea- son with virtually no public health measures in place to prevent the transmission of infectious diseases, such as mandatory masking and distancing. As a result, our com- munities and facilities have been hit with the triple whammy of Covid, flu, and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) — what everyone is calling the "triple-demic." But we know there's a fourth factor exacerbating the dire situation, and that's the complete failure by our employers to prepare for this disease surge — as they refused to prepare for Covid — because planning is simply not seen as profitable. So we are calling the crisis the "quademic." Despite all the suffering, we nurses keep fighting for our patients. It's what we know instinctively to do. And we know we nurses must do it together. That's why we're so excited that the New York State Nurses Association voted to affiliate with National Nurses United in October. They are a fighting union, a badass union, and we are honored to join forces with them. You can learn more about the affiliation and get to know their nurse leaders in this issue of the magazine. Also in this issue, please take a moment to read how so many of our employers are locking new nurse grads into unethical and (what should be illegal) training repayment agreements, where in order to just get hired, they must promise to pay thousands of dollars if they don't work a specified period of time. Many of us remember a time when we were hired and precepted by veteran nurses who showed us the ropes and gave us invaluable, practical advice about how to succeed in our jobs. So many of our workplaces have cut back on precepting and nurses today do not know these indentured servitude contracts should not be the norm. We can't let it become the norm. Please take the time to talk to your new grad colleagues and let us know if they are trapped in these types of agreements. Nurses gotta stick together. Here's to fighting the good fight in 2023! Deborah Burger, RN | Jean Ross, RN | Zenei Triunfo-Cortez, RN National Nurses United Presidents Letter from the NNU presidents Stay connected FACEBOOK: www.facebook.com/NationalNurses TWITTER: @RNmagazine, @NationalNurses FLICKR: www.flickr.com/nationalnursesunited VIMEO: www.vimeo.com/NationalNursesUnited DIGITAL MAGAZINE: NationalNurseMagazine.org

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