Issue link: https://nnumagazine.uberflip.com/i/1521816
RNs in Motion » 21 Winning Safe Precepting Policies That Protect Patients and RNs "Shortly after we voted to affiliate with NNOC/NNU, management unilaterally put forth the dangerous policy that any RN in the NICU with two years' experience would be required to precept new grads, aka 'orientees.' The manager responsible for education policy had not worked at the bedside for 10 years and was completely out of touch with the needs of our patients and our new grads. We quickly organized a protest petition and delivered it with a march on the boss, demanding that the policy be rescinded and that nurses not be asked to precept in areas outside their competency. We also launched an ADO campaign documenting unsafe patient assignments in the NICU, and in the face of this pressure, management dropped the arbitrary precepting requirement. Through this work, we organized a five- member committee of NICU RNs to propose further improvements, including in-person instruction to support RNs and build their skills for teaching before they take on precepting duties. Prior to voting to unionize, we lived at the whim of management's decisions, so it is very empowering to see how our advocacy efforts are leading to improvements in the hospital. It is exciting to see what we've been able to accomplish before reaching our first contract, and we're optimistic about winning more workplace democracy at Ascension Seton Medical Center in the days to come." — Lindsay Spinney, RN NICU Ascension Seton Medical Center, Austin, Texas Using Our Collective Power to Fight the Spread of Covid-19 with Safe PPE "Covid hit the state of Arizona very hard at the beginning of the pandemic. As nurses we were overwhelmed. We had a huge patient load, and we didn't know how to take care of them with guidelines changing on a shift-by-shift basis. Early on we nurses insisted on participating in management's 'Command Center' calls where the latest information on how to treat Covid patients was shared by the hospital's top epidemiologist and infectious disease experts. We consistently pushed back on unsafe policies starting with the rule that we use the same N95 mask for a week. Management responded with a scheme to decontam- inate our used masks with the entirely unproven, and possibly toxic, Battelle system. They told us to write our names inside our masks and put them in bins in each unit for collection and 'reprocessing.' We shared pamphlets and flyers with nurses throughout the hospital on optimal personal protective equipment (PPE) and the Battelle system risks prepared by the union's Nursing Practice division. Unit by unit, nurses signed on to a petition rejecting the hospital's unsafe PPE recycling scheme and demanding single-use PPE. We threw our masks away at the end of each shift, ignoring the 'reprocessing' bins, or using them as trash receptacles. Our pressure got results! The bins quickly disappeared from the units, and the hospital began to supply fresh N95s at the start of every shift. Next, we rejected management's plan to use flimsy rain ponchos as a substitute for real PPE. We also insisted they provide us with fresh scrubs every day that we could remove at the end of our shifts, so we could return home to our families in clothing that was not contaminated. It was a very scary time, but I knew that I wasn't alone. I was resisting with nurses in my unit and throughout the hospital, and at the same time, we were part of the ocean of union nurses across the country fighting these short- sighted and dangerous practices. It was very rewarding to see that when nurses speak up together, we can make a positive change for our patients, our families, and ourselves." — Catherine Byars, RN, ICU Carondelet St. Mary's Hospital, Tucson, Ariz. CASE STUDIES IN COLLECTIVE ACTION Our ability to provide safe, therapeutic, and effective patient care depends on reversing the trend of inadequate hospital staffing driven by corporate health care that is putting patients at risk and is forcing nurses out of the profession. Our contracts provide nurses with a voice in patient-care decisions, which we use to create safer health care facilities to protect our patients and our licenses. Below are a few examples of how RNs in our facilities have used the tools in their toolbox to win improvements in patient care. These tools include the PPC, the ADOs, and the collective action of nurses in your facility.