National Nurses United

A P R I L | M AY | J U N E 2 0 2 4 W W W . N A T I O N A L N U R S E S U N I T E D . O R G N A T I O N A L N U R S E 17 T he professional practice committee (PPC) meeting is where the action is. If you want to find out what is happening at your hospital, talk to a PPC member. "It's where we discuss all issues that affect our ability to provide safe patient care to our patients such as nursing practice, safety, and staffing, among others," said Dahlia Tayag, RN, PPC member at the University of California, San Diego Medical Center (UCSD) and chief nurse representa- tive at the Hillcrest campus. "It's where we brainstorm possible solutions and provide recommendations to hospital leadership." The PPC is a direct-care, RN-controlled committee in every contract negotiated by California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee (CNA/NNOC), with the authority to docu- ment unsafe practices and the power to make real changes at the facility by making recommendations to nursing administra- tion. (For more about the PPC, see the January-February-March 2024 issue to read the first article in this new series.) How often the PPC meets depends on the collective bargaining agreement. At UCSD, where CNA represents more than 4,300 nurses, the 20-member PPC meets monthly, with management attending once a quarter for about one-and-a-half hours. In Chicago, at John H. Stroger, Jr. Hospital of Cook County, the PPC meets with the chief nursing officer (CNO) and other manage- ment every month during part of each PPC meeting. NNOC represents about 800 nurses at Stroger Hospital, which has 10 elected PPC members. At Research Medical Center in Kansas City, Mo., where NNOC represents more than 560 RNs, the eight-member PPC meets monthly for four hours of paid time and usually invites management once a quarter to meet for 30 minutes of the PPC meeting. But they can schedule additional meetings with management as needed. "The PPC is run by nurses for nurses," said Cheryl Rodarmel, RN, chief nurse rep and chair of the PPC at Research Medical. "At our meetings, we collect ADOs [assignment despite objection forms], we look at equip- ment needs, nursing practice, and assignments that create unsafe assignments. We also look at educational needs for nurses." The PPC Agenda so what exactly occurs in a PPC meet- ing? If it's only nurses meeting, no management, what typically happens is a discussion of ongoing issues and new issues, current campaigns, and recommendations to management. At UCSD, where all PPC members are also nurse reps, the PPC meet- ing is held in the afternoon of the second Thursday of every month. The two chief nurse reps and the PPC chair review the agenda before it goes out to the PPC in advance of the meeting. The UCSD nurse reps meet in the morn- ing of that second Thursday, starting at 7 a.m. When their meeting is over at 11 a.m. the reps/PPC members round the units and take a break for lunch, where they usually set up a table with updates and resources for nurses who want to drop by and find out what's happening. The PPC meets in the afternoon, spending time summarizing what happened at the last PPC meeting, including what issues have been addressed, whether any issues discussed with management have been resolved, and who will be assigned to work on the ongoing issues. Sometimes the PPC at UCSD breaks out into small groups of three to four members to discuss the issues each department is facing and make recommendations. "For example, this unit needs an extra nurse aid and needs to extend the resource nurse hours," said Michael Kennedy, RN, PPC member for the ICUs at UCSD and chief nurse rep for the La Jolla campus at UCSD. "Then when it comes time to meet with management, we have our priorities straight." When the breakouts are over, they report their discussion to the entire PPC and together they make plans for the next steps. "If we have many urgent issues to address, we meet as a group and do not have any breakouts," said Tayag, who has been a nurse Second in a series Where the Action Is Professional Practice Committee meetings are where nurses brainstorm solutions and hold management accountable. By Chuleenan Svetvilas

• Cover