National Nurses United

NewsBriefs:2 7/22/09 10:25 PM Page 7 costs, or at all? Very, very few, certainly not those in 94 percent of U.S. metropolitan areas that are served by one or two insurance companies, as shown in the AMA's 2008 study of insurance markets. Insurance coverage and companies now control patient choice of provider and treatment – often with terrible health results. One of the great advantages of singlepayer is that it guarantees patients the ongoing choice of a doctor or other provider, who are paid for providing treatment on the same basis. Third, ensure affordable care for all. Here again, single-payer has the advantage from a clinical point of view. Taiwan is the most recent country to have adopted single-payer, in 1995. The percentage of people with health insurance climbed from 57 to 97 percent, yet the expanded coverage produced little if any increase in overall healthcare spending beyond normal growth due to rising population and income. Taiwan had a system much like ours: multi-payer, dysfunctional, and broken. They made the switch just a decade ago, though some people said it could not be done, with great success for their people. The U.S. ranks last among 19 leading industrialized nations in preventable deaths. If the U.S. matched the top three— France, Japan and Australia—in timely and effective care, 101,000 fewer Americans would die every year. In a study released earlier this year by CNA/NNOC, we show that extending Medi care to all would not only provide desperately needed medical care to millions but would also result in the creation of 2.6 million new jobs in this nation. The evidence is clear: single-payer works, it best meets the president's principles, and most important, it best meets the needs of my patients, for whom I have a professional responsibility to advocate. Our history proves that with political leadership any reform that benefits the American people as a whole is politically viable. Dare we waste this moment with a reform that will not adequately control costs, be truly universal, improve quality, and guarantee choice of doctor and provider? Or will we leave the American people feeling the moment has been wasted and that once again they cannot trust our government to genuinely act in their interests? Let's enact single-payer. Let's put patients first. JUNE 2009 RNs on Primetime inaccurate and often harmful portrayal of nurses in Hollywood and the media. Summers examines these stereotypes in a new book she coauthored, Saving Lives: Why the Media's Portrayal of Nurses Puts Us All at Risk, which was released this spring. She took time out to share her thoughts with us about how these new television shows will likely influence the public's perception of nursing. What are the main problems with Hollywood and other media depictions of registered nurses? Sandy Summers, RN of the Truth About Nursing Harmful stereotypes continue to undermine nursing's media image. In the vast majority of recent television depictions, nurses are unskilled handmaidens, while physicians deliver all the nursing care that matters: T his june, two new high-profile shows featuring registered nurses as lead characters, Nurse Jackie and HawthoRNe, debuted on cable TV. Finally, RNs are getting the attention they deserve. CNA/NNOC seized this pop culture moment to start a public conversation about the realities of nursing in America, and question whether the depictions in the shows accurately reflected the hard work and challenges real nurses face every day: short staffing, mandatory overtime, lack of equipment, overbearing management. We encouraged RNs to watch the shows together and share their opinions on our new blog, RNVoices.net, and released a new television ad titled "Imagine a World Without Nurses" which ran during the premier of HawthoRNe that asks viewers to consider the critical role of RNs in ensuring patient safety, and what happens when there aren't enough of them at the bedside. The shows have already generated some controversy, but whether you are a fan or critic, they put nurses front and center. Sandy Summers, executive director of an organization called The Truth About Nursing, has since 2001 monitored and challenged the Visit RNVoices.net to read what your colleagues are saying about Nurse Jackie and HawthoRNe. For more information about Summers' group, visit TruthAboutNursing.org. W W W. C A L N U R S E S . O R G Edie Falco stars in Nurse Jackie defibrillation, triage, 24/7 surveillance, psychosocial counseling, IV medication delivery, and running high-tech ICU machinery. Most shows also portray physicians supervising nurses, leading people to think that nurses exist to serve physicians, rather than practicing at the center of patient care as auton omous professionals. The other prevalent Hollywood stereotype is of the nurse as unskilled worker. Most TV nurses just fetch equipment, answer phones, and push gurneys. Unfortunately, the news media also reports overwhelmingly on physician practice and research while mostly ignoring nursing. Occasionally TV shows rely on the battle-axe, or her sister, the bitter loser, who frustrates heroic physicians and harms patients by imposing senseless bureaucratic rules. Hollywood hardly ever uses the angel stereotype anymore, but unfortunately, that REGISTERED NURSE 7

• Cover