National Nurses United

National Nurse magazine Jan-Feb 2014

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NATIONAL NURSE,™ (ISSN 2153-0386 print /ISSN 2153-0394 online) The Voice of National Nurses United, January | February 2014 Volume 110/1 is published by National Nurses United, 2000 Franklin Street, Oakland, CA 94612-2908. It provides news of organi- zational activities and reports on devel- opments of concern to all registered nurses across the nation. It also carries general coverage and commen tary on matters of nursing practice, community and public health, and healthcare policy. It is published monthly except for combined issues in January and Febru- ary, and July and August. Periodicals postage paid at Oakland, California. POSTMASTER: send address changes to National Nurse, ™ 2000 Franklin Street, 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 RoseAnn DeMoro EDITOR Lucia Hwang GRAPHIC DESIGN Jonathan Wieder COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR Charles Idelson CONTRIBUTORS Gerard Brogan, RN, Hedy Dumpel, RN, JD, Jan Rabbers, Donna Smith, David Schildmeier, Ann Kettering Sincox PHOTOGRAPHY Jaclyn Higgs, Tad Keyes, Erin FitzGerald hard to believe another year has already begun. Hello 2014! This means that the Affordable Care Act is mostly in effect (that is, except for all the delays the administration has granted to insurers and businesses that don't offer insurance to their workers). While almost all the media coverage has focused on the insurance aspect of the ACA, very little has been said about how the new law contains many provisions and programs that seek to transform healthcare, how it is delivered, who is delivering it, where it is delivered, and what even counts as "care" anymore. Our feature article in this magazine tackles these issues and seeks to inform registered nurses about the top five trends nurses must know about this changing healthcare landscape, which we call "restructuring." We're afraid it's not good news. As the article explains, instead of addressing the real cause of skyrocketing healthcare costs in the United States, the profit motive in healthcare, and switching to a single-payer, Medicare-for-all system that is funded and operated like our fire departments or public utilities, the Affordable Care Act still leaves healthcare corporations in charge. As a result, all of the trends ultimately point toward providing patients with the least, fastest, and cheapest care possible because that means these companies will rake in the highest profits. As patient advocates, registered nurses know that the least, fastest, and cheapest care possible is usually not what our patients need. So we must resist changes that prevent us from doing our job and continue to fight to restore humanity to healthcare. In this issue, we also introduce a regular item featuring the life and career stories of Kay McVay, RN and president emeritus of the California Nurses Association. Kay was a key player in bedside nurses taking back control of the asso- ciation in the 1990s from nursing managers and academics, and in launching our powerful, modern nurses movement. We thought we knew a lot about Kay, but we hear that she will be sharing stories that even we haven't heard! Kudos also to the 800 registered nurses of California Pacific Medical Center's Pacific Campus in San Francisco who recently won unionization. They are the latest group of RNs to join National Nurses United, and their hard-won victory is a great way to start off the year. Deborah Burger, RN | Karen Higgins, RN | Jean Ross, RN National Nurses United Council of Presidents Letter from the Council of Presidents Stay connected FACEBOOK: www.facebook.com/NationalNurses TWITTER: @RNmagazine, @NationalNurses FLICKR: www.flickr.com/nationalnursesunited YOUTUBE: www.youtube.com/NationalNursesUnited DIGITAL MAGAZINE: NationalNurseMagazine.org

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