National Nurses United

passage of the safe RN staffing law in 1999. "I've had people come up to me and say, 'If there's one thing CNA has ever done for me, the ratio bill is the best,'" she said. In 2000, Strickland joined the CNA board of directors, where she says she's known for being a pragmatist and bringing balance to discussions. "You know, I'm not the person that's high in the sky," said Strickland. "I'm kind of the reality check person. It's not the easiest position to be in sometimes but I think everybody knows that I support CNA 100 percent. If they think I don't, then they don't know me." All during this time, Strickland has dedicated herself to the oncology unit at Summit, where she's the day charge nurse. A Bay Area native, Strickland was born at Kaiser Permanente's Oakland hospital, raised in Richmond, and graduated nursing school from the University of San Francisco. She said she ended up in oncology after she graduated in 1976 because, unlike now, there weren't that many options and jobs open. Oncology turned out to be a good fit for her. She enjoys devel- oping long-term relationships with patients and their families, and she raves about the veteran group of oncology RNs she's worked alongside at Summit over the last 30 years. The tightness and longevity of her unit, and the patients who count on the oncol- ogy RNs to help them through dif- ficult treatments, made Sutter's recent announcement that it planned to dissolve the oncology unit at Summit all the more shocking. Through letter writing, press conferences, and contact- ing public officials, Strickland and her coworkers have managed to force the hospital to keep oncol- ogy open for now, but it is bad decisions like this for patients by hospital corporations that will continue to be one of the biggest challenges for RNs, she said. "It's always cutbacks, every department has had cutbacks and it always falls back on the nurse to deal with it," explained Strickland. "When pharmacy has cut- backs, it still comes down to the nurse to make multiple calls to say, 'I still need this med.' We're where the buck stops and we have to answer to the patient." Another major challenge for RNs, she believes, will be deal- ing with the onslaught of new technology that hospitals are now bringing onto the floor. Strickland, like many other nurses, is wor- ried that the technology will end up making their work more dif- ficult, not easier. "You may have this technology in the business world that's good for ordering, but now they're trying to use it for charting and it hasn't been used for that," she said. "Whatever they're making up, when it comes down to the staff nurse actu- ally having to use it, is it truly going to help her get her work done or is it going to be something she dreads every day?" To handle these issues, RNs need to get organized and get active. "If you want to be involved, there's definitely opportuni- ty to be involved," said Strickland. "You don't even need to come down to the office. The labor reps will find you something to do." She says keeping members plugged in will be one of the chal- lenges for CNA as the organization keeps growing. She is proud, however, of how far RNs have come in the past five years. About that time ago, her eldest daughter was in high school and considering studying to become a registered nurse, too. "Before, I would tell them, 'No, don't go into nursing. It's hard and I don't see it getting any better,'" remembered Strickland. "She still asks me, 'Do you still think I shouldn't go into nursing?' But now that we've got the staffing bill, I think it's ok—at least in California." Lucia Hwang is editor of California Nurse Profile Name: Patricia Strickland Facility: Alta Bates Summit Medical Center Unit: Oncology Nursing for: 29 years On CNA board since: 2000 Sign: Pisces Pet nursing peeve: Messiness, hates when she walks into a room where the IV lines are all tangled up Favorite work snack: Chocolate peanut butter protein bars Last work accomplishment: Helping her oncology colleagues get Summit to back off of closing the unit; also fighting back the hospital's harassing policies of making nurses get individual preauthorization from the nurse manager before taking overtime Color of favorite scrubs: Royal blue Favorite hobby: Singing classical, religious, and contemporary music and traveling with her choir Favorite song, movie, or book: Gone With the Wind, by Margaret Mitchell, and mystery novels Special talent unrelated to nursing: Mediation and conflict resolution "It's always cutbacks… When pharmacy has cutbacks, it still comes down to the nurse to make multiple calls to say, 'I still need this med.' We're where the buck stops and we have to answer to the patient." C A L I F O R N I A N U R S E S E P T T E M B E R 2 0 0 5 19

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