Issue link: https://nnumagazine.uberflip.com/i/924503
Patient Protection Toolbox All CNA/NNOC model contracts establish a facility-based staff nurse-led professional practice committee (PPC). The purpose of the PPC is to constructively discuss, then make recommendations to the employer regarding improvements in patient care and nursing practice. The PPC Action Plan uses the five-point scientific problem-solving model that includes: 1. DATA COLLECTION: Compile and analyze all Assignment Despite Objection (ADO) and Technology Despite Objection (TDO) forms completed by RN rank-and-file staff nurses. • Assignment Despite Objection Form (ADO) One of the first steps in the advocacy process is documentation. An unsafe assignment may simply be one in which the RN was unable to provide all the care that each patient needed in a timely manner, or if the RN is forced to work overtime and/or is not provided with sufficient meal and rest breaks. • Technology Despite Objection Form (TDO) RNs have a unique patient advocacy role in the healthcare delivery system and technology can only be used to augment this unique role. In analyzing the safe, therapeutic, and effective values of any technology, RNs must be able to explore the potential of technology replacing human interaction in the delivery of patient care and the supplanting of critical thinking and independent clinical judgment with rigid clinical pathways or RN displacement and/or override technologies. 2. FORMULATE A DIAGNOSIS OF THE PROBLEM: Is there a violation of existing statutes, rules, and regulations; interference with the RN's patient advocacy duties and rights to advocate in the exclusive interest of the patient; violation of professional standards of practice; violation of the employment contract? 3. FORMULATE AND CARRY OUT AN ACTION PLAN: Use contract language that enforces the right of the PPC to seek a solution to the problem and make recommen- dations to nursing administration. Collectively and in unity enforce state statutes and regulatory mandates on scope of practice; safe nurse-to-patient staffing ratios with the requirement for the employer to "staff up" based on the individual patient's acuity and severity of illness, complexity of care planning, implementation, evaluation and documentation; sophistication and complexity of the technology required; experience and competency level of the staff. 4. PLAN THE INTERVENTION AND ITS IMPLEMENTATION: Write and submit the posed resolution to management and strictly adhere to timelines for accountability. Distin- guish urgent from non-urgent staffing issues and engage fellow nurses with education. Insist that members mobilize and are present when making the presentation to nurs- ing administration. 5. EVALUATION: Did the PPC achieve its objectives? If not, then reformulate the care plan and escalate. Be persistent. An effective mobilization plan is unit based, facility based, and community based! www.NationalNursesUnited.org