14
Legislation and education
CNA/NNU's nursing practice program conducts continuing education
classes to educate RNs in patient advocacy and the law. The gov-
ernment relations/legislative advocacy program is involved in all
regulatory and legislative areas affecting the RN profession and
patient care.
In January 2004, California enacted the first-in-the-nation ratio
law, sponsored by CNA/NNU, mandating minimum RN-to-patient
ratios for all hospital units. CNA/NNU has authored similar Patient
Protection Acts, modeled after the California law, that have been
introduced in state legislatures across the nation.
CNA/NNU has won other major legislation, including whistleblower
protection for healthcare employees who expose unsafe hospital
conditions, a ban on phone advice by unlicensed persons, and a law
requiring that caregivers disclose their credentials while providing
patient care.
Objection to unsafe assignment leads
to new training program:
"An RN from PACU was told she would have
to take care of a pediatric patient (infant) on
a ventilator. Since the only requirement at the
time was for the PACU RNs to be PALS certified,
she was the first to point out that they weren't
competent to care for ventilated pediatric pa-
tients. She refused to take the assignment and
notified the nurse rep that she faced the potential
for disciplinary action. Instead of being disci-
plined, her knowledge of the law and the unity
of the PACU RNs led to an annual skills day with
specific patient population competency valida-
tion for the unit."
Cathy Kennedy, RN
CNA/NNU Board of Directors,
Kaiser Permanente
— Sacramento, CA
Patient Care Success Stories from CNA/NNU Facilities
