Image: American Nurses AssociationNYS Nurses Association

News from the ANA

Offering NYSNA members information, announcements and resources provided by the American Nurses Association (ANA), the largest nursing organization in the U.S., and the voice for nurses in Washington.

Recent ANA Announcements

ANA Partners with “Care About Your Care”

(ANA) has signed on as a partner with the “Care About Your Care” campaign, a national initiative to increase awareness about the critical importance that Americans take an active role in managing their health and making informed health care decisions. Find out more online at the “Care About Your Care” website.

ANA RELEASES NEW SOCIAL NETWORKING PRINCIPLES

Given the pervasiveness of social media, the ANA has released its Principles for Social Networking and the Nurse: Guidance for the Registered Nurse, a resource to guide nurses and nursing students in how they maintain professional standards in new media environments.

ANA Resources for State Legislators

The Governmental Affairs program of the American Nurses Association recently released two documents (.pdf) nurses may find useful in educating state legislators:

ANA Immunize

The Bringing Immunity to Every Community initiative is a two-year cooperative agreement with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to promote immunizations among nurses and their surrounding communities. Nurses have an important stake in helping to promote immunizations, both by being vaccinated to protect their families, contacts, and patient populations, but also by advocating for vaccination and striving to break down the barriers to a fully-vaccinated American population.

ANA Launches Website to help Preserve Medicaid

The ANA is working on several fronts to counter attacks on Medicaid funding and keep nurses informed about the efforts on Capitol Hill that impact this program, which provides essential healthcare coverage for an estimated 58 million Americans. A new website was recently launched to address this issue.

ANA National Awards Program seeks nominees

The ANA Committee on Honorary Awards is seeking nominees for the ANA National Awards Program, which recognizes nurses who have made significant contributions to the profession. Please consider your colleagues who exemplify the special qualities recognized by these awards, and nominate them. During the 2012 House of Delegates in Washington D.C., the ANA will bestow 14 national awards, followed by a reception to celebrate the recipients. NYSNA members who wish to submit names for consideration must contact Wendy Burbank at the NYSNA Executive Office by August 8.

New study recruiting female RNS

The Nurses’ Health Study 3, conducted by investigators from the Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women’s Hospital, are asking female nurses between the ages of 22 and 45 to consider joining their project.

The original Nurses’ Health Study began in 1976, with the participation of more than 121,000 nurses. In 1989, an additional 116,000 female RNs were enrolled in Nurses' Health Study II. These studies have uncovered much of what is currently known about how foods, exercise, and medications affect women’s risk of developing cancer and other serious health conditions. There is still a great deal of information not known, especially among women from diverse ethnic backgrounds.

The goal of the Nurses' Health Study 3 is to investigate how women’s lifestyles (including diet, exercise, birth control, pregnancy, work exposures etc.) during their 20’s, 30’s and 40’s can influence their health and disease risk later in life. Because of nurses’ unique knowledge, training and interest in health issues, they provide very accurate and complete information. Enrollment started in the summer of 2010, and will continue until the target enrollment of 100,000 nurses is achieved. Nurses' Health Study 3 will be conducted entirely online, via questionnaires. For more information on participating, visit the Study website.

tuberculosis e-course from ICN will help build global capacity

The International Council of Nurses (ICN) recently announced a new interactive e-learning course on the care, prevention and management of tuberculosis (TB) and drug-resistant TB. The new course, produced in collaboration with City University London, will be showcased at the World Lung Health Conference in Berlin.

ANA Video Promotes Safe Patient Handling

The ANA places a high priority on improving workplace safety by eliminating manual patient handling. ANA continues to demonstrate its commitment to protect nurses through advocacy on Capitol Hill, the ANA Handle with Care® campaign (2003), and, more recently, the 2009 establishment of the ANA Handle with Care Recognition Program™ that acknowledges hospitals that have established safe patient handling programs consistent with ANA’s criteria. In “ANA Safe Patient Handling,” hospital staff nurses and managers describe how the implementation of a safe patient handling program has had a positive impact on their jobs and health, patient safety and the entire organization. ANA thanks Franklin Square Hospital Center in Baltimore, MD, for assistance in producing this video.

Journal profiles emotional toll disasters Take on children

The journal Disaster Medicine and Public Health Preparedness (DMPHP) recently published a special issue devoted to the 5th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina featuring “Children as Bellwethers of Recovery: Dysfunctional Systems and the Effects of Parents, Households, and Neighborhoods on Serious Emotional Disturbance in Children After Hurricane Katrina” by David M. Abramson, PhD, MPH, Yoon Soo Park, MS, Tasha Stehling-Ariza, MPH, and Irwin Redlener, MD. The article is available under open access online.