Nursing is being transformed into an industry that like any other industry is production oriented and profit driven. The care is being squeezed out of health care. HMO's, managed care and mega-mergers are pushing profits over quality care. Since RNs represent 23 percent of the hospital work force and are the biggest share of labor costs, Hospitals are downsizing staff, contracting out, replacing highly skilled professionals with less skilled substitutes, and increasing caregiver responsibilities without training or increasing compensation. Leaving nurses with heavy caseloads that detract from patient care and erode the quality of nurses' working life.
BackgroundThe Nursing Profession is facing a serious health care crisis. Nurses describe large patient loads, understaffing, not having enough time to spend with patients, and paperwork burden. Again, these findings are consistent with the international study (Aiken et al. 2001) findings in which nurses reported an increase in the number of patients assigned to them and insufficient staff to get the work done and provide high quality.
Few U.S. nurses believed that administration listen and respond to nurses' concerns or that nurses' contributions to patient care were publicly acknowledged. Most indicated they had little opportunity for advancement and seldom participated in policy decisions. As the largest health care profession in the United States, nursing's voice is strongly not heard and their concerns have fallen on deaf ears.
When considering changes that could be made to retain current nurses and to bring back nurses who have left, it is important to look at the issues that nurses have identified as problems. Without a doubt, inadequate staffing levels top the list. Less than satisfactory numbers of nursing staff began to become a problem in the early 1990s as healthcare became more financially competitive. Hospitals and other healthcare employers began reducing nursing staff as a way to cut costs- either to increase profits or remain competitive for lucrative managed care contracts. At the same time, more and more patients were being seen on an outpatient basis, leaving only the most acute patients in hospitals. Those very ill patients demanded more nursing care, not less. Fearful that they could not provide quality healthcare, nurses who remained in the hospitals are looking for other sources of employment. Furthermore, this increasingly well-publicized dissatisfaction with working conditions and concerns about quality care is driving people away from entering nursing.
Nurses are finding out that collective bargaining contracts can empower and assist them with their workplace issues. Collective bargaining agreements provide a system of "Self-Governance" for nurses within an institution to help not only with their workplace conditions but also patient safety and patient/nurse ratios. Nurses all across the country are forming unions for a voice in decisions that affect their patients and their profession. As more and more nurses join together they are gaining strength at the bargaining table and winning agreements with large hospital corporations and systems that really raise nursing and patient care standards.
Joining a union is a step forward for nursing but it still is only a step forward. Nurses are great at taking care of and advocating for patients but when it comes to advocating for the profession of nursing is another thing entirely. Nurses need to learn about and understand the labor relation's process. In other words: how to use the power foe nursing gained by a collective bargaining agreement. What it means to be a labor advocate. When the Michigan Nurses Association and Michigan State University School of Labor and Industrial Relations met this was the topic of discussion. How do nurses protect themselves from the realities of the workplace? How do nurses work to resolve their workplace issues and concern?
The SSC490 Series - Health Care Industry Labor Relations Certificate: A Registered Nurse On-Line Program provides nurses the education to empower themselves by providing an accessible forum to discuss workplace issues with other practicing RNs. It allows Nurses to become familiar with the complex issue in healthcare in order to help them decide not only what is quality patient care but what also in best for the working nurse.
Classes rotate with one offered each semister. The next class is fall session 2006 with Special Topics. Registration begins April 1 through August 10, 2006. Current MSU students enroll in the usual manner. Nurses not enrolled in an MSU curriculum can enroll thorough Lifelong Education.
The purpose of the Lifelong Education status is to permit and facilitate access to MSU courses (on-campus, off-campus, or workshop) for persons not wishing to pursue an undergraduate or graduate MSU degree. Students who have obtained a baccalaureate degree are considered Graduate Lifelong Education students. All other students are considered Undergraduate Lifelong Education students.
Using your Labor Relations Credits Toward a Degree*The 400 level credit series can be used toward a Bachelors or Masters degree at MSU or another College or University.
In addition, unionized nurses can receive credit for Lifetime experience through
The National Labor College (NLC) offers a simplified classroom schedule. Bachelor of Arts students do a significant amount of work online; with weeklong on-campus instruction required every term. These "weeks-in-residence" provide students personal contact with instructors during each term. In addition, students receive personal support via e-mail and phone contact. A key aspect of the NLC Bachelor of Arts program is its recognition of experiential learning - that is, education received outside the traditional classroom. Students can earn college credits through prior experiential learning that is documented and evaluated through the NLC Educational Planning course and portfolio process. Nurses can receive credit for lifetime education and average seven classes to complete their BS degree.