Districts
District
4 - Lafayette
| 2002 Minutes Archive The American Nurses Association
Location:
Gentry's Restaurant Call to order: 6:05 PM Minutes of the last meeting: Barbara Hoffpauir excused, no minutes to review Old Business: Acadiana Celebrates Nursing: Report on ACN Carllene MacMillan Given by Steven Savant. Acadiana Celebrates Nursing is booked into city Club for Thursday, May 1, 2003. CE Cruise: Executive committee e-mailed re: the cruise being organized, but we will not be represented. There will be several in the future since the first one was well attended. Meeting times and dates: Fremin: Why do we meet on Wednesday nights: Answer: The meeting night is a continuing problem. Currently several active members are working at the Lafayette Community Health Care Clinic on Tuesdays and cannot be at the meetings. We are open to other ideas. Please feel free to let us know what would be a better night. District IV holds a quarterly meeting in an effort to make it possible for more people to attend. Next meeting is February 19, 2003; then May 21, 2003. Board meetings will be at a more convenient date if possible. Some would like to see meetings move out to other venues. Important to have the chapter move to where the members are. Student participation: Lisk: Do we have student members? La Brosse: Students are welcome to come to the meetings. They also have their own association the Southwest Association of Nursing Students. We have had events to which students are invited and it seems to help. Broussard: It would help to recognize student and it has an impact oh the students to be personally asked to join when they graduate. Savant: Some hospitals have career ladders and active membership in the professional organization is rewarded that way. Action: Suggestion: include application to district in the New Nurse orientation packets at the hospitals. District nurses profiled: As of the end of October there are 91 members who have paid dues. This decline is representative of the state nurses' association. Officers have received a recruiting tool box with ideas to stimulate recruiting. Fremin reported on shortage of nurses in New Iberia-Franklin home health. Discussion. Things like OASIS, PPS, recent Medicare cute have all had an effect. Lisk: Struck by numbers of contract nurses in the hospitals. Discussion of numbers of nurses who are doing travel nursing. Discussion of numbers of students leaving the area giving reasons including pay, availability of internships, bonuses, preceptors who are assigned to new graduates. Discussed problems for graduates in Louisiana and those who are going to Texas. Texas hospitals note that the front-end investment in the graduate tends to prolong their tenure at the hospital. Other states are doing those and other creative ways to entice new graduates. LaBrosse, Problem(1) the Stats in Louisiana indicate that we do not have a shortage here, but rather a shortage of nurses working in hospitals. Problem(2) Physicians do not seem to comprehend nurse's abilities. There was a meeting last Spring at which Professional nurses were addressed as a "trade organization" and this mentality seems to be driving the move toward training nurses in vocational-technical schools. The SNA has prevented this by means of a position paper, but it is part of the public mentality and Nurses need to educate the public to change these ideas. Discussion of the problems of staffing at the local hospitals and the measures being taken to work that out. Issues common to nurses in Louisiana: Discussion re: PA's, Advanced practice nurses and how these differ from state to state. Military nursing, institutional licensure and the new interstate licensure. Please put the following dates on your calendar: April 9, 2003: LSNA state meeting, whole day April 10, 2003, Nurse day at the legislature April 11 and 12, 2003; LSNA Convention. Each district is slowed a delegate for each 10 members so we can have 9. Anyone who wishes to volunteer as a delegate and become active in this way at the convention please let Steven Savant know. We may reinstate actually going to the capital to talk to legislators. Nurses are well advised to get actively involved in the legislature. Some other states have nurses who are elected to state offices and as senators and representatives at their legislatures. Nurse investiture act: Passed the U.S. house and senate, but not funded. This would help to increase the number of nursing faculty in order to increase the numbers of graduates. There is a true faculty shortage with more than 25% of faculty likely to retire in the next 5 years. Discussion of advanced education in administrative nurses not just educators is being seen in other states. Adjournment: Motion entertained to adjourn. Moved by Fremin, seconded by La Brosse. All in favor. Adjournment 7:10 PM |
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