News

HB 62 – The Assault on Healthcare Workers Bill – passed out of the Senate with a vote of 33-0 today! The passage of this bill is evidence that violence against nurses will not be tolerated.

The Ohio law calls for tougher penalties for assaults in certain circumstances, including attacks against workers at correctional facilities and people providing emergency medical services, which includes:

• Increases in the penalty for assault to a 5th degree felony when the offender has a history of assault convictions against healthcare workers
• Authorization of a $5,000 fine if an assault is committed
• Authori

This year’s RN Labor Institute was a huge success!  With a theme of “Nurses Make it Happen,” dozens of nurse leaders from across the state ventured to Mohican Lodge and Conference Center for the event, which included networking and educational programming designed to enrich the excellent representation ONA members get from their local unit leaders. This year’s Labor Institute curriculum included presentations about the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA), wage and hour laws, just culture, delegation and more.

Nurses attending the RN Labor Institute also enjoyed greetings from Ohio

The nurses of St. Charles Medical Center – Bend voted to ratify their contract on October 26, and passed overwhelmingly with 95 percent of nurses voting yes.

The new agreement is a three year contract and includes: wage increases of 2 percent retroactive to July 1, 2012, 2 percent on July 1, 2013, and 2 percent on July 1, 2014; new job description for charge RN; and increase in tuition reimbursement.

Negotiations for this contract were contentious and protracted, but professional, as the negotiating team fought hard for a fair contract. The support of the nurses and community participation was

In a huge victory for patient safety, the nine justices of the Washington State Supreme Court unanimously upheld nurses’ statutory rights to be paid overtime when their duties prevent them from taking a rest period. In 2007, WSNA brought the legal action on behalf of the 1,200 registered nurses at Providence Sacred Heart Medical Center (SHMC) in Spokane to recover unpaid wages for denied rest periods.

Research confirms that nurses working long hours have decreased alertness and vigilance which can lead to patient harm. WSNA has been working for several years to ensure that nurses receive full

Want to know about the quality of care at a hospital? Ask the nurses who work there.A new study, funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Nurse Faculty Scholars program and the National Institute of Nursing Research, reveals that nurses are extremely accurate, reliable assessors of the quality of care in the hospitals in which they work. Nurses represent the largest proportion of health care professionals, are the primary providers of bedside care for patients and serve as intermediaries between patients and a host of other care providers that allows for close, frequent and long

The Ohio Nurses Association recently attended the 28th Biennial Constitutional Convention of the Ohio AFL-CIO in Columbus, OH. During the convention, ONA submitted a resolution repudiating the practice of labor trafficking, which was passed unanimously. President Obama also made an impromptu visit to the convention during his campaign visits in Ohio. ONA delegates had front row seats as President Obama talked about his administration’s latest trade action against China and his continued commitment to and support of America’s hard-working men and women. What a great surprise for the delegates!

The U.S. Federal Drug Administration has adopted New York legislator Steve Stern’s groundbreaking legislation that bans the sale of infant and toddler drinking items that contain harmful, synthetic estrogen Bisphenol-A (BPA). NFN President and ANA board member Barbara Crane, RN, testified at the hearing and made a compelling statement on behalf of the federation and association regarding “the power of the pen to sign a bill that would safeguard the health of our children for years to come.” The nationwide Toxin-Free Toddlers and Babies Act marks a first step in getting toxins removed from

Two recent studies on nurse understaffing and nurse fatigue have revealed that these two prominent issues negatively impact the quality of care delivery, patient and employee satisfaction and operational costs in hospitals. Read the article from Healthcare Financial News here.

NFN pauses today to honor the 45th anniversary of the death of Martin Luther King Jr, who lost his life while advocating for  justice during the 1968 AFSCME Sanitation Workers Strike.  It is ironic that these many years later, the fight for social justice, workers’ rights and workplace safety continues to be a hard fought battle even in the 21st Century.

Click here to see Walter Cronkite’s breaking news of the assassination.

Nurses showed up in mass to demonstrate today in an informational picket against the Employer’s putting profits over patients.  The strong and determined nurses carried signs that passionately expressed their commitment to quality patient care as well as to protest the exploitation of nurses for Peace Health’s love of purses.  “These nurses are the real salt of the earth. They are stark raving reasonable, as one sign suggests, and they have the support of the community” said NFN President Barbara Crane, who was inspired by the spirit of the members.   The contract campaign is gaining momentum