October 2008 Access
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VOL XXIX NO 3 OCTOBER 2008 ACCESS IN THIS ISSUE: CLINICAL CORNER • CODE OF ETHICS • Booster seat leGislation PEER to PEER NETWORK • NEW GRADuates • and more! ARNNL STAFF COUNCIL Executive Director Pegi Earle 753-6173 [email protected] Director of Regulatory Michelle Osmond 753-6181 Services [email protected] Director of Communications Janice Lockyer 753-6198 [email protected] Nursing Consultant - Colleen Kelly 753-0124 Education [email protected] Nursing Consultant - Advanced Betty Lundrigan 753-6174 Practice & Administration [email protected] Nursing Consultant - Lynn Power 753-6193 Practice [email protected] Front Row L-R - Bev White (President - Elect), Kathy Watkins, Peggy O’Brien- Connors, Jim Feltham (President), Janice Brennan, Cathy Burke. Second Row L-R - Project Consultant JoAnna Bennett (part-time) 753-6019 Pegi Earle (ED), Kathy Fitzgerald, Sandra Gear, Bea Courtney, Sandra Evans. Missing QPPE [email protected] from photo: - Ray Frew, Lynn Miller, Beverly Pittman, Margo Cashin, Joan Downey Accountant & Office Manager Elizabeth Dewling 753-6197 Jim Feltham, President 2008 - 2010 [email protected] Bev White, President-Elect 2008 – 2010 Ray Frew 2007–2010 Administrative Assistant to Christine Fitzgerald 753-6183 Executive Director and Council [email protected] Bea Courtney 2008-2011 (February) Kathy Watkins, St. John’s Region 2006 - 2009 Administrative Assistant to Jeanette Gosse 753-6060 Lynn Miller, Labrador Region 2008 - 2011 Consultants & Workplace [email protected] Janice Brennan, Western Region 2007 - 2010 Representative Program Sandra Evans, Central Region 2008 - 2011 Sandra Gear, Eastern Region 2007 – 2010 Administrative Assistant to Jennifer Rideout 753-6075 Beverly Pittman, Northern (Grenfell) Region 2007 – 2010 Consultants, ACCESS & QPPE [email protected] Peggy O’Brien-Connors, Advanced Practice 2006 - 2009 Administrative Assistant to Colleen Jones 753-6041 Kathy Fitzgerald, Practice 2006 – 2009 Consultants [email protected] Margo Cashin, Practice 2007 – 2010 Joan Downey, Nursing Education/Research 2008 – 2011 Administrative Assistant & Kirsty Wiik 753-6040 Cathy Burke, Administration 2007 - 2010 Data Processor, Registration [email protected] Research Assistant & Julie Wells 753-6182 ARNNL Trust [email protected] CONTENTS ACCESS is the official publication of the Association of Registered Nurses of 1 | Message from the President Newfoundland and Labrador. 2 | Nurses Governing Nurses ACCESS is published three times a year in January, May and September. Subscriptions are available for $25.00 per year. 3 | Disclosure: Professional Responsibilities ON THE COVER: ARNNL President Jim Feltham and provincial Chief Nursing 4 | CNA Code of Ethics for Registered Nurses 2008 Officer Anita Ludlow pose with ARNNL staff, ARNNL Board members and frontline nurses after a meeting with Premier Danny Williams in June 2008. 5 | IT Responds to Community Needs 6 | The Peer-to-Peer Network: Supporting Nursing EDITOR | Janice Lockyer, Director of Communications Involvement in Information Technology CreatIVE DESIGN | Vanessa Stockley, Granite Studios 8 | The First Provincial Wound & Skin Care Manual ADMINIstratION | Jennifer Rideout, ARNNL 9 | Nurse Practitioners: An Innovative Solution 10 | Nurses of Note Advertise in the next issue of ACCESS Contact Janice Lockyer, Director of Communications, ARNNL 13 | Clinical Corner [email protected] 753-6198 14 | BN Graduates 55 Military Road St. John’s, NL A1C 2C5 15 | Do You See What Eye See? A Transcultural Ph: (709) 753-6040 Fax: (709) 753-4940 Toll Free: 1-800-563-3200 Nursing Experience to Impoverished Mexico email: [email protected] www.arnnl.nf.ca 16 | Booster Seat Legislation ©Association of Registered Nurses of Newfoundland and Labrador (ARNNL). All rights reserved. 18 | Goings On For editorial matters, please contact the editor. The views and opinions expressed in the articles and advertisements are those of the authors or advertisers and do not necessarily represent the policies of ARNNL. ACCESS VOL XXIX NO 3 OctoBER 2008 Messagefrom the President s with summer days, the time since I assumed the role of President of the Association of Registered Nurses of Newfoundland and A Labrador (ARNNL) has quickly passed. It has been a busy time for your ARNNL executive and staff with the passing of the new Registered Nurses Act, CNA celebrating 100 years at the Biennial meeting in Ottawa and parading with nurses for the memorial of Beaumont Hamel. In June, the Legislative body of the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador passed the Registered Nurses Act. This piece of legislation updates our responsibilities and makes us more accountable to the population of our province. The new Act continues to give the nurses of our province the privilege of self-regulation and allows us to set the standards for entry to practice including those for Nurse Practitioners. The new Act also improves public transparency by increasing the number of public representatives on our Board from two to four. I am the first direct care nurse to serve in the role of President of ARNNL. I hope to bring a unique perspective on the role of nurses in our hospitals, communities and workforce to the Office of President. As I mentioned at our meeting in June, I wear many different hats, all of which inform my perspective on nursing. Continuing competency, work life issues and shortages are all things we have to deal with. The future of nursing will depend upon a workforce that is in tune with the needs of the people we serve and how we provide the care with resources at hand. We must continue to voice our concerns and sometimes take a different look at ways of providing services. In June, I had the honour of representing the Association at the CNA Biennial Conference which celebrated 100 years of nursing in Canada. The CNA meeting included a discussion on the challenges of self-regulation and looked at why self-regulation is required to maintain public protection and quality health care delivery in these times of shortages. What became clear from the discussion, was that self-regulation allows us to be aware of and safe guard our standards for care while promoting continuing education so that we can maintain our competency. It was also an honour, during the meeting, to listen to the keynote speaker, General Rick Hillier, who took the opportunity to recognize nurses who have served in Afghanistan. This fall promises to be even busier as we begin work on fleshing out the new Act; continuing to work with our stakeholder groups on health human resource issues, quality of work life issues, and other important issues facing the profession; and work to raise our profile with members and the public. In all of this, one thing is certain, with the challenges we are now experiencing, we will have to develop new ways at looking at the problems facing the profession and the system in order to identify solutions that can help make health care viable over the long-term. This fall, I will continue to focus on linking with members and the public as I find it an excellent way to hear both what is happening at our work sites and how the public perceives our profession. It is also a way to ground our ARNNL Ends in reality and measure what they mean for nurses and the public. This will help the Council determine if we are on the right track or if we should change direction. I would like to conclude by, once again, thanking Pat Pilgrim for her guidance over the last two years. I look forward to working with the new Council and the staff at ARNNL as we face the challenges of our profession and keep nursing in the forefront of health care delivery in our province. James W. Feltham 1 NURSES GOVERNING NURSING MARGARET (PEGI) EARLE, RN, MScN ince the last issue of ARNNL ACCESS both This includes: W ! the legal and ethical foundations for nursing • increasingat the number of public representativesleg one Council to four, i practice in our province have shifted! On June a Priv 4, 2008, the House of Assembly established new legislation to • ensuring the register of members is accessible to the govern our profession, the Registered Nurses Act 2008, which public (in this regard we are moving to have a list of continues the privilege of self- regulation. Two days earlier, registered members available online), ARNNL Council approved the Canadian Nurses Association’s • strengthening the legislative authority for the professional new Code of Ethics for Registered Nurses which renews conduct review process and involvement of public our profession’s ethical values and responsibilities. These representatives, documents, along with the Standards for Nursing Practice • conducting disciplinary hearings in public, and (2007), provide the foundation for nursing in our province. • submitting an annual report to Government. SThey demonstrate ARNNL’s responsibility for governing the Since 1996, government has been systematically reforming nursing profession while supporting nurses to provide safe the legislation of all regulated professions. The reforms to and quality nursing care in all roles, settings and domains of our Act are similar to those of other health professions. The nursing. This column highlights the nature of the changes to reforms support the public’s expectations for professional the RN Act and Code of Ethics. Members are encouraged accountability and transparency when professions are given to take some time to review the specific changes to both the right of self-regulation. documents which are posted on www.arnnl.nf.ca.