United Nurses & Allied Professionals - All UNAP News

Be a volunteer actor at the UNAP conference!

Thu, 29 Jul 2010 12:47:59 -0400

The UNAP is looking for up to 12 people to play the parts of doctors and nurses in Bedside Manners at the UNAP Professional Issues Conference on September 20. This will be "readers' theater", so you will not need to memorize any lines. There will be a rehearsal for all volunteer actors on Sunday, September 19 at 4:00 PM at the UNAP office, and dinner will be provided. The rehearsal will be led by playwright, actor, and director Lisa Hayes.

This is going to be a lot of fun, and we hope you will join us!

If you would like to sign up to be a reader-actor, click here.

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UNAP continuing education conference to address critical issues

Wed, 21 Jul 2010 15:31:22 -0400

The UNAP will host its bi-annual Professional Issues Conference on Monday, September 20 at the RI Convention Center. To register, click here. Over 200 Registered Nurses and other health care workers are expected to attend the conference, which will feature presentations and workshops related to health policy, clinical practice, and other professional issues, including the following topics:

Empowering caregivers at the bedside
Multi-disciplinary Care of Breast Cancer
Medical malpractice & professional liability
Shift work, excessive hours and sleep disorders
“Greening” health care
Understanding federal health care reform
Difficult patients & dysfunctional families
Disaster relief and international service
Bedside Manners: A play about MD-RN relations

The conference is pending approval of 5.5 contact hours by RISNA/ANCC Commission on Accreditation. Certificates will be awarded upon completion of the program. The cost of the conference -- including materials, lunch, and CEUs -- is $50 for UNAP members and $90 for non-members. For more information and to register, click here.

Difficult Decisions / Difficult Conversations: Our next CEU program

Fri, 09 Jul 2010 17:44:07 -0400

The UNAP / RI Hospital Health Care Education Trust invites you to join us on Thursday, July 15 for our next CEU program on Difficult Decisions / Difficult Conversations: Principles of acute and chronic, non-cancer pain management, and Communication with patients and families near the end of life. The seminar will be presented by Edward Martin, MD, Chief Medical Officer, Home and Hospice Care of Rhode Island and Rachel Roach, RNP, WCC, Registered Nurse Practitioner, RI Hospital and Miriam Hospital.

Don’t miss this excellent presentation!

Thursday, July 15, 2010
12:30 - 2:30 PM and 4:00 - 6:00 PM
George Auditorium • RI Hospital

Cost
Free for RI Hospital UNAP members: ($50 will be deducted from employee’s CEU bank). Refreshments will be provided. Pre-registration is NOT required.

CEUs
This program is approved for 2.0 contact hours by RISNA/ANCC Commission on Accreditation. Certificates will be awarded upon completion of the program.

TV "flashback" highlights UNAP rally against mandatory overtime ten years ago

Tue, 22 Jun 2010 15:57:03 -0400

June 22, 2010 -- The RI Hospital UNAP was featured today on a Turn-to-10 flashback of a rally and march against mandatory overtime that we held on June 22, 2000 outside RI Hospital and the Coro Building. The State of Rhode Island passed a law outlawing mandatory overtime in 2007.

Joan Medberry Memorial UNAP Scholarship Fund Winners 2010

Tue, 22 Jun 2010 08:33:43 -0400

The following people have each won a $1,000.00 scholarship for 2010. Each applicant had to write an essay describing one of two things. One was the major problem facing our healthcare system and how it could be corrected or addressed. The other was to describe the importance of a Union and the role of themselves or their parent or guardian in the Union. Also what did they feel was the Union's most important accomplishment.

The winners (pictured here with UNAP President Linda McDonald) are:

Laurie Deruosi, a registered nurse who works in the PACU at Rhode Island Hospital. She has applied at the URI College of Nursing and wants to earn a Master of Science in Nursing Education degree to become a nurse educator within Lifespan and at the University. To read Laurie's essay please click here.

Is There a Nurse in the House? (reprinted from the NY Times)

Mon, 21 Jun 2010 17:24:29 -0400

Pick any of the hospital dramas that have run for decades on American TV, and chances are the heroes are the doctors, running to a patient’s bedside to save a life whenever an alarm goes off.

Doctors can indeed be heroes. But when a patient takes a sudden turn for the worse, it’s the nurses who are usually the first to respond. Each patient has a specific nurse assigned to watch over him, and it is that nurse’s responsibility to react immediately in the event of an emergency.

That’s getting harder to do, though. Cost-cutting at hospitals often means fewer nurses, so the number of patients each nurse must care for increases, leading to countless unnecessary deaths. Unless Congress mandates a federal standard for nurse-patient ratios, those deaths will continue.

A few states already have minimum ratio requirements, most notably California, which in 2004 instituted a one-to-five ratio for surgery patients — as well as a one-to-four ratio in pediatrics and a one-to-two ratio in intensive care — after a decade-long fight led by the California Nurses Association.

"The Beat Goes On: What's new in cardiac surgery?"

Thu, 06 May 2010 14:29:51 -0400

The UNAP/RI Hospital Health Care Education Trust invites you to join us on Tuesday, May 18 at RI Hospital for a fascinating presentation on the latest advances in cardiac surgery by Dr. Frank Sellke, Chief of Cardiothoracic Surgery for Lifespan. Click here for more information.

Understanding the new health reform law

Mon, 12 Apr 2010 16:21:47 -0400

Health reform will dramatically improve the lives of millions of Americans. To learn what the new health reform law will do in the first year, click here.

UNAP leader reports from Haiti

Mon, 12 Apr 2010 11:31:54 -0400

On March 30, Sue Lucas, RN, president of Copley Hospital UNAP in Morrisville, VT, headed off to Haiti with a team of other union nurses and health professionals to provide much needed medical assistance to victims of the devastating earthquake that killed an estmated 200,000 Haitians in January. The following are excerpts from Sue's letters to her co-workers, friends and family.

April 7, 2010
It is so hard to believe that one week has gone by.

Monday, we went about an hour and one half from here and ran a clinic in a field under tarps for earthquake orphans. There are many tents in the field and about 8-9 children live in the tent (small ones). They were running around playing soccer and flying kites - that's all they have. They were amazing! Sadly at the clinic someone kindly decided to help us out and put some water from the tent city in one of my peers water bottle and she gave me some from her bottle - consequently we drank bad water but thank goodness for Cipro - we survived and kept on working - did not miss a beat. Once we finished with the kids, we began seeing the community members. I saw the largest thyroid that I have ever seen in my life! There we saw a lot of ear infections and pneumonia type illnesses that day as well as infected wounds. It was hard to think about the fact that these children and this community are not immunized!

Avoiding Legal Liabilities -- CEU program at RI Hospital on Thursday, March 18

Mon, 15 Mar 2010 11:37:08 -0400

Please join us for the next continuing education program sponsored by the UNAP/RI Hospital Health Care Education Trust which will address the potential legal liabilities that face Registered Nurses, and what you can do to avoid them.

White Caps: Navigating Legal Risk in the Nursing Profession

Thursday, March 18, 2010
12:30 – 2:30 PM and 4:00 – 6:00 PM
George Auditorium • RI Hospital

"As their professional roles expand, nurses are naturally becoming more vulnerable to malpractice lawsuits. State nursing boards are increasingly likely to suspend or discipline nurses who are found guilty in malpractice suits. Not all the news is bad, though. Thankfully, there are clear guidelines for protecting yourself from a malpractice suit."
Todd Stein, Nurseweek, May 15, 2000

Presenters

Join us for "Too Live Nurse" on May 12

Wed, 03 Mar 2010 14:44:28 -0500

Come support the UNAP Children's Hospital Fund at our annual Nurse's Week celebration and fundraiser on Wednesday, May 12th at the Twin River Event Center. This year we are have invited the comedic players of Too Live Nurse to come and entertain! Tickets for the dinner and show are $30 - receive $10 back in Bonus Play to enjoy after the show. There will be a cash bar available, a cocktail hour starting at 5:30 and dinner at 6:30!

*The Too Live Nurse performance replaces the formerly advertised performance of "As The Hospital Turns".

Lifespan and Care NE drop merger plans

Tue, 02 Mar 2010 10:39:30 -0500

After spending more than 2 1/2 years and $8 million in pursuit of a merger, Lifespan and Care NE announced on February 26 that they are abandoning their plans to become a single, seven-hospital system. In response, the UNAP commented that the decision reflects the public's increasing discomfort with large private corporations running essential public services like hospitals.

In 2008, the UNAP conducted a survey of hundreds of health care workers throughout the State who expressed concerns about the impact that the giant merger could have on employee rights and benefits, patient services, unaffiliated community hospitals, and overall health care costs. Since then, the UNAP has consistently argued that before we let a single private company control 70% of our state’s hospital beds, we must make sure we have the public oversight necessary to ensure that their private business decisions are made in the public interest.

To read more about Lifespan's announcement and UNAP's response, click here and here.

Earthquake in Haiti causes horrific devastation -- how to help

Wed, 13 Jan 2010 18:18:07 -0500

In the aftermath of the magnitude-7.0 earthquake that struck the impoverished Caribbean nation of Haiti the night of January 12, officials there are in the process of assessing the utter devastation, especially the area of Port Au Prince. A massive relief effort will require the efforts of many individuals and organizations. Here are a couple of ways that UNAP members can help:

Registered Nurse Response Network (RNRN) is a national network of direct-care RNs that coordinates sending volunteer RNs to disaster stricken areas wherever and whenever they are needed most. RNRN was organized in 2005 when Katrina and Rita — two of the most destructive hurricanes in history — dramatically exposed America's flawed disaster relief system. VOLUNTEER ONLINE HERE

TOO LIVE NURSE! A Musical Comedy - May 12, 2010

Fri, 01 Jan 2010 17:37:40 -0500

Too Live Nurse is back by popular demand! Returning to entertain YOU with their special brand of medicinal humor that you are sure to enjoy. And we are happy to present this year's Spring Fundraiser at the beautiful Event Center at Twin River Casino in Lincoln Rhode Island!

Reasonably priced at $30 a ticket for dinner and a show, why not treat yourself (and a friend) to a really really fun night out?! You will receive $10 in Bonus Play to enjoy in the casino after the show. This night will be good for what ails you!

Too Live Nurse believes that one of the best ways to combat stress is through humor and they are bringing it to you LIVE. Make time to attend this event to benefit the Children's Hospital Fund and in celebration of Nurses Week! So, bring a group of your colleagues to see Too Live Nurse on Wednesday, May 12th and be prepared to laugh loud and hard. Enjoy Too Live Nurse's popular favorite tunes and then be prepared to make some of their new numbers your new favorites.

UNAP local president leads Vermont Health Care is a Human Right Campaign

Fri, 18 Dec 2009 11:53:50 -0500

MORRISVILLE, VT – More than fifty Lamoille County residents braved frigid temperatures to participate in a People’s Forum on Healthcare with Vermont Speaker of the House Rep. Shap Smith (D-Morrisville), Rep. Floyd Nease (D-Johnson) and State Senator Susan Bartlett (D-Lamoille County). This forum was the ninth of its kind scheduled in recent weeks by the Healthcare Is A Human Right Campaign (HCHR), a statewide grassroots organizing effort coordinated by the Vermont Workers’ Center (VWC) which aims to change what is politically possible in health reform in Vermont. The event including testimony from local residents who have been negatively affected by the healthcare crisis and explored the how Vermont can establish healthcare as a basic human right and win single-payer healthcare in 2010.

“We believe that healthcare is not a commodity but a public good shared by all,” said Susan Lucas, RN, VWC leader and president of the nurses union at Copley Hospital. “No one should have to forgo needed care because of costs.”