Reason to celebrate
PEF President Ken Brynien and Region 12 Coordinator Dee
Dodson celebrated with 50 members at the nurses’ forum in Rochester with a
cake to celebrate the mandatory overtime law.
The PEF Nurses Committee and delegates discussed how health care facilities
must adapt to the new law by July 2009.
“At our luncheon earlier, we honored Ken for PEF’s commitment in getting the
legislation passed. PEF Legislative Director Brian Curran was also a key
player on the team and worked with the AFL-CIO to put a nursing coalition
together and helped it to grow. That was a tremendous task,” said Dodson,
chair of the committee.
Nurses set an agenda for the coming year which included a legislative
initiative for safe-staffing ratios and safe-patient lifting. They talked
about launching a respect campaign, as many said they were bullied on the
job. They reviewed disruptive conduct under the Joint Commission’s Code of
Conduct and how discourteous or disrespectful behavior can affect patient
safety.
The meeting also focused on professional standards and the proposed
reallocation of the nursing title series.
— Deborah A. Miles
