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Today’s nurses are facing a constant and ever-changing array of challenges. In confronting these challenges, nurses must have a clear vision of their responsibilities in the workplace and the personal and professional information to safeguard the health, safety and well-being of themselves and their patients.

The following represents the initial work of the ANA-MAINE Center for Maine Nurses to gather information for the nurses of Maine regarding the following key issues:

	Workplace Health & Safety: RN No Harm-Maine
	Appropriate Staffing: Nursing Workforce Shortage
	2005 Agenda for Healthcare Reform
	Workplace Health & Safety: Preventing Back Injuries

For information and statistics about US nurses and nursing (ie, information about the nursing shortage, appropriate staffing, patient safety, workplace safety), review the summary document "Fast Facts" on the Web site of the Center for American Nurses.

RN No Harm-Maine

Ever wonder about all that waste? Or the chemicals you use? What is the effect upon a nurse’s health? What about the effect upon the present and future environment? That is where the ANA-Maine initiative, RN No Harm-Maine, can help.

The primary dictum for registered nurses, as health care professionals, is First, do no harm. In the increasingly complex environment in which health care is delivered today, registered nurses are the premier advocates for:

	The safety and quality of patient care
	The health and safety of registered nurses and other health care professionals and health care workers
	Health care practices which do no harm to the public health environment outside the settings in which health care is delivered

There are ways to conduct health care without harming the environment. ANA-Maine has begun to create a statewide network to share strategies to reduce the negative health and environmental impact of healthcare delivery.

With the help of ANA-Maine Board member, Bettie Kettell, RN, HEM, ANA-Maine obtained an educational grant from the Beldon Fund Foundation to develop a train-the-trainer program called RN No Harm-Maine. We collaborated with two other Maine-based healthcare advocates with national ties: Health Care Without Harm and the Environmental Health Strategy Center. In November 2005 ANA-Maine launched the first training for nurses in Augusta. Registered nurses from areas throughout the State of Maine received valuable information re: the science behind this practice and brainstormed ways to strengthen this agenda within their own workplace and throughout the State. It is the goal of ANA-Maine to have a minimum of one clinical nurse at each agency who will champion green techniques. Why not you? To learn more about this initiative and hopefully join in this effort, send an email to info@anamaine.org.

Internet Resources and Program Information:

	American Nurses Association: www.nursingworld.org/rnnoharm/
	Hospitals for a Health Environment: www.h2e-online.org/
	Health Care Without Harm: www.noharm.org/
	University of Maryland School of Nursing (EnviRN): http://envirn.umaryland.edu/about/about.htm

Nursing Workforce Shortage

According to a policy statement by the American Nurses Association (ANA), nurse staffing should be based on achieving quality of patient care indices, meeting organizational outcomes and ensuring that the quality of the nurse’s work life is appropriate. This is a key issue as we all outline strategies to aid in recruiting new nurses, retaining experienced nurses, and promoting nurse-to-nurse mentoring programs.

Shortage Indicators:
(ANA Members Only section - You MUST create a FREE online account to access these documents)

• www.nursingworld.org/member/shortage/index.cfm#indicators

• Factors Driving the Shortage: www.nursingworld.org/member/shortage/index.cfm#factors

• Consequences of the Shortage: www.nursingworld.org/member/shortage/index.cfm#conseq

• Strategies to Reverse This: www.nursingworld.org/member/shortage/index.cfm#strateg

• Resources: www.nursingworld.org/member/shortage/index.cfm#resources

• NEW The State of Maine Nursing Workforce Reports:
  www.usm.maine.edu/conhp/visitors/nursingworkforce.html

2005 ANA Agenda For Health Care Reform

Download an updated PDF copy

Workplace Health & Safety: Preventing Back Injuries

Health care settings have been ranked as one of the most dangerous work places in this country by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. In one of the most recent work force data set surveys, * 11.5% of the Maine nurses not currently employed in the nursing work force identified “health problems” as the principal reason why they were not no longer employed as an RN or LPN. It has been suspected for some time that the number of back injuries accumulated over one’s nursing career is causing some seasoned clinical nurses to leave the nursing workforce.

To learn more about what is being done to research this key issue for nurses and identify ways to use this evidence to better promote the health and safety of our current and future work force, review the following:

	Actively Preventing Injury by A.B. (Butch) de Castro, PhD, MSN-MPH, RN: www.nursingworld.org/MEMBER/osh/ajn/jan04hw.cfm (ANA Members Only section - You MUST create a FREE online account to access this document)
	Handle with Care by Susan Trossman, RN: www.nursingworld.org/MEMBER/osh/ajn/jan04iu.cfm (ANA Members Only section - You MUST create a FREE online account to access this document)
	ANA Ergonomics Brochure [PDF]
	Fact Sheet [PDF]

* Please see the online PowerPoint presentation by Jane Kirshling, DNS, RN, former Dean and Professor of the University of Southern Maine, presented to the OMNE Nursing Leadership of Maine on February 17, 2006: Age: Reason Why Currently Not Employed

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