SEPTEMBER 1999, VOL 70, NO 3 A N A H O U S E O F D E L E G A T E S

American Nurses Association house of delegates meets to discuss business and nursing issues

Thursday, June 17, to Sunday, June 20, 1999

he American Nurses Association (ANA) house of delegates met to discuss ANA T business and nursing issues from June 17 to

20, 1999, in Washington, DC. The ANA delegates endorsed a single-payer system as the preferred method for financing a reformed health care system, asked ANA to work with other organizations to identify and implement strategies to deal with the potential for a global nursing shortage, created an autonomous insulated body to conduct a national labor program of ANA, changed the ANA bylaws to allow for creation of a constituent federal nurses association as part of ANA, and called for implementation of engineering con- trols to prevent exposure to and illness from needlestick injuries and an ANA position state- ment on safe needle devices.

SINGLE-PAYER SYSTEM

report presented by the Massachusetts Nurses A Association discussed the problem of equitable health care for people in the United States, which con- tinues to be a significant problem. On recommenda- tion of the report, delegates voted to endorse the sin- gle-payer system for financing a reformed health care system and to continue to advocate for other measures to increase access to quality health care for all.

POTENTIAL NURSING SHORTAGE

hroughout modem US nursing history, there T have been cycles of RN shortages and surpius- es. A report submitted by the ANA board of direc- tors asserted that nursing is now entering a period of shortage. Recommendations that were voted on and passed included that ANA

advocate for a multidisciplinary health care workforce that can forecast nursing numbers at local, state, and national levels; develop strategies to address the implications of an aging nursing workforce;

collaborate with state nurses associations, employer groups, and the Association of Nurse Executives to implement strategies to retain experienced nurses in the practice setting; work with relevant nursing organizations to ensure a sufficient number of appropriately pre- pared nursing faculty; and monitor the impact of the global nursing short- age and US policy on access to nursing services worldwide.

NATIONAL LABOR PROGRAM

n response to state nurses associations who need I help organizing and negotiating collective bar- gaining agreements in their workplaces, delegates approved creation of the United American Nurses (UAN). The UAN will function as a separate entity within ANA to assist state nurses associations with labor and collective bargaining activities. It is believed that a strong national entity will more effec- tively support state nurses associations that are at risk of losing members from raids by other unions, such as the AFL-CIO, a federation of trade and pro- fessional unions. A possible affiliation between the UAN and the AFL-CIO was discussed but not decid- ed upon. It is thought that such an aftiliation would offer further protection against raids.

The UAN will be autonomous and will advise the ANA board of directors on labor perspectives on various issues. As required by labor law, the UAN is insulated, so state nurses association members who are members of management cannot participate in the UAN or exercise any related decision-making authority. The UAN will have its own governance structure-an executive council that includes a chair, vice chair, and secretary/treasurer-and its own gov- erning body-the National Labor Assembly. It will be administered by the ANA executive director.

FEDERAL NURSES

elegates approved a motion that ANA help D develop a constituent federal nurses association

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SEPTEMBER 1999, VOL 70, NO 3 A N A H O U S E O F D E L E G A T E S

for RNs who are employed by members of the Federal Nursing Services Council. Members of the constituency will be allowed to join ANA, and membership will be limited to nurses in active duty in the US Army, Navy, and Air Force and to uniformed public health nurses. It will not include retired nurses or nurses in the Veterans Administration, National Guard, or Reserves. The potential membership increase from the constituen- cy is approximately 12,000 nurses, most of whom do not join state nurses associations because of the frequent moves required by their jobs. The federal nurses association will give these nurses a formal voice on the practice, standards, education, work- place issues, and health care policies related to their work environment and patient population.

ENGINEERING CONTROLS

espite progress since the 1991 Occupational D Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) Bloodbome Pathogen Standard in preventing expo- sure to bloodbome infections, health care workers continue to sustain between 600,000 and one million needlestick injuries each year. The 1991 ANA posi- tion statement called for the implementation of engi- neering controls as part of standard precautions in

preventing exposures to bloodbome infections. Delegates approved a motion that ANA take further action to implement engineering controls to prevent exposure to and illness from needlestick injuries by

calling for OSHA to implement and enforce a requirement for health care employers to allow at-risk health care workers to participate in the evaluation, selection, and implementation of safe needle devices and provide training regarding use of the devices; urging institutions to look beyond group purchas- ing organizations to update the engineering con- trols available through the marketplace; and urging regulatory and accrediting agencies to implement occupational safety and health stan- dards requiring engineering controls to prevent needlestick injuries to health care workers.

NEXT MEETING

he next meeting of the ANA house of dele- T gates will be held during the ANA convention in Indianapolis, June 23 to 28,2000. A

PAT NIESSNER PALMER RN, MS, MNM, CSAE

EXECUnVE DIRECTOR

Home HIV Tests Prove Highly '-- ------L-

Some HIV home tests currently advertised and sold on the Internet can give users false information about their health status, possibly registering nega- tive on samples from people infected with the virus. According to a June 1999 consumer alert from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), several HIV kits sold for self-diagnosis were tested by the FTC, and in every case the results indicated that a known HIV-positive sample was negative.

kits state that they are for sale only outside the United States, but consumers in the United States have been able to purchase the kits. Although the ads state or imply that the kits have been approved by the World Health Organization (WHO), other weI1-known health organizations, or the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the WHO does not

The Internet advertisements for home-test HIV

approve or license HIV test kits, and the only home collection test system that the FDA has approved for sale in the United States is the Home Access Express HIV-1 Test System. This system allows people to collect samples in the privacy of their own homes and then requires them to send the samples to a laboratory for analysis.

The FTC warns the public in the alert that safe, reliable HIV testing can be done only by medical professionals or through clinics, or by using the Home Access Express HIV-1 Test System. The FTC advises consumers who have used HIV home tests to be retested.

Home-Use Tests For HIV Can Be Inaccurate, FTC Warns (consumer alee Washington, DC: federal Trade Commission, June 1999) 7 -2.

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