Sunday, August 2, 2009

Office of the National Nurse

Can somebody explain to me what the draw of having an "Office of the National Nurse" would do besides put several more salaried positions onto an already burdened tax system?  I know that the default answer is "give nurses representation," but I want something more concrete.  Besides being a puppet, what would this position actually accomplish?

1 comment:

Teri Mills said...

Hi Braden,

The position we are proposing is already a salaried position within in the government-- the Chief Nurse Officer of the USPHS. So no further allocations are being asked for. Also, many nurse fellows already fulfill curricular requirements for their doctoral programs by assisting the Office of the Surgeon General, so why not have them located within the Office of the National Nurse.

The Office of the National Nurse will assume the same responsibilities of those of the Chief Nurse Officer with the following additional roles.
• Establish symbolic national leadership to promote a cultural shift to prevention in U.S. healthcare.
• Raise visibility, enhance prestige and support recruitment to nursing, public health nursing, the Commissioned Corps of the USPHS, and other healthcare professions.
• Accurately portray nursing to the public and enhance public understanding of the critical role nurses play in society.

• Provide guidance for state and local leadership to mobilize nurse volunteers and other healthcare providers at the local level to support nationwide efforts that focus on wellness and disease prevention.

• Complement the work of the OSG to improve health literacy and decrease health disparities.
• Endorse and support involvement with the Medical Reserve Corps (MRC) (www.medicalreservecorps.gov) to improve the health and safety of our communities.
• Performs needs assessment, data analysis and ongoing program evaluation to identify and promote best practices /evidence based interventions for prevention.

Please visit http://nationalnurse.org and feel free to drop us an email through our Contact Us page if you have additional questions, feedback or suggestions. Thanks for your post.