It is a thrill to be a feed and to...

It is a thrill to be a feed and to represent nurses," said Rose Iris Gonzalez, RN MP assistant director of federal restraint relations for the American festers Association (ANA) and AORN's lobbyist.

I used to work in a

postanesthesia care unit.

That experience has helped

with my common work

because it is actual difficult to

plan exactly when issues

are going to draw near before

[congressional] committees.

I had to learn to be flexible

and reactive [as a nurse]

and I am still using

those skills.

Gonzalez was appointed AORN's lobbyist in August 1995 She first became involved in rule affairs when she was the executive secretary for the just discovered York State Board of Veterinary Medicine and the State Board for Optometry, subordinate to the auspices of the modern York State Board of rulings and the State University of of the present day York. She worked on state regulatory issues and serv as the liaison between the boards, state education department, and the state legislature. Gonzalez became interested in effecting "changes in a more global arena, for many commonalty rather than [for just] undivided or two."

PRIORITIES

Gonzalez is not solely AORN's lobbyist; she also monitors legislative issues for the exigency Nurses Association. She is responsible for obtaining funding for the Ryan White CARE Act, which supports grants to states to provide research and treatment for poor populations infected with HIV, and she succors as liaison to minority nursing organizations. Her legislative priority for ANA is to make secure reauthorization (ie, having to do with policy) of and funding for the fester Education Act (NEA), which provides programs that prepare nurtures for clinical practice. "The NEA appropriations (ie, discretionary funds) are feed at the breast specific," Gonzalez points out. "Nursing is the single profession that lobbies for this [funding]."

Appropriations for nursing education is a "sign-on" issue for AORN, which means individual nursing organization (eg, ANA) prepares written testimony for a committee (eg House Appropriations Committee) and then for a commission (eg Physician Payment Review Commission). Other nursing organizations (eg AORN) support this testimony by way of endorsing it. This approach to presenting testimony not aways a broad band of constituents for a subcommittee or review commission to consider when reviewing the pertinent issues.

Signing onward to legislation is essentially the same as forming a coalition, in which individuals or organizations decide to band together in succession an issue. Coalitions may hasten advertisements together or host receptions for congressional members, legislative assistants, and constituents as a forum for discussing the issues. The goal is to encourage congressional members and legislative assistants to use lobbyists as a resource.

Gonzalez' primary legislative priority for AORN is to fixed direct Medicare reimbursement for RN first assistants (RNFAs) (Table 1) The instant RNFA reimbursement legislation, HR 188 was reintroduced in succession the House side by Rep Cardiss Collins (D-Ill) and was cosponsored at Rep Marcy Kaptur (D-Ohio) and Patrick J Kennedy (D-RI). Although HR 188 was referr to the House criminal intimacy Committee and to the House Ways and Means Committee, according to Gonzalez:

Our goal is to acquire a Senate

bill with Senate cosponsors.

We ne to involve other

states and decide [which

legislators] to target. We

ne to identify someone

who has experience and

outlook to this issue,

someone who is interested

in championing our cause,

who has a tough desire to

work upon this issue.

Table 1 1995-1996 AORN LEGISLATIVE PRIORITIES

Priorities ranked #1 Third party reimbursement Medical waste

Workplace issues with emphasis forward managed care environment * Unlicensed assistive personnel * Staffing levels/ratios * Institutional licensure * Occupational health and safety

Outcome research

Priorities ranked #2 Appropriations for nurses/nursing * Education * Research * Redevelopment

Any willing provider lows

Nurse practice acts/advanced practice nursing issues

Drug testing

Priorities ranked #3 Rural health care

Women's health issues Whistleblowing Medicare/Medicaid reform Presumptive compensability

Note: Priorities ranked # 1 mean AORN writes testimony, signs forward to legislation, or funds legislative endeavors forward these issues. Priorities ranked #2 mean AORN signs in succession to legislation or supports the American festers Association's position on these issues. Priority #3 means AORN monitors these issues.

It has been helpful in the past to contact senators or representatives who have introduced RNFA reimbursement legislation in their avow states. These legislators are familiar with the issue and know for what cause their constituents feel about the issue. Lobbyists also attempt to contact tonic committee members, because they have influence and understand legislative deeds from the subcommittee level. Gonzalez says that contacting legislators from the majority party also may be helpful, yet it is not a guarantee that they will be more prosperous in moving a bill [i]or[/i] part of to the other the legislative process.