New York State Nurses Association

From October 2008 through 2010, journalists Charles Ornstein and Tracey Weber produced for the Los Angeles Times and ProPublica a series of investigative reports on the performance of the California Board of Registered Nursing (BRN), finding that it took an average of 3.5 years to act on complaints of professional misconduct by registered nurses, including sexual assault of patients, substance use, and repeat medication errors that resulted in patients dying. In June 2009, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger announced that he was firing members of the BRN. Its executive officer resigned shortly thereafter. This case study analyzes interviews with nine participants, including the journalists and individuals who were public and nurse members of the BRN in 2009. Four themes emerged: (1) There is a tension between what are perceived to be the public's interests versus nursing's interests; (2) Political naiveté about government and organizational culture can lead to the personalization of actions directed at institutions; (3) A sense of fatalism may be reinforced by organizational culture; and (4) The role and use of media in a free society may be obscured when one is the focus of investigative journalism. Nurses who seek to operate in the public sector must be grounded in the political realities of complex governmental forces that may appear to be illogical or personally offensive. Media, particularly news media, is a powerful tool for influencing these forces. Nurses should employ strategic approaches to the use of media in order to advance their voices as advocates for the public's interests.

Over the past decade, the asset management industry witnessed a significant migration of capital from active investment strategies into passive investment strategies. Undoubtedly, the structural change is shaking the active management–dominated mutual fund industry to its core. A closer scrutiny of active management suggests that the performance of active managers is mainly a function of both stock selection and portfolio construction. As other studies have already provided evidence of successful stock selection strategies via factor premiums, the author focuses on examining the impact of portfolio construction on portfolio performance. The author finds that active managers’ failure to incorporate risk during portfolio construction overwhelms the expected return signal from stock selection.

The COVID-19 pandemic has opened a dialogue regarding advocacy and policy changes that need to occur at the federal, state, and local levels to ensure provisions for the financial and healthcare well-being of nurses. Often nurses struggle as the "breadwinners" in their families caring for multiple generations, thus leading them to live paycheck to paycheck. A review of current and proposed policy changes. The pandemic demonstrated clearly through governmental executive orders that laws and regulations could be changed more rapidly than the traditional routes, illustrating an ability to enact change in nursing practice. At the federal level, provisions are not made to ensure that nurses who risk their lives during pandemic times are adequately compensated monetarily and through extended healthcare benefits, often provided for police, fire, and other emergency personnel. Suggestions for new policy and advocacy agendas are proposed based on the gap in coverage noted during and after this pandemic. COVID-19 has brought to the forefront gaps in the financial and healthcare safety nets for nurses in the United States. Opportunities exist to inform via advocacy and policy reform at the federal, state, and local governmental agencies regarding the need for extended financial and healthcare provisions for nurses.

Ferrara, Stephen A. DNP, RN, FNP-BC, FAANP; Burke, Robert E. DNP, RN, LAc, FNP-BC Author Information

1Regional Coordinator, Statewide Peer Assistance for Nurses (SPAN), New York, USA Address correspondence to Becky Eisenhut, SPAN 11 Cornell Road, Latham, New York 12110. E-mail: [email protected].

The research-to-practice gap is at the heart of the problem in the underuse of nondrug complementary methods to manage postoperative pain. To show how the six steps of the Collaborative Research Utilization (CRU) model can be used to translate research into practice, using an example of nondrug pain management protocols. The CRU model was used to translate empirically tested nondrug interventions for surgical pain management enhancement into cost-effective, easy-to-use, best-practice nursing interventions, using tailored patient teaching. The preliminary findings of the substudy in the context of the CRU model are reported. The CRU model was successful in changing patients' knowledge, attitudes, and use of nondrug interventions for pain management. Further research is needed in heterogeneous populations. Organization receptivity to research and a well-integrated computerized documentation system for cueing clinicians' pain management practices are key for effectiveness of change.

Glen Eckardt, a member of the Washington State Nurses Association, is assistant nurse manager in medical oncology at the University of Washington Medical Center in Seattle, WA.