SEIU Healthcare 1199NW nurse participates in 'Future of Nursing' forum

Linda Arkava, an SEIU Healthcare 1199NW nurse at Swedish Medical Center, presented testimony at the Forum on the Future of Nursing in Los Angeles on October 19.

Linda conveyed used her own experience as a nurse and member of SEIU’s Nurse Alliance to share testimony that frontline nurses should be involved in the decisions and implementation of evidence-based policies, practices and healthy work environments for improved patient outcomes, increased RN professional satisfaction and increased safety for all.

Read Linda’s full testimony here.

My name is Linda Arkava. I am a Registered Nurse at Swedish Medical Center in Seattle, Washington and a member of SEIU Healthcare 1199NW.

The Nurse Alliance of SEIU Healthcare advocates for “quality improvement from point of care” by frontline nurses and other members of the healthcare team in partnership with hospital employers. A true collaboration recognizes nurses’ capacity to use their expert knowledge to solve problems and provides them with an equal role in defining and implementing a quality agenda. This requires the committed leadership and equal accountability for shared goals from hospital executives, union leaders, organizations representing the nursing profession and practicing nurses.
Frontline nurses should be engaged in the design, development, implementation and evaluation of nursing innovations and solutions, whether this is models of care or new technology.

Frontline nurses should be involved in the decisions and implementation of evidence-based policies, practices and healthy work environments for improved patient outcomes, increased RN professional satisfaction and increased safety for all.

One of the RWJF publications at the front table includes an article describing the collaborative development of WA State Safe Staffing Law.  At my facility we are continuing this collaborative model.  Unit based staffing committees which include RN, ancillary staff and managers are developing evidenced based safe staffing plans which are submitted with the unit’s yearly budget request.  Staffing effectiveness data will be collected to enable our health care institutions to build cultures of safety and adequate staffing.  Improvements in patient outcomes, financial outcomes and professional satisfaction exist where partnerships between SEIU nurses and employers have been built on shared priorities and responsibilities for quality.  But the most important and consistent feedback we get from practicing nurses is that in order to provide quality and safe patient care, there needs to not only be standards for adequate staffing, but real oversight for compliance.

Thank you.