Nurses prepare for annual legislative events

Kansas State Nurses Association President Patricia Plank, MSN, RN, said she hopes to empower nurses this legislative session.

Plank will speak to nurses and nursing students during the association’s 2010 Day at the Legislature Feb. 11 in Topeka.

“We have a lot of nursing students who attend, so a lot of our focus is to raise awareness,” Plank said. “There is always a focus on policy, and the issues vary from year to year.”

This year, Plank hopes legislators approve language that would allow nurse practitioners to practice with more autonomy.

“It would be more collaborative rather than as much of a dependent role,” Plank said. “That’s probably a top priority.”

Kansas Health Policy Authority acting president Andrew Allison, Ph.D., will serve as the keynote speaker for the event. Other speakers include Gov. Mark Parkinson; Kansas Association of Nursing Students President Dawn Zimmerman; Kansas State Nurses Association Legislative Chair Sarah Tidwell; Kansas Senate Minority Leader Anthony Hensley; State Health Director Jason Eberhart-Phillips, MD, MPH; Health Data Analyst Rachel Lindbloom, MS, MSW, LSCSW; Primary Care Office Director Robert Stiles, MPH, MS, BS; and Advanced Registered Nurse Practitioners Task Force Manager Ronda Eagleson, MN, ARNP, FNP-BC.

The Missouri Nurses Association, commonly referred to as MONA, will send its nurses and students to the Missouri capital Feb. 24.

“We just look forward to getting nurses and student nurses involved in the advocacy process,” said MONA Executive Director Jill Kliethermes, APRN, FNP-BC.

Missouri 2nd District State Rep. Rebecca McClanahan, BSN, MN, will serve as keynote speaker for the MONA event.

MONA keeps track of all legislation that affects health care.

Kliethermes said she hopes to see legislation passed this session that will allow physical therapists in Missouri to accept scripts written by advanced practice nurses.

“It seems to be moving in the right direction. I don’t think we’ll have a whole lot of opposition,” she said. “It will have really no budgetary impact so we are hoping that will be in our favor.”

Kliethermes said the association does not expect to see money coming out of Jefferson City this year for new initiatives.

“Anything that has a fiscal note on it probably isn’t going to go anywhere given the budget,” Kliethermes said.

Despite the bleak budgets in Kansas and Missouri, the nursing associations in both states hope to get nurses fired up about political activism during the legislative events.

“I’m always wanting nurses to be at the table because if you aren’t at the table you might be on the menu,” Kliethermes said.

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