2015 FNA Book of Reports

2015 Florida Nurses Association
Whereas, the Board of Nursing, as directed by law, is there to protect the public and advocates on patients’ behalf, FNA’s
mission includes serving as the advocate for nurses and collectively for the profession. This advocacy directs everything
FNA does from legislative and health policy initiatives, as well as FNA formal collective bargaining agreements,
educational activities including publications from both ANA and FNA, and consultation on workplace issues.
FNA continues to provide a member benefit which allows members to call in and request one legal consultation with FNA
practice counsel. There has been minimal use of this benefit but it has been helpful to those who needed it. This benefit is
only activated if it is truly a question that cannot be answered by staff. We have also used this service to generate a FAQ
list to be able to answer non-legal questions from nurses. Once this has been refined and checked for accuracy, it will be
published.
FNA is also working to become as “green” as possible. FNA continues to embrace this philosophy at Headquarters by
purchasing green products and recycling. We no longer purchase bottled water for meetings, we have two recycle bins
in the office for cans and bottles, and we work diligently to decrease printing. We will also advance this practice a little
farther by eliminating the Workbook for this Assembly. This year the presentation will be posted on Google Docs for
members to access.
In addition to what has been addressed in previous goals, FNA continues evaluate and identify issues in order to determine
what additional resources might be developed to assist nurses in the workplace. FNA also distributes, upon request, official
ANA and FNA positions statements. These statements are purposed by membership and adopted by the members at the
national and state level, as well as both Boards of Directors, as deemed necessary.
We have signed on to several letters related to topics of interest to nurses or to public health in the past two years.
Economic and General Welfare of Registered Nurses
The Labor and Employment Relations Council (LERC) continues to work in developing and implementing activities to
effectively address the concerns of all staff nurses in Florida. In developing activities and strategies, LERC looks at both
workplace advocacy strategies and collective bargaining strategies.
Workplace Advocacy strategies include activities initiated to address many and varied employment and workplace challenges
faced by nurses on a daily basis and can be employed by nurses whether represented by collective bargaining or not.
With The Florida Nurse going to all RNs in Florida, the FNA continues with the commitment to assist all nurses in all
practice settings, addressing their concerns through informational articles. This is accomplished by informing nurses
of what resources are available through the association, such as workplace publications, conflict resolution strategies,
assisting with issues of health and safety in the workplace and education on the importance of being involved on
committees, either in their workplace or communities where policy is developed.
FNA collective bargaining units continue to provide strong leadership to the nurses in their workplaces through
multiple activities. The units are able to highlight their activities in their annual report, which is included in this Book
of Reports. During this past year, several units have negotiated new contracts which secure their salary and benefits
and provide mechanism for nurses to meet and confer with management representatives to address issues of concern
such as disciplinary actions, staffing, overtime, and scheduling. The units have worked very hard to provide leadership
training and education to their members. Membership growth has been achieved in all units as a result of the hard work
of unit leadership in educating their members to the importance of being involved their bargaining unit and professional
association. For four years in a row, LERC has held a Labor Institute or its members dedicated to education and leadership
development. This year, the Labor Institute will occur following the Membership Assembly in October.
Organizational Structure
The transition of the FNA structure is complete and the Regions are each evolving in their own way. There have been
events in all of the Regions and members are continuing to learn the processes for planning events, accessing funding, and
marketing their events. Some groups, such as the South Region Planning Council has mastered the process and can serve
as a role model for other Regions. The Northeast Region also has a stable planning group that has planned a successful
regional conference for several years in a unique setting. East Central Region is developing groups in each county for events
in those areas. And the Northeast Region has a core group of leaders who have just completed a successful event. The
Northwest Region as well as the Southeast Region has held multiple events over the past two years. The goal is to provide
activities and services to each area of the Region by developing groups to plan local activities with some funding from FNA.
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