Action Plan Carried Out

Our group has e-mailed all the key stakeholders and congressmen identified in our blog. We have heard back from Congressman Virgil H. Goode Jr., who thanked us for our interest and support of this bill. We also did more evidence-based research regarding this bill and its progress in the House of Representatives. We have communicated with other nursing students at James Madison University to get the word out about this bill and its importance. We are continuing to educate fellow peers and nurses on the importance of the forgiveness loan.

Key Stakeholder Contacts

We were very fortunate to hear back from Merle E. Mast, phD, RN who is the head of James Madison University's Nursing Department. She offered suggestions for changes to this blog and she offered her encouragement and support for this issue. Changes for accuracy have been made in the above blogs.

Current Developments of the Act

There are no current developments to the Nurse Loan Forgiveness Act of 2007. This bill is in the first step in the legislative process, in that it has been introduced. Introduced bills go first to committees that deliberate, investigate, and revise them before they go to general debate. Since its introduction in June 2007, the committee of House Education and Labor has been deliberating the Act.

Further Support and Political Action

As nursing students we strongly support this bill for multiple reasons. Our main drive for support is that we feel responsible for the implementation of safe and efficient care of our patients, and we believe this bill plays a large role in securing these priorities. There is already evidence of a growing nursing shortage. It has been projected that there will be a nursing shortage of 800,000 jobs by 2020 (Johnson & Johnson, 2002-2006). This shortage continues to exacerbate as the number of active nurses is decreasing and the number of graduating nurses are unable to fill the vacancies. A poll done by the American Nurse journal in 2008 showed that 73% of nurses polled, found staffing on their unit to be inadequate, and 51.9 % of nurses these nurses are leaving their current jobs do to insufficient staffing. In addition, burnout is on the rise. The same article stated that when polled 82% of nurses said they put patient care before their own personal safety. These statistics put a damper on our enthusiasm to become in involved in the U.S. healthcare system. We do not want to enter a poorly staffed health system for many reasons. As nurses we rely on one another. Collaboration is essential to provide our patients with the care that they deserve. With a shortage in nursing personnel we lose our ability to communicate effectively due to unacceptable workload and increased levels of stress. We believe that if this bill becomes law access to nursing programs will increase due to decreased financial burdens. In addition, this bill would help provide access to nursung schools granting BSN degrees. BSN programs are founded on the principle of evidenced based practice. With a decrease in BSN educated nurses collaboration is negatively affected and we cannot provide adequate care. Without this level of care our careers and our patient’s lives are at risk due to mistakes. We want to see educated coworkers who also support higher education. A higher education not only enhances patient care but it also increases the economy of our communities.

To take political action we plan to contact stakeholders and refer them to this blog in order to further educate them on the need for action. We also plan to write to legislators in our area. Further research will be done on this topic, and data collected will be posted and shared and discussed with other nursing students.

Key Stakeholders and Legislators

Key Stakeholders

• Nurses
• Aspiring Nursing Students
• Hospitals
• Hospital Administrators
• Patients
• Nursing Programs

Congressmen of Virginia

• Bob Goodlatte (6th District)
• Frank R. Wolf (10th District)
• Virgil H. Goode Jr. (5th District)

Scholarly Evidence: A Need for Change

In a letter to President Bush written December 20, 2005, the Americans for Nursing Shortage Relief (ANSR) discussed nursing as, "being a vital resource for our nation," especially in time of disaster, yet funding is insufficient to aid in nursing reimbursement, program promotion, and employment. "In February 2004, the Bureau of Labor Statistics projected that registered nursing would have the greatest job growth of all professions in the United States in the years spanning 2000 and 2012. During this ten-year period, health care faciliteis will need to fill more than 1.1 million RN job openings....HRSA projects that, absent aggressive intervention, the RN workforce will fall 29 percent below requirements by the year 2020" (ANSR, 2005).

(see: http://www.nln.org/governmentaffairs/pdf/bushletter.pdf)

The Nurse Loan Forgiveness Act of 2007 aids to promote change to this nursing shortage problem by promoting additional financial resources for incoming nurses. Many of the 1.1 million job openings projected by HRSA will be filled by new graduate nurses. By allowing an incentive to pay for student loans in exchange for nursing job fullfillment, an increase will take place in the amount of nursing students able to afford going through school knowing that their education can be paid for when they are working. Students can be more comfortable knowing their entire paycheck does not have to go back to their education and can relax knowing they won't have to be in extreme debt the first several years out of school.

Governmental objectives, political influences, and impact

The governmental objectives for this topic are to decrease the nursing shortage, increase quality of health care, encourage experienced nurses to instruct new nurses, and reward nurses for their services. While the bill has been debated for over one year, both political parties have a political interest in providing better health care. However, Democrats are the main supporters for this bill. There is a realization that there is an issue with decrease nurse staffing. So, both political parties can make decisions to actively change regulations to help with this shortage.

This bill would decrease newly graduated nurses' financial burden, and encourage pursuit of higher education. It will decrease the turn over rate and encourage nurses to remain with their current practice. The safety and satisfaction of the clients seeking care will be improved; which equals happy nurses, happy patients. Overall, patient care will be improved and more efficient. This bill encourages an increased interest in the field of nursing which would contribute to a higher number of individuals pursuing this career. Therefore, this would increase overall health care.