By Daphne Sashin
A delegation of nurse leaders from the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania (HUP) traveled to Washington, D.C. in March to attend the American Organization for Nursing Leadership advocacy day, sitting down with the staff of several Congress members from Pennsylvania about key topics impacting nursing and health care. Nurse leaders from other parts of Penn Medicine, including Lancaster General Health Associate Chief Nursing Officer Valerie Adams, MBA, MSN, RN, and three nurse leaders from Pennsylvania Hospital, also attended.
In meetings with staff to Pennsylvania senators Bob Casey and John Fetterman and several U.S. representatives, the group emphasized the need to increase the health care workforce and strengthen its capacity, protect health care workers from workplace violence, and address the shortage of both nursing educators and clinical nurses, said Santhosh S. Sunny MSN, RN, CEN, clinical practice lead for HUP Cedar’s Emergency Department.
“Nursing has been going through a lot of changes and struggles since COVID started,” Sunny said. “It felt like the right platform to raise the concerns and inform the legislators about nursing-specific concerns.”
Aliza Narva, JD, MSN, RN, HUP’s director of Ethics, and Barbara A. Todd, DNP, CRNP, director of Practice and Education–Advanced Practice, organized the group of HUP leaders. Prior to the trip, Kristen Molloy, Penn Medicine’s corporate director of Government and Community Relations, helped the nurses prepare for their visit. The experience was funded by HUP’s Abramson Family Center for Nursing Excellence.
“Considering some of the challenges that the nursing profession has encountered over the last few years, it seemed like a great and unique opportunity to represent Penn Medicine and our values as nurses and address some key issues affecting healthcare right now,” said Karen Brooks, MSN, nurse manager on Founders 14. “In order to keep moving our profession forward, legislators really need to understand the issues and the impact that legislation can have on frontline nurses.”