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Greetings Friends and Fellow Nurses.

Welcome to the first Inaugural "ANA President's Blog".  Yes, with the help of my 9 and 12 year old nephews, I am jumping into blogging.  Their expertise and lack of inhibition have motivated my desire to start this regular "ANA President's Blog".  So I am all ears to any tips you might have. 

The ANA President's Blog will occur every two weeks.  I will be posting my blog typically on the 1st and 15th of each month.  I look forward to and suspect your responses will be invaluable in many of the discussions that will occur. 

I am certain some of the blogging will be spirited.  Within ANA, we respect the diversity of our membership and we are all better for it.  As you may know, free-flowing and broad-based debate and discussion is a mainstay among the Association's national membership. Clearly, we share a deep and abiding love of and respect for nursing as it is meant to be practiced; a sincere determination to accomplish those changes that make a difference for our profession and our patients and a shared respect for our knowledge, skills and abilities.  This is more than a common ground upon which to build an agenda, it is what bonds us and defines us as one single profession.

So let's jump into one of the spirited discussion as the First ANA President's Blog.

Which ratio do you want to have for staffing your unit?  One mandated by your legislator who knows nothing about the particular of your unit or one determined by a staffing committee of staff nurses and managers that have access to your unique work situation? 

Safe Staffing Saves Lives (http://www.safestaffingsaveslives.org/).

ANA's interest in this issue is so strong that we have made it a centerpiece of our decades-long effort on behalf of health system reform.  We believe the proper ratio depends on the circumstances at a given hospital or other care setting.  It requires principles that should include factors such as each unit's patient acuity, skill mix and experience of the staff, available support services for staff, and available technology.

What do you think?  And most importantly, how do we get there?

Thanks in advance for your response.