This is a two-part, in-person CE Class from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. (6 hours of CE credits). If you’re a UC nurse, an extra hour will be available from 4 p.m. to 5 p.m.
Participants must be in attendance all day to receive the full 6 CEU CE credits, even if they have taken one of the classes prior to the sign-up date.
Part 1: Foundations for the Future: Lessons from the History of Nursing Advocacy
Description
The nursing profession in the U.S. has a history of advocacy deeply intertwined with health and social justice movements. Nurses have leveraged their trusted voice to contribute to critical societal transformations, addressing systemic issues like racism, gender inequity, and economic disparities. This course explores nurse-led advocacy efforts that have influenced advancements in nursing, healthcare, and broader social progress.
Building on this legacy, the course will also equip participants with the historical context and lessons needed to address contemporary challenges in healthcare. Nurses have long understood that collective action is more powerful than individual efforts, and this course will provide practical tools to continue this tradition of collective patient advocacy. By honoring nursing's social justice legacy, participants will understand the transformative potential of the profession when nurses unite around a common cause to drive change in today’s healthcare environment.
Objectives
- Analyze key historical moments of nurse-led advocacy and their impact on social justice, healthcare, and the nursing profession.
- Examine the role of collective advocacy in addressing systemic issues like racism, gender inequity, and economic injustice in nursing and healthcare.
- Apply lessons learned from nursing's advocacy legacy to address current and future challenges in healthcare, emphasizing the power of solidarity in driving change.
Part 2: Safety in Numbers: Two Decades of California's Nurse-to-Patient Ratio Law
Description
This comprehensive continuing education course examines California's groundbreaking nurse-to-patient ratio law as we mark over twenty years since its historic implementation in 2004. This landmark legislation not only transformed patient care delivery in California but ignited a powerful national and international movement for safe staffing standards, inspiring nurses worldwide to advocate for similar protections. This California model has become the gold standard, inspiring campaigns from Maine to Australia, demonstrating how organized nurses can successfully advocate for their patients and win concrete improvements in patient care standards.
The course analyzes twenty years of research and lived experience demonstrating how mandated minimum staffing ratios have saved countless patient lives by promoting safe, competent, therapeutic, and effective nursing care. Participants will examine the political and economic forces that shaped the law's passage, including the pivotal role of organized nursing advocacy in overcoming healthcare industry opposition.
Drawing from two decades of implementation experience, the course highlights crucial lessons learned about the protective effect of the ratio throughout decades of corporate restructuring and technological developments. This course examines collective patient advocacy strategies central to the law's effectiveness.
Special emphasis will be placed on documented improvements in patient safety measures, how collective patient advocacy has amplified these outcomes, and the ways in which the California model has strengthened the global case for nurse-to-patient ratio laws.
Objectives
Upon completion of this course, participants will be able to:
- Describe the key elements of the struggle between the hospital industry and its allies and organized bedside RNs over nurse-to-patient ratios legislation.
- Analyze the 20-year impact of California's nurse-to-patient ratio law, including implementation milestones, challenges overcome, and documented patient safety improvements.
- Explore strategies to maintain the role of the RN in patient care delivery and to protect the safe staffing law for decades to come.
Instructors:
- Stephen Frum, RN
- Michelle Mahon, RN
- Rochelle Pardue-Okimoto, RN
Dates and Locations
- Wednesday, January 15, 2025
California Nurses Association Headquarters
155 Grand Ave.
Oakland, CA 94612
- Wednesday, January 29, 2025
Santa Clara Marriott
2700 Mission College Boulevard
Santa Clara, CA 95054
- Tuesday, February 25, 2025
San Diego Marriott Mission Valley
8757 Rio San Diego Drive
San Diego, CA 92018
- Thursday, March 6, 2025
Sheraton Grand Sacramento
1230 J Street
Sacramento, CA 95814
- Wednesday, March 19, 2025
JW Marriott San Francisco Union Square
515 Mason Street
San Francisco, CA 94102
- Monday, April 7, 2025
Marina del Rey Marriott
4100 Admiralty Way
Marina del Rey, CA 90292
- Wednesday, April 9, 2025
Anaheim Marriott Suites
12015 Harbor Boulevard
Anaheim, CA 92840
- Wednesday, April 23, 2025
Monterey Marriott
350 Calle Principal
Monterey, CA 93940
Please note: CNA/NNOC/NNU is taking all necessary precautions to ensure the safety and health of nurses, our patients, and our communities during the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic. All in-person course participants are required to be fully vaccinated, wear masks while indoors, and practice social distancing to the extent possible.
CE courses are free to National Nurses United members. Classes are only offered to direct-care and staff RNs.
