Position Statement on
"Future Think" Proposal

NCONL POSITION

The North Carolina Organization of Nurse Leaders believes that every person deserves access to quality health care and that its members have the responsibility to ensure safe practice for nurses. NCONL also supports that nurses must possess the competencies required in an increasingly complex healthcare delivery system.


ISSUES/CONCERNS FROM "FUTURE THINK" PROPOSAL:


• Are there other professions that have undergone this stepwise journey and how did it affect their outcomes?
  
  
• How will acute care hospitals provide adequate/safe amount of caregivers in an existing shortage with the proposed "leveling?" (national and state 13 - 15% shortage of RNs)
  
  
• How will the passage of Nurse Reinvestment Act impact this proposal?
  
  
• NCONL/NCHA and other professional healthcare organizations must be key stakeholders in this discussion and decision-making.
  
  
• Across the state, there are different acuity levels for specialty units (critical care, progressive care, maternal-child, etc.). How does this impact "leveling"?
  
  
• Financial resources allocated with legislative support
  
  
• Workforce transistions to assure supply meets demand.

SUMMARY

While NCONL finds great energy and creativity in the document, it is the belief that more nurse administrators/managers and direct-caregivers should be involved in the discussion and decision-making of "future think" proposals. It is also the belief that more research and documentation needs to be provided to support the "leveling" proposal.