Mentoring Leadership (Legislative/Public Policy) (Georgia Nurses Association‪)‬

This issue of Georgia Nursing comes to you with the 2009 Legislative Session already underway in Atlanta. Currently, the Georgia Nurses Association is working on a number of legislative priorities that we'd like to see progress in 2009. At our 2007 Membership Assembly, GNA members identified the nursing/ faculty shortage as the #1 issue to address in our strategic plan. We have been focused on this issue in a number of ways and this is also evident in the 2009 Session. We are working with the Board of Regents to support legislation that will allow retired nursing faculty to return to teaching after a year. Increasing nursing faculty helps widen the pipeline to increase the capacity of schools of nursing in Georgia. As in other states across the U.S., the nursing faculty shortage has been a major issue contributing to the shortage of nurses in our state. Non-traditional education has needed our support as well. GNA members may be aware of the Georgia Board of Nursing's interpretation in July 2008 of a new statute to no longer allow licensure for Excelsior College School of Nursing's graduates. GNA has advocated for the GBON to revisit this issue in light of this program's 30-plus year history in Georgia and our dire nursing shortage. Our goal is to support programs that can produce competent, safe graduates from a variety of educational systems--both traditional and non-traditional. We are pleased that the GBON took action to resolve this issue for currently enrolled students--a short term solution--and we are advocating for a long-term solution as well. Georgia's traditional programs cannot produce an adequate supply of RNs in the coming years to stave off the shortage. It will take innovation and focus to improve our nursing horizon. The challenge will be to keep nursing in charge of this issue--we know if we cannot solve the nursing shortage, others will attempt to do so.