Policy Agenda
Legislative Advocacy is a Top Priority of AMSN
As the only national professional organization representing the voice of medical-surgical nursing, our strategic mission for patients and their access to high-quality, affordable health care, and focus on issues affecting the work environments and practice of our med-surg nurses, as seen below. AMSN Board of Directors has developed a legislative priority agenda in 2019 to clearly define the priority areas for our med-surg nurses.
AMSN Policy Agenda
AMSN is the voice of medical-surgical patients, and medical-surgical nurses at the state and federal level. AMSN Legislative Consultant Frank Purcell shares the strength of our collective voice in advocacy.
Our Advocacy Actions help serve to track and promote legislation and policies that enhance medical-surgical nurses and quality care across the health care industry, including hospitals, outpatient settings, in homes, via telemedicine and other non-traditional settings
The AMSN legislative Priority Agenda Includes:
AMSN Statement on the Supreme Court Action on Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health
AMSN is disappointed by the Supreme Court ruling regarding Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health which also struck down Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey. AMSN has consistently advocated for every person’s access to health care as a fundamental human right.
Statement from AMSN on the War in Ukraine
The Academy of Medical-Surgical Nurses (AMSN) joins the American Nurses Association (ANA), International Council of Nurses (ICN), as well as NATO, the UN, and the EU in condemning the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Statement from AMSN on Texas Gender Affirming Care
The Academy of Medical-Surgical Nurses (AMSN) joins with the Texas Nurses Association, The American Academy of Pediatrics, and the Texas Pediatric Society, and other leading organizations in opposing a directive issued by the Governor of Texas classifying gender affirming care for minors as child abuse.
AMSN Statement on RaDonda Vaught
On Friday, March 25, 2022, RaDonda Vaught was found guilty of criminally negligent homicide and impaired adult abuse following a 2017 drug administration error that resulted in the tragic death of a patient undergoing a positron emission tomography (PET) scan.
Statement from AMSN on Nurse Staffing and Complaints of Price Gouging by Staffing Agencies
The Academy of Medical Surgical Nurses (AMSN) is aware of the concerns our members are expressing regarding the recent letter from a group of Members of Congress to the White House COVID-19 Response Team Coordinator.
Statement from AMSN on COVID-19 Vaccination
The Academy of Medical-Surgical Nurses (AMSN) recommends every person indicated to receive the COVID-19 coronavirus vaccine be vaccinated as soon as it becomes available for them. Nurses lead. We strongly recommend that every nurse and health care professional, especially those in direct patient care, be vaccinated against COVID-19.
Statement from AMSN of Concern with Texas Sb 8 and Importance of Protecting Nurses to Provide Patient Care
The Academy of Medical-Surgical Nurses (AMSN) is profoundly concerned with Texas SB 8’s potential impact on our nurse members to provide care for patients. Med-surg nurses and all health care professionals should be protected from the increased liability risk that Texas SB 8 puts to them and their patients.
Social Determinants of Health
Where health care delivery systems connect with social determinants of health (SDOH), health care has a responsibility and an opportunity to be part of the solution. Medical-surgical nurses support leveraging their roles in patient discharge and transfer processes to advance evidence-based initiatives addressing SDOH to improve health and reduce health care costs.
Safe Workplaces and Professional Respect
In the interest of patient safety and healthy, effective systems for health care delivery, we identify and promote evidence-based strategies that improve workplace safety for medical-surgical nurses and advance their professional recognition.
Safe Staffing for Nurses
Nurses and their expertise understanding and addressing patient acuity, not one- size-fits-all mandates, are critical to improving and ensuring safe patient care. We advance evidence-based initiatives promoting safe staffing to improve patient health care quality and access, and to reduce health care costs.
Opioid Crisis
We promote implementation and funding of evidence-based policy to prevent and address the national opioid crisis, including the SUPPORT for Patients and Communities Act (P.L. 115-271) and related measures at the federal and state levels.
Nurse Workforce Development
The future supply of nurses is critical to patient access to high quality care in every environment, particularly with our aging population and among people lacking access to care. Medical-surgical nurses promote patient access to high quality health care by supporting reauthorization, improvement and full funding of federal nurse workforce development programs.
Medical-Surgical Nurses in Leadership
Our organization actively seeks opportunities to successfully place medical-surgical nurses in health care stakeholder advisory bodies and leadership positions at the state and federal levels and within the health care sector.
AMSN Calls for Action to Provide Safety for All Americans
It is time for action. As nurses, we care for the survivors of gun violence. We see the aftermath of these acts as we care for those fortunate enough to live. We know the profound and lasting trauma and shock that victims and first responders experience after events such as these. It is time for action. If you want to act but are unsure of what you can do to advocate, consider one of the following actions we have outlined.
Please contact us with any questions you may have about Advocacy.
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