[Congressional Bills 111th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 1261 Introduced in House (IH)]

111th CONGRESS
  2d Session
H. RES. 1261

                   Recognizing National Nurses Week.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             April 15, 2010

   Ms. Eddie Bernice Johnson of Texas (for herself, Mrs. Capps, Mrs. 
 McCarthy of New York, Mr. LaTourette, Mrs. Christensen, Mrs. Maloney, 
Mr. Frank of Massachusetts, Mr. Conyers, Ms. Richardson, Mr. Grijalva, 
    Mr. Lewis of Georgia, Mr. Spratt, Mr. McGovern, Mr. Latham, Mr. 
Blumenauer, Mr. Langevin, Ms. McCollum, Mrs. Napolitano, Mr. Ross, Mr. 
   Gutierrez, Ms. Bordallo, Mr. Kennedy, and Ms. Markey of Colorado) 
submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee 
                         on Education and Labor

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
                   Recognizing National Nurses Week.

Whereas since 1990, National Nurses Week is celebrated annually from May 6, also 
        known as National Recognition Day for Nurses, through May 12, the 
        birthday of Florence Nightingale, the founder of modern nursing;
Whereas National Nurses Week is a time of year to reflect on the important 
        contributions that nurses make to provide safe, high-quality health 
        care;
Whereas nurses are known to be patient advocates, acting fearlessly to protect 
        the lives of those under their care;
Whereas nurses represent the largest single component of the health care 
        profession with 3,100,000 jobs;
Whereas nurses are experienced researchers, and their work encompasses a wide 
        scope of scientific inquiry including clinical research, health systems 
        and outcomes research, and nursing education research;
Whereas nurses are best positioned to provide leadership to eliminate health 
        care disparities that exist in the United States;
Whereas nurses help inform and educate the public to improve the practice of all 
        nurses and, more importantly, the health and safety of the patients they 
        care for;
Whereas the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN) released final 
        survey data show that enrollments in entry-level baccalaureate programs 
        in nursing rose by 3.6 percent in 2009, and though this marks the ninth 
        consecutive year of enrollment growth, the annual increase in student 
        capacity in 4-year nursing programs has declined sharply since 2003 when 
        enrollment was up by 16.6 percent;
Whereas United States nursing programs were forced to reject almost 119,000 
        qualified applications to nursing programs according to the National 
        League for Nursing's most recent survey of all prelicensure nursing 
        programs;
Whereas according to the Bureau of Labor and Statistics, employment of 
        registered nurses is expected to grow by 22 percent from 2008 to 2018, 
        much faster than the average for all occupations;
Whereas according to new survey data by the AACN, enrollment in doctoral nursing 
        programs increased by more than 20 percent this year, signaling strong 
        interest among students in careers as nursing scientists, faculty, 
        primary care providers, and specialists;
Whereas according to the AACN, expanding capacity in baccalaureate and graduate 
        programs is critical to sustaining a healthy nursing workforce and 
        providing patients with the best care possible;
Whereas the nationwide nursing shortage has caused dedicated nurses to work 
        longer hours and care for more acutely ill patients;
Whereas nurse educators work on average more than 57 hours per week in order to 
        ensure that each and every new registered nurse receives an excellent 
        education, advancing excellence among the next generation of nurses;
Whereas nurses are strong allies to Congress as they help inform, educate, and 
        work closely with legislators to improve the education, retention, 
        recruitment, and practice of all nurses and, more importantly, the 
        health and safety of the patients they care for; and
Whereas increased Federal and State support is needed to enhance existing 
        programs and create new programs to educate nursing students at all 
        levels, to increase the number of faculty members to educate nursing 
        students, to create clinical sites and have the appropriately prepared 
        nurses to teach and train at those sites, to create educational 
        opportunities to retain nurses in the profession, and to educate and 
        train more nurse research scientists who can discover new nursing: Now, 
        therefore, be it
    Resolved, That the House of Representatives--
            (1) supports the goals and ideals of National Nurses Week, 
        as founded by the American Nurses Association;
            (2) acknowledges the importance of quality higher education 
        in nursing, including baccalaureate and graduate programs, to 
        meet the needs of one of the Nation's fastest growing labor 
        fields; and
            (3) supports the nurse capacity initiatives for 
        institutions of higher education included in the Higher 
        Education Opportunity Act.
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