NEW YORK NURSE: October/November 2007
by Nancy Webber
A change is coming in the structure of the NYSNA Council on Nursing Practice (CNP), thanks to a bylaws amendment approved by the 2007 Voting Body.
The new wording of Article VIII of the bylaws is on page 25. The change will give the Board of Directors more flexibility in establishing practice focus groups (PFGs). The bylaws change was requested by the Council on Nursing Practice after a multi-year demonstration project of the new structure.
The previous bylaws provided for clinical and functional practice units organized according to nurses’ specialty areas and practice settings – there were 13 of them in 2007. Each unit was empowered to advise the Board of Directors on issues related to their area. They found, however, that many issues affected more than one unit and there was a need for better communication among them.
Under the new bylaws, each practice focus group will elect a five-member executive committee, all of whom will serve on the CNP. These officers will be elected at annual PFG business meetings held during the NYSNA convention or annual meeting.
The CNP has suggested that the Board of Directors create four PFGs, corresponding to four patient populations: Adult, Behavioral/Mental Health, Gerontology, and Family/Maternal/Child. The Board of Directors, however, has requested more input from members before deciding the number of PFGs and how they would be defined.
It is expected that the Board will take up this issue in early 2008. The new PFGs will hold their first business meetings and elect officers at the NYSNA annual meeting in September 2008.
CNP chair William Donovan supported the bylaws change. “The new structure will allow each member to join the practice focus group that best matches his or her expertise, regardless of work setting, role, or clinical specialty,” he said. “It will provide a framework to encourage diverse representation within each group from all parts of the nursing community.”
The NYSNA Board of Directors has the power to create or dissolve PFGs in response to the needs of the association and trends in nursing practice.