I choked on my breakfast this morning while I was surfing the web. It all started when I checked out the Future of Nursing: Campaign for Action website. According to the website, “The Future of Nursing:Campaign for Action is an initiative to advance comprehensive health care change. It envisions a health care system where all Americans have access to high-quality, patient-centered care, with nurses contributing to the full extent of their capabilities.” Two of their objectives is to strengthen nurse education and training, and to help enable nurses to practice to the full extent of their education. The campaign is coordinated through the Center to Champion Nursing in America (CCNA), an initiative of AARP, the AARP Foundation and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF).

I thought, “What a great idea,I want to get involved,” so I clicked on a link to get more information about the nursing action coalition in my home state. The states are listed in alphabetical order, and Arizona was the second state on the list. Before I could scroll down to find my state, I noticed who is serving on Arizona’s Action Coalition leaders. Ready? They are the same people who are trying to strip Amanda Trujillo of her nursing license. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. Check out the screen shot from the Future of Nursing website.

The hypocrisy of the Arizona BON and the Arizona Nurses Association is overwhelming, so I sent off a letter to the organizers of the Future of Nursing campaign:

I am writing to you because I have great respect for your organization and because you may not be aware of news coming out of Arizona. Members of the Arizona Action Coalition are involved in a scandalous abuse of power case against Nurse Amanda Trujillo. Amanda was fired from her job at Banner Health Del W. Webb Medical Center for acting as a patient advocate within her scope of practice. Now she is in danger of losing her nursing license. More disturbing is the news that the Arizona BON, who has close ties to Banner Health, has also ordered Amanda to undergo a psychiatric evaluation because she went public with her story. This abuse of power is unacceptable and goes against the mission of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Sadly, the Arizona Nurses Association is passively standing by as these events take place. Perhaps it’s because their president, Teri Wicker, is the Director of Professional Practice Banner Del E. Webb. The AzNA denies this of course, but I’m sure that they wouldn’t publicly admit to a conflict of interest.

I respectfully request that your organization learn more about Amanda’s case and take a second look at the members of Arizona Action Coalition. They are serving their own best interests, not the interests of the public, or the nursing profession.

Sincerely, Mother Jones, RN

I wonder if I’ll get a response. In the meantime I want to thank the Arizona BON and the Arizona Nurses Association for my close bout with aspiration pneumonia. It was greatly appreciated.