These achievements belong to all of us — our members, staff, and the many volunteer leaders who have stepped up to make a difference for our association and the nursing profession.
May 23, 2023
Dear WSNA members,
Between 2021 and 2023, WSNA helped our nurses feel their power and stand up for respect and better working conditions.
In this biennial report, we are proud to share with you some of our greatest accomplishments of the past two years.
We shepherded our nurses through the pandemic into a world where they have a stronger voice. We helped nurses bargain for and win historic contracts with the support of nurse bargaining teams, our Cabinet, our team of organizers, nurse representatives, labor counsel, strategic research, and communications.
We poured our energy into efforts to win safe staffing in our state. With dozens of members, we met with over 100 state legislators.
We also witnessed hundreds of nursing students learn how to advocate for the profession, and we conducted student debt clinics for working nurses to access loan forgiveness programs.
We rallied to honor the contributions of a home-health nurse killed on the job and reached out to family, colleagues, and the community. We held our first in-person event since the pandemic — our Hall of Fame — to honor nurses in the state who have made a lifetime contribution to nursing.
And we were a valued resource to reporters. WSNA received incredible press coverage from all corners of the state on how nurses are coping and how to make things better.
We also provided real-life data on the state’s nurse staffing crisis to the media, including the Seattle Times, which issued an op-ed in November 2022 saying, “WA lawmakers should heed nurses’ warning they are staffed too thin.”
These achievements belong to all of us — our members, staff, and the many volunteer leaders who have stepped up to make a difference for our association and the nursing profession.
This biennial report looks at how we progressed toward five strategic goals:
Achieve safe nurse staffing in all settings to ensure health and optimize the quality of care. Advocate for increased support to nursing degree programs to promote diverse workforce development. Ensure equitable access to health services so that all people can attain their highest level of health and receive the right care from the appropriate provider, in the right place, at an affordable cost.
Implement specific strategies to address social and health disparities within our profession, our membership, and our organization, recognizing that discrimination in any form is harmful to society as a whole and in opposition to the values and ethical code of the nursing profession.
Empower nurses to lead, advocate, educate, promote, and protect the scope of practice of nursing to practice to the full extent of their training, education, and licensure to deliver optimal care. Promote the adoption of effective behaviors and evidence-based practices that will positively impact the health and safety of registered nurses and patients and lead to improved health and quality outcomes for all residents of Washington.
Remain the leading voice and advocate for the diverse registered nurses in all roles and settings who live and/or work in Washington state through continued membership growth and active member engagement.
Strengthen WSNA’s operations, programmatic infrastructure, and economic stability to ensure continued success by a diverse leadership and staff in advancing association priorities.
