CRONA
Committee for Recognition of Nursing Achievement
Area Representatives and Membership Meetings
August 4 and 6, 2009

A HIGHER STAFF NURSE LEVEL: THE CRITERIA
AND A BIT OF HISTORY

At the eleventh hour of negotiations in 2007, the Hospitals’ negotiators asserted that, in their view, Staff Nurse IIIs and IVs were heavily over-represented at both institutions. They proposed the Side Letter regarding Professional Career Advancement in the context of that assertion. In the Side Letter, and in the Compensation sections of the CRONA contracts, it is clearly stated that the Staff Nurse Criteria will not be used by the Employer to restrict or limit the number of nurses at a particular level. CRONA believes that our nurses earn their Staff Nurse Levels through a combination of clinical proficiency, leadership, flexibility, community service and education, and that there was (and is) little need to change the Staff Nurse Criteria. The Union’s team agreed to the Side Letter in order to bring the negotiations to a successful close, and only after CRONA’s concerns about it were adequately addressed.

Following ratification of the contracts, a committee was indeed formed at LPCH and SHC under the terms of the Side Letter. It met only once. Shortly after that one meeting the Administration presented CRONA with a request for an indefinite postponement of further meetings on the grounds that it needed to concentrate its resources on the transition to computerized charting. CRONA agreed. However, once that effort wound down, no request to reconvene the committee was forthcoming.

Now, some two years later, the Administration at LPCH is again pursuing initiatives to change the Staff Nurse Criteria, and by so doing to reduce the number of SN IIIs and IVs. However, this time it has chosen to sidestep the terms of the Side Letter. Contractually LPCH cannot unilaterally change the criteria, and any violation of the labor agreement will be challenged by CRONA. We are currently in discussions with LPCH Administrators regarding the matter.

CRONA encourages nurses to pursue professional advancement. You can read about advancing your Staff Nurse Level in the CRONA contracts under “Staff Nurse Criteria” and at your union’s website: www.crona.org. You can also read the Hospital Policy entitled “Staffing: Staff Nurse Clinical Performance Criteria” on the LPCH Intranet.

If you wish to advance to Staff III or IV, mention it at your next performance evaluation, or, if you think you’re ready now, request an interim evaluation, of which you are allowed two per year. Write it down as one of your goals on your goal sheet and have it signed by your evaluator. Ask your evaluator to identify in writing the clinical competencies expected of a Staff Nurse III or IV. Mutually agree on the Leadership and/or Educational activities you will need to complete before you can be promoted. Document these activities in the LPCH Objectives for Maintaining SN III and IV, or SHC Goals for Demonstration of Leadership Skills.

If you think you’ll be unable to complete one of your activities, email and meet with your evaluator well in advance of your annual evaluation (we recommend 6 months). Examples of reasons for not completing an activity include: not being assigned as Resource Nurse, committee was dissolved or has not met, not being assigned as preceptor, training was not offered, etc. At your meeting, mutually agree on another qualifying activity.

Document that you have successfully completed all your activities. Include dates and names of projects you have completed. Keep a list of dates on which you worked in the Resource Nurse role, as a Preceptor, etc. Submit this documentation to your evaluator (keep a copy for yourself) 7 days before your scheduled evaluation meeting. If you have questions during this process, contact crona@crona.org.

CRONA is convinced that the contributions of our nurses have been instrumental in making LPCH and SHC world-renowned institutions. It is with this conviction that CRONA encourages and supports the advancement of nurses in their staff nurse levels.

Paul Cole, R.N., Nurse Advocate
On behalf of the CRONA Executive Board

ATTENTION CRONA AREA REPRESENTATIVES and CRONA COMMITTEE MEMBERS

The CRONA Convention will be held on Tuesday, October 6, 2009 in the LPCH Auditorium. Please submit your pay stubs by September 30, 2009. Fax to CRONA at 650-366-0182 or scan and email to crona@crona.org or USPS mail to CRONA at 499 Seaport Court, Suite 202, Redwood City, CA 94063.

If you are not able to attend, please send another nurse from your unit to attend in your place.

Thank You!