A Message From the Chief Nurse

Nurses,

We close the year with a holiday season to celebrate the many accomplishments as well as learning moments that each of us has experienced. We have lived through transitions in leadership and transformations in policy, but our mission remains constant and our commitment to caring for the nation perseveres. Here are a few updates to keep you informed.

The PHS values and mission statement will be available soon on the CCMIS website as a printable document for you to frame. Pause for a moment and reflect on the values that unite us in our mission.

Leadership: Provides vision and purpose in public health through inspiration, dedication, and loyalty.

Service: Demonstrates a commitment to public health through compassionate actions and stewardship of time, resources, and talents.

Integrity: Exemplifies uncompromising ethical conduct and maintains the highest standards of responsibility and accountability.

Excellence: Exhibits superior performance and continuous improvement in knowledge and expertise.

Policy Update

The Assistant Secretary for Health recently determined that the work underway by the transformation workgroups may adequately address service in isolated/hardship, hazardous, and hard-to-fill positions, and therefore, will NOT implement the proposed 6th precept for Promotion Year 2007.

The Assistant Secretary for Health and the Acting Surgeon General have decided NOT to move forward with the implementation of the Nurse Warrant Officer proposal at this time. In an effort to increase nurse recruitment, the Nurse Category is pursuing other strategies designed to fill the many vacancies.

The Extension to Manual Circular 377 ( http://dcp.psc.gov/eccis/documents/PPM07_001.pdf ) issued by the Assistant Secretary for Health on November 3, 2006 makes several important changes to the basic readiness policy. Because of these changes some officers may no longer be in compliance with the standards. Therefore, all officers should review his or her Officer Summary page, located at http://ccrf.hhs.gov/ccrf, to review their readiness status. OFRD will be reviewing all officer records every Tuesday for the month of December. Each December 31st the Office of Force Readiness and Deployment will assess compliance with force readiness standards. Non-compliance will result in administrative actions that may include withholding promotion / special pays, and referral for retention consideration, termination, and/or other appropriate action.

Nursing Leadership and Outreach

I had the opportunity to participate on an expert panel, sponsored by the American Nurses Association and the Health Policy Center of Columbia University School of Nursing, to discuss guidance for providing best care when resource poor conditions occur, such as in disasters. A follow up open conference is scheduled for June 2007 to share policy implications. CAPT Roberta Lavin (HHS/OS) and Dr. Sally Phillips (Director of AHRQ’s Bioterrorism Preparedness ) from our Nurse Category also represented the federal perspective. The American Medical Association and American Hospital Association participated as partners with Nursing.

I also had the opportunity to participate in an informatics teleconference panel at the Uniform Services University of the Health Sciences as part of a collaborative, interdisciplinary HHS-DOD-VA initiative to develop an online informatics course that will be freely available in the near future.

Nurses at FOH (Federal Occupational Health) have worked with the Pharmacy Professional Advisory Committee to collaborate on training pharmacists to assist with flu immunizations for federal employees. This has been a very successful collaboration and I applaud the leadership of CDR Kimberly Deffinbaugh in this effort.

Transformation

Transformation to renew the Commissioned Corps is one of Secretary Leavitt’s nine major initiatives. The CC Implementation plan is available to review on the CCMIS website home page or at http://dcp.psc.gov/PDF_docs/Commissioned_Corps_Transformation_Implementation_Plan.pdf Transformation working groups are underway and soliciting input from the PACs. Three of the four Chairs of these working groups (Working Integrated Policy Teams WIPTs) established to address recruitment, readiness, training, and discipline/retention policies are nurses. CAPTs Michael Lyman, Diane Walsh, and Audrey Koertvelyessy have consented to provide that leadership.

Comment

In this “gift giving season”, please remember that to bring the gift of health to others you must first bestow it upon yourselves. Get your flu shot, pause to rest your body and your mind, embrace the emotional comfort of loved ones, and connect with your spiritual sense of purpose.

On behalf of the Office of the Surgeon General, I wish you and your families a safe and peaceful holiday season.

Thank you for your service and commitment to improving our nation’s health. I look forward to continuing to create the future with you as we prepare for the beginning of the new year.

Carol A. Romano, PhD, RN, FAAN
Assistant Surgeon General
Chief Nurse Officer, US Public Health Service