Revisiting collective bargaining

Over the past 3 years, the massive unionizing campaigns forecasted have not materialized. Even so, the parameters of the AHA case are still being established. For example, the NLRB currently is attempting to determine if nurse practitioners still should be placed in a bargaining unit with registered nurses or physicians. Until this and other issues are resolved more clearly, nurse administrators must play a key role in balancing the professional concerns of patient care quality and staff satisfaction with the reality of current economics and healthcare reform. Clearly, unionization cannot be ignored in attempting to achieve that balance.