How can we best serve Amanda Trujillo, now?
I have a plan, and much evidence suggests it could work. Forget “support,” forget “standing by,” forget sympathy and empathy and outrage, for a moment. We now have achieved plenty of all of those things. I think we should offer more – ensure Amanda retains her license, her good name, and her career. I surely can’t offer certainty, but I can offer a fair shot of success, without asking more than many Nurse are already offering.
My last posts have been lengthy, so here’s a short version – I suggest the full ones if you can find the time, worth it, please trust me on that. My plan makes more sense if you know a bit more about the history and successes of Social Media advocacy outside of Nursing. The short version: initially tiny groups of plain old average powerless people, with much less credibility and wherewithal than that of the average Nurse, have repeatedly used Social Media to organize. Using these tools they have defeated the following in some way – all real well-documented examples, I give my word and reputation on it. These examples are more fully describes in other posts:
- The Bishop of the Boston Diocese of the Catholic Church at the time, Bernard Law (resigned) – look up Voice of the Faithful,
- The television network CBS,
- The Communist Party of China,
- The Stalinist government of Belarus,
- Multiple Arab dictatorships,
- And so on. Think I’m exaggerating? Wrong – look it up in my other posts or elsewhere. I do my homework.
Nurses, do you honestly think we can’t organize and play as equals with tiny Banner Health, or any BON? Tiny? That’s right – Think Communist China, or the Catholic Church, or the government of Egypt, as noted above – in comparison, yes, absolutely, Banner Health and all the BONs put together don’t seem nearly as tough or scary, do they? Poor people have succeeded, more than once, and more often with each passing day, under ruthless oppression without any rights or rule of law – we have laws, rights, and much greater resources. Will they try to stop us? Of course, that’s a given. Try to scare us – again, a given. They will try to demoralize us, confuse us, divide us. They will do their best to defeat us, silence us, beat us into submission, so to speak – that is how the powerful stay on top. Will they succeed? Don’t be so sure – the world is changing in our favor. Look at those example if you think I’m wrong – history is on our side, if we get with the program and adapt. We have a huge advantage here – big old organizations are inherently slow, cautious, unable to adapt quickly. With Social Media, used well, we learn to run circles around such foes.
OK, enough with the cheerleading, accurate as it is – remember, I do my homework.
Here’s my proposal – I need help with the details. It’s a version of the ploy that beat CBS. Folks in that case found a way to cheaply and easily have peanuts delivered to CBS headquarters (read the other posts, this wacky notion actually makes sense if you know the details) as a form of protest. They found a vendor on-line (Nuts.com, I believe – its in the longer posts), and they convinced people to order nuts, to be delivered to CBS: small, cheap units per order. Enough people participated – and their cause was trivial – that CBS received TWENTY TONS of nuts, as well as lots of delivery guys and reporters – such a human interest story it was! Huge unwanted attention. CBS had done nothing wrong, they just aggravated fans by canceling their favorite TV show – but they caved. the show was renewed.
All we need to do? Change the script a bit:
1) Replace CBS as target with Banner Health or AZ BON,
2) Find a different gift/prop – it’s no good repeating a story, you want to attract the press. Novelty thus a must. Must have some story behind it to suck up attention. Must cost something to have impact (see the other posts, this is a crucial point), but not very much, so people participate. Here are some ideas I worked up with my wife on the way to dinner tonight:
- Valentine Hearts with note: “Nurses Care” You don’t need to be blunt – its easy to explain the whole plan to the press when the time comes, and they will want to know if we pull it off dramatically enough.
- In reference to Amanda’s laughable mandated Psych Eval: A bug of mixed nuts with note : “Looking for a nut? Ask a nurse.”
- More aggressive but funny: A Campaign to “Send them their nuts in a bag,” again referencing the Psych eval in a way, but mostly sounding tough. I’d love to try it (it would be fun!), but it’s probably not a great idea in political terms.
- I ended up gravitating to nuts, because I was researching that peanut campaign looking for tips, the puns come easily (I always like that), and because Nuts.com became very enthusiastic the last time around, even building an Ad campaign around the whole thing. We could be more original, but Nuts.com has some strong selling points, and there are only so many ways to order relatively cheap deliveries simply to another state. I’ll keep researching this point, ans so far all my legwork was on my phone AND when the car wasn’t moving – I should have much more success on the Mac at home
3) Find a vendor like Nuts.com , as already noted: we need easy ordering to gain the most participants, because such a plan depends on recruiting as many participants as possible: that’s how tiny cheap individual orders become TWENTY TONS on delivery.
4) Arrange for publicity. To your blogs! And traditional media typically follow your lead once something grows a bit, especially if its dramatic, unusual, or has a goof heart-jerking back story. Who can beat Amanda T for drama, conflict, good guys and bad guys, scandal, conspiracy? Add a novel protest angle, and you have a winner! Publicity city, folks, and all for free. If it works out, we’ll have reporters talking to each other about it on TV, Editorials, newspapers, radio – the skies the limit!
Now imagine poor old AZ BON, or any old-school Nursing organization for that matter – would they really stand up to all that pressure, just to look like jerks and maybe worse so they can spank poor Amanda T? So far it has been most convenient, most prudent, and most politically savvy, to throw her under the bus. We can change all that, and show the world what it now mean to throw Nurses, and nurses under that bus. Let’s do it.
In conclusion – I need your support, Amanda T and your fellow Nurses need your support, and I need your IDEAS, although I’m making progress, I’d rather get the answers more easily: the Social Media way.
Keep plugging!
I think you have a fantastic idea.
We are organizing and attempting to do something just like this that make an impact.
Are you in our facebook chat?
friend me on facebook so I can invite you.
look for Brittney Wilson.
I have just begun talking up the final (for now) plan, which begins tonight, although Banner won’t begin to notice it for a few days, and we need participants. It is modeled on a past protest that was quite successful, safe, nonthreatening, nonviolent, but rather persuasive – it involved lots of spectacle and press coverage, although none of the participants needed to leave their homes or do very much. The model for my protest involved a rather small group of loosely associated, often random people organized via simple Social Media to advocate for specific change: it was some TV fans, in fact, upset that CBS cancelled their favorite TV show. With little individual cost or effort, and surprisingly quickly, they created a spectacle large and public enough to convince CBS to reverse itself and resume he show. Their strength came entirely from NUMBERS, so we need participants, as many as possible. I give background and detailed instruction on grchealthcareblog.com, and have sent the first protest prop on its way to John Harrington, CEO of the Del E. Webb Medical Center as I type. Please participate: make our voices heard in the real world to help Amanda! Also, thanks to those who already offered feedback on this thing: please continue to point out errors, alternative ideas, typos etc. I’ve researched this with some care, but still, editors are always welcome, kind of like Wikipedia
Its the NURSES SEND POWER FOR AMANDA CAMPAIGN!!!
Viva Nurse Power!
Greg Mercer, MSN
Cracker Jacks: popcorn, peanuts AND a prize; that’s what we send to the Arizona BON.
I like it! Folks could just use snail mail to deliver Cracker Jacks, not bad at all, and cheaper/easier than my way 9although I still like Power Mix – the name works. Sigh…) Remember, we send prop gifts to:
John Harrington, CEO
Del E. Webb Medical Center
14502 W. Meeker Blvd.
Sun City West, AZ 85375-5299
(623) 214-4001
And enclose a note, something like:
“Nurses have power.
We offer this gift to help you attend fairly to Amanda Trujillo’s case, important to Nurses with power across the globe.
We hope and expect it fuels a fair and appropriate outcome to this unfortunate matter: without Nurses like Amanda, there simply is no health care.”
Thanks for the input, it really quite good!
Greg–
I looked up Del E Webb Medical Center online and went to the Mission Statement tab. I plan to use some of their own verbage in my notes, i.e., Amanda was putting people above all when she gave her patient the hospital provided information and requested a consult. Arizona’s BON will also be receiving some cracker jacks from me.
Greg, please keep us posted on any responses you are receiving from the hospital or BON. I begin my campaign today. I start with Cracker Jacks, tomorrow with be Butter Fingers, then Good and Plenty and ending with another box of movie sized candy along with notes in each package. I feel it is most important that we hit the Arizona BON the hardest as Amanda’s license is in jeopardy.
Greg, since you work in psych I am curious, do you have any idea what the statistics are for nurses with PTSD? Are there any pyschiatrists/psychologists/counselors who specialize in PTSD as it relates to nurses. I am in need.
Greg, here’s another thought, how about we write letters to the Arizona State Legislators and the Ombudsman concerning this issue? I will work on drafting a letter and provide links to their info. Sound good?
Letters are helpful, always MUCH more potent influence (2000x or more) than anything on-line, per unit – on-line may very well more than make up for it in numbers, of course. The more we focus on one target, the more impact is likely. I can see AZ BON as I’ve described in posts – its an obvious target, but my gut tells me not the most effective one. I cannot imagine any BON harasses Nurses routinely this way – it atypical we need to presume a motive, and Banner is the prime suspect. Thus I chose Banner to target. If enough folks disagree, they I defer to maintain focus and unity. As for feedback on results, I have heard from many (more & more) folks, but feedback has been typically rather vaguely positivem without indicating action taken. Until this changes, the target(s) likely have the best sense of our results – as long as we keep plugging and growing, I can live with that if I must. Results are more important than my ability to track or tout them, as much as I want it all. Finally, when it comes to e-campaigns, most fizzle, even the most successful and prominent strategies. That’s OK – the cost per effort is low, we learn with experience, we make useful contacts, and every so often something explodes into something memorable and grand. Humanity makes so many stabs at Social Media efforts – many thousands a year, and the successes come more and more often, lately every few weeks to months: big successes of little random previously uninvolved folks over what seems like unassailably powerful foes: Komen, powerful and ruthless governments, Hollywood, politicians, lobbyists, you name it. All the current Powers every one knows for certain the average folks can never touch – they’re getting touched, often, and they’re caving. The world is changing, and if we change with it, adapt faster than the current Powers as we certainly can if we try – then we may well become one of the next historical chapter’s Big Powers of health care – in the driver’s seat, no longer a back-seat driver. That’s how history unfolds: you move ahead or you fall behind – there’s virtually no way to stand still – and the more comfortable and complacent you are now, the more likely you’re a has-been tomorrow. Nurses could very well become the next Big Thing – or we can become powerless baggage in the truck, quite likely if wait and see. To a large extent, we decide, by the way we respond to this time of crisis and opportunity. Nurses: what are you going to do about it?
I have felt unusually impatient lately, WANTING this project to move forward NOW, unrealistic of course but it has kept me plugging, and the train is slowly (not so slowly really, i just want more, now) gathering steam. Let’s keep it up, until we reach that Social Media critical mass like Komen saw, where it becomes self-sustaining, self-feeding, accelerating and snowballing until it rolls over all opposition. We can win! Our patients can win! We can do this thing – get going NOW!
Greg, I feel ya. My biggest fear is that though many nurses will be enraged, due to fear, apathy, laziness, whatever; many will idly stand by and DO nothing. This has been my frustration with my own battles. If you want to see a little about what I have been through as a nurse, google my name: caryl j carver. it doesn’t get any easier.
Your fear is my certainty – apathy, cynicism, and political learned helplessness are likely the majority experience in America today. Nurses, while on average tougher, more idealistic, and more apt to embrace advocate roles, are also on average highly stressed, overworked, divided, and unserstandably quite wary of risk. It’s challenging to take on any new projects under such conditions, and many folks are keeping their heads down, wearing blinders are focusing on surviving today. The good news? New Social Media tools allow the willing&able minority to easily unite & coordinate despite geography in
large numbers. Successful advocacy, as with Komen last week, requires only a tiny fraction of potentilal participants to join. Of these, only a ting portion need commit musc time or effort – most can make a trivial contribution, perhaps one small gesture total. If one in a thousand American Nurses join an advocacy project, and one Ina thousand of them step up into a leadership role, that’s 3 leaders and a 3 thousand members – not bad at all. We no longer need to depend on traditional, expensive, labor-intensive, cautious and slow-moving organizations to solve our problems. A small committed group on line, with little or no budget, with some smarts and luck, can bring decisive pressure to bear instantaneously in traditional terms – ask Komen, a powerhouse still reeling from a spontaneous action that achieved its goal, at least tentatively, in under a week. Traditional organizations usually take months to years, spending millions of dollars, simply to plan such a campaign. For little people with goals, our time has truly come.
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Thank you for following Amanda’s case, this is the latest.
The War Against Amanda Trujillo, April 25, 2012, Mother Jones, RN, Nurse Ratched’s Place:”I still support Amanda Trujillo and some people who have read the allegations against Amanda have questioned my judgment. Frankly, I don’t believe these allegations because I personally know two other nurses who have been reported to their nursing boards by their former employers. One of my friends was reported to the BON after she spoke up about unsafe nursing practices at a shady nursing home, and the other was reported after he chastised hospital administration for placing psychiatric patients and staff in an unsafe environment. Their former employers cooked up all kinds of false allegations against my friends who are both stellar nurses. Their former employers crucified their character, but in the end they were both cleared of any wrongdoing by their respective state nursing boards. There is an escalating pattern of abuse as more unscrupulous employers are using nursing boards as the ultimate scare tactic to keep nurses “in their place. ” Amanda is just another victim of this ploy.”
http://www.nurseratchedsplace.com/2012/04/the-war-against-amanda-trujillo/
Thank you Greg for following Amanda’s case, this is from her blog.
The Moment of Impact: April 21, 2010: by #AmandaTrujillo, MSN, RN, #nurseup #nursefriendly #healthcare:”The day my life collided with something greater than I could ever wrap my head around in this lifetime…..I heard a quote recently that conveys the enormity of the year’s events…its message, perfection, but not in the way I would like to envision life perfected, the way I want it, the way I wanted it, the way I thought I had it…..in any case, I like this quote because it encompasses the past, the present, and the future all at once.”
http://nurseinterupted.wordpress.com/2012/05/09/the-moment-of-impact-april-21-2010/
The day that changed Amanda’s life forever. To follow her case and others, kindly visit http://www.nurseup.com
Thank you Greg for following Amanda’s case, this is from TruthAboutNursing.org
Fired for educating a patient? TruthAboutNursing.org, May 2012:”On February 1, the Phoenix CBS affiliate KPHO-TV ran a short but good item by Peter Busch about veteran local nurse Amanda Trujillo, who said she had been fired by Banner Del Webb Hospital and had a complaint filed against her with the state board of nursing because she had educated a patient about the risks of an upcoming surgery and scheduled a consult about hospice. A hospital spokesman reportedly said that “the doctor, ultimately, is the focal point that directs care for patients” and that “company policy” forbids nurses to order a case management consult. The report does not mention other accounts suggesting that these events were set in motion because the patient’s surgeon was displeased that the patient had decided against the surgery.”
http://www.truthaboutnursing.org/news/2012/may/trujillo.html