Description of the New Regulation

            The H.R.379 - National Nurse Act of 2015 is a new regulation introduced to the Congress in 2015. The regulation is expected to affect the community nursing health in the U.S in a great way. The regulation intends to amend the law to the Public Health Act with an objective of requiring the HSS (Department of Health and Human Services) to assign the position of Chief Nurse Officer in the area of Public Health Service (Congress, 2016). The Chief Nurse Office will act as National Nurse in the area of public health, working under the Surgeon General office. According to this regulation, the Chief Nurse Officer will be responsible for playing several roles. First, CNO will provide coordination and leadership in matters associated with public health nursing services. Second, conduct education and outreach. Finally, provide leadership and guidance for activities aimed at enhancing public safety as well as emergency preparedness. The CNO will also participate in the process of identifying health priorities nationally, promote the use of evidence-based practices in the field of nursing and build a strong relationship between government and nursing professionals (Congress, 2016). Thus, the regulation is aimed at ensuring that there is national leadership in the field of community health nursing.

Sponsor

            The H.R.379 - National Nurse Act of 2015 was sponsored on 1/14/2015 by Representative Eddie Bernice Johnson.  Eddie is a member of Congress under the Democratic Party ticket. She is a representative of the Taxes 30^th Congressional District. She has been a congresswoman from 1993 to date. She was born in 1935. She is a member of Congress who has some expertise in the area of nursing. She graduated with a nursing certificate in 1952 from the A.J. Moore High School, Waco, Texas. She also has a university education in the area of nursing having graduated from St. Mary's College apart of the University of Notre Dame in 1955 with B.S, MPA from the Texas Christian University in 1967 and Southern Methodist University in 1976. She has worked as a chief psychotherapist and psychiatric nurse (Congress, 2016). Therefore, Eddie has a huge interest in the field of nursing, and this contributed greatly to her interest in sponsoring the regulation advocating for the creation of Chief Nursing Officer position.

Coverage of the Regulation

 The regulation has been covered widely by various new streams. In the case of the newspapers, they have provided details regarding the regulation and the reasons why it was sponsored. Public statements released by various organizations have provided information regarding why concerned individuals do support the regulation, while others have provided information on the reason why the regulation is not good. For example Markley (2015) press release shows the reason why he supported the regulation. 

Reasons for the Regulation

 There are various reasons why the regulation was introduced. First, it was introduced with an objective of creating a national nursing leadership position (Congress, 2016). The position would ensure that nurses countrywide have a leader who would present their interest nationally, unlike currently where there is no national leader for the U.S nurses. Also, the position was aimed at ensuring that nurses participate nationally in the identification of health priorities affecting the U.S and make recommendations on how public safety can be enhanced. Finally, the regulation aims at ensuring that evidence-based practice is embraced in the field of nursing to enhance patient outcomes and satisfaction in the future (Ferris, 2015).