Dear Kathy B,

Gosh, this one really gets me, both as a nurse-educator and as a graduate of
the University of Vermont School of Nursing, right in your backyard. When I
attended school there, we had it drummed into us daily that nurses were
patient-advocates and had a serious responsibility to teach our clients
everything they needed to know to regain health/maintain health. God help us
if we turned in a nursing care plan without a substantial teaching
component!!! At least some of the nurses in that HMO must be UVM grads and I
cringe that they are compromising the standards which they were taught.

I agree with Marsha Walker that telling nurses what they can and cannot
teach may be a violation of the State Nurse Practice Act. Are you friendly
with any of the nurses in the HMO? I think that the situation you describe
is a HUGE violation of ethics and an infringement on nursing
self-regulation. The nurses can check with their State Board of Nursing's
attorney and the Vermont State Nurses Association and get advice if they
really want to fight this. I SURE ENCOURAGE THEM TO DO SO!!!!!

Mary Alice Phillips,BSN
University of Vermont, 1979
(calming down, taking a few deep breaths)