The Nurse Scheduling Crisis
America’s aging population is increasing at alarming rates. As we are currently in a physician shortage, it is only a matter of time before there won’t be enough RNs available to keep up with the increasing demand. Nurses make up the largest segment in the healthcare sector, according to the American Nursing Association, and they are about to be stretched thin. Now is the time for solutions, especially those that make a nurse’s job...
Nurses Voted “Most Trusted Professionals”….AGAIN
When you think about the types of careers held by people with high standards for ethics and honesty, it’s no surprise that the care-giving and health fields are at the top of the list. However, once again, Gallup’s 2014 poll found that Americans view nurses as the most trustworthy profession—a higher ranking than given to medical doctors and pharmacists which tied for second. Periodically since 1976 and annually...
Study: Nurse Education Level Correlates to Patient Mortality
Patricia Hickey, vice president of critical care, conducted a large-scale study from hospitals throughout the country and cardiovascular services at Boston Children’s Hospital, revealing that nurse education levels and experience quite significantly correlates with patient mortality. Another study was conducted at the Radboud University teaching hospital in Nijmegen, the Netherlands, with similar results as well. According to the...
Hospital Execs Grateful for Nurses
By Christine Whitmarsh I recently had the opportunity to interview chief financial officers at several California hospitals for a magazine article I was writing. The subject of discussion was how the country’s, and specifically that state’s, economic challenges are affecting hospital bottom lines. One thing that struck me, and which as a nurse I definitely appreciated, was that regardless of the economic challenges their hospitals are...
Travel Nurses Are Just As (or more than) Qualified.
A study published in late 2007 indicates that there is no basis for the perception among some healthcare industry professionals that travel nurses and other nurses considered “temporary nurses” do not provide the same quality of care as permanent nurses. The results of the study were published in the Journal of Nursing Administration. The study concluded that “nurses employed by staffing companies are as well or...