Surgeon General issues call to action to prevent skin cancer
Good News For Boomers: Medicare’s Hospital Trust Fund Appears Flush Until 2030
But the fund that pays disability benefits needs help fast.
Limitations Of New Health Plans Rankle Some Enrollees
Consumer groups complain people have been misled about the narrow networks of hospitals and doctors in their plans. Insurers say they are trying to hold down prices.
Travel Nurses and Patient Care
Putting Patients First: Do you have enough time for patient care on the job as a Travel Nurse?
Travel Nurses exist not just so you can build an awesome career and have great adventures throughout the country (although these sure are amazing perks!). Travel Nursing helps facilities provide better patient care and obtain better patient results, all the while taking some of the burden off of their perm nurses.
But even with the benefits of Travelers to help sustain hospital staffing levels, are you and your colleagues — whether perm staff or Travel Nurses — getting enough time to devote to patient care?
A recent Wall Street Journal, “Nurses Shift, Aiming for More Time With Patients,” tackles just that issue, detailing facilities that are working to allow nurses more time for paperwork and less time for administrative and other tasks.
The article states that some studies show that between “hunting for supplies, tracking down medications, filling out paperwork at the nursing station and looking for missing test results,” nurses can spend as few as less than two hours of a 12-hour shift engaged in direct patient care. Conversely, the article says, citing additional research, the more time nurses are able to spend at the bedside, the more satisfied patients are. With more direct patient care from nurses, patients are also less likely to suffer falls, infections, and errors in medication.
The WSJ piece discusses how some hospitals are working to shift extraneous and administrative tasks to CNAs and other staff members, freeing nurses to provide more engaged patient care as well as being there to comfort and educate family members.
“We shouldn’t be using expensive professional nursing time doing unnecessary and inefficient things when that time could be reinvested in direct patient care,” Patricia Rutherford, a nurse and vice president at the Institute for Healthcare Improvement told the WSJ.
My favorite part of the article is when a nurse, Corinne White, is quoted talking about how when she is able to be more present with patients they are more likely to open up to her and, in turn, more likely to efficiently and openly communicate their needs, which all leads to a superior patient outcome. It was Nurse White’s commentary on the importance of nurse-patient bonding that really hits home as to why this issue is so important.
Whether in past perm positions or at various facilities during your career as a Traveler, what have you noticed about Travel Nurses and patient care time available? Have you seen major fluctuations between different facilities in how much time you are spending on patient care?
Let us know your thoughts in the comments — on Travel Nurses and patient care, or anything else regarding this interesting WSJ article.
Ask a Travel Nurse: Can I switch specialties while Travel Nursing?
Ask a Travel Nurse: Can I switch specialties while Travel Nursing?
Ask a Travel Nurse Question:
I have been an ICU nurse at a small hospital for almost four years now and I’m very interested in Travel Nursing. If I were to travel, would I only be able to take ICU positions? Or could I possibly get OR, PACU, or Cath lab job with no previous experience in those areas?
Ask a Travel Nurse Answer:
If you wish to work in any other areas while traveling I always encourage people to get that experience before they hit the road.
This is due to the fact that there will be little to no opportunities to cross-train while you are traveling.
However, you are in a specialty that does allow a little bit of wiggle room. I would say that you could possibly take an assignment in an area like PACU, since the skills are essentially the same. You would also likely be very able to take an assignment in a lesser acuity area such as telemetry or med-surg.
In doing so, you would want to make sure that the facility is well aware of your background during the interview process.
Now for areas that are specialized like OR or the Cath lab, I’m afraid you would have to have experience before embarking on a career in travel. Those are areas that require a separate set of skills that you just do not come by in the ICU.
I once toyed with the notion of going to the Cath lab as a full time staff nurse and could not even find a position that did not already require experience.
While I know that this may not be the answer you were hoping for, I hope it helps!
David
Pitfalls Emerge in Health Insurance Renewals
Automatically renewing your Obamacare policy could cost you thousands.
Nashoba Valley Medical Center Nurses Vote to Unionize with Massachusetts Nurses Association/NNU
In an election held among the 123 registered nurses as Nashoba Valley Medical Center yesterday, RNs voted overwhelmingly to join together as part of the Massach…
Workshop on Bullying
The Pennsylvania State Nurses Association (PSNA), representing more than 215,000 registered nurses in Pennsylvania, is offering a facilitated workshop built around its publication, When Nurses Hurt Nurses Workbook. This workshop will awards 7.0 continuing nursing education credits. When Nurses Hurt Nurses Workbook was created in partnership with Sigma Theta Tau International and is authored by Cheryl Dellasega, PhD, RN, CRNP.
Nursing is viewed as the most trusted and caring profession and yet nurse-on-nurse bullying is a reality. Not only does it affect morale and professional self-esteem, but it jeopardizes patient care. When Nurses Hurt Nurses Workbookprovides guidance on recognizing relationally aggressive behaviors, diffusing confrontational situations and applying interpersonal communication skills. Dr. Dellasega equips nurses with tools to recognize relational aggression and promote change. Learning Activities enhance the reader’s application of these tools. By the end of this workbook, nurses will find their “a-ha” moment. This is an essential resource in creating a safer, more respectful workplace.
The workshop cost of $500 includes a bundle of 10 workbooks and four live one-hour webinars for 10 registered nurses. Participants can be added for $50 each. PSNA offers an optional four-hour live in-person conference (additional fees will apply). All live sessions will be presented by PSNA. When Nurses Hurt Nurses Workbook information is available at www.psna.org/workbook. Seven (7.0) continuing nursing education credits will be awarded upon completion of the workshop.
About the Author: For more than 25 years, Dr. Dellasega has been working as a researcher, counselor, teacher and nurse practitioner. She is the author of six books including Sigma Theta Tau International’s publication, When Nurses Hurt Nurses. As a professor of humanities in the College of Medicine and professor of women’s studies at The Pennsylvania State University, Dr. Dellasega is actively involved in medical education, conducts research on psychosocial issues and leads community outreach efforts.
PSNA is accredited as a provider of continuing nursing education by the American Nurses Credentialing Center’s Commission on Accreditation.
A Reader Asks: How Can I Get Health Coverage For My Grandchildren?
KHN consumer columnist Michelle Andrews points out various options through Medicaid, CHIP and the online insurance marketplaces.
San Diego RN speaks out for dignity of migrant children
San Diego RN and California Nurses Association/National Nurses United member Lisa Rainford joined with area civil rights and human rights activists July 22 in calling on Escondido, Ca. city officials to reverse a decision to block the opening of a closed nursing home as a shelter to temporarily house refugee migrant children.
Speaking at a press conference, Rainford emphasized the role of RNs in advocating for the rights of people around the world, especially in caring for and helping people in crisis.
The plight of refugee children, most of them who are fleeing from violence in Central America, has become a major flash point in the immigration debate in the U.S.
In June, the Escondido Planning Commission denied a request by Southwest Key Properties, a contractor for the U.S. government, to open a shelter at a former nursing home as a temporary 96-bed shelter for the refugee children.
On July 22, Rainford joined more than 100 community activists and clergy who participated in a march from to City Hall and press conference in support of the shelter that emphasized that the children should be treated with dignity and compassion not the abuse and threats of violence that has characterized so much of the debate.
Many of them carried signs that read “Protect the Children” and “Compassion is an American Value,” the San Diego Union Tribune reported.
Organizers of the march said the shelter would not only provide safe housing for the children it would also provide over 150 well-paying jobs and boost the city’s economy. Bowing to conservative, anti-immigrant residents in the area, the Planning Commission rejected the appeal.
In her statement to the press conference, Rainford said she was speaking on behalf of NNU and RNs who “care for the sick and vulnerable every day. We do not discriminate against people because of their skin color, their income, or because of where they were born. We believe in helping and healing people.”
Rainford went on to state:
“Nurses from our organization, through the Registered Nurse Response Network, have responded to humanitarian crises around the world. We set up relief operations in Louisiana when Hurricane Katrina struck. A delegation of our nurses cared for the people of Haiti after the devastating earthquake hit. And we are helping people of the Philippines who were ravaged by typhoon Haiyan. When people are in distress, when their lives have been turned upside down, we need to help them.
“The people who have arrived here from Central America are no different. Most of the children and teenagers have arrived here after being uprooted by violence and crushing poverty. They are simply trying to survive. The journey itself has left many of these children malnourished, injured, and traumatized. Many have reported being brutalized, raped, and seeing friends and family murdered. They need care, and they need compassion.
“Nurses and members of our organization worked in the Continuing Care Center here in Escondido when it provided care for the elderly. This facility is the prospective site of the Southwest Key shelter for unaccompanied children and we were shocked to learn that the city planning commission denied a conditional use permit for the refugee children at this site.
“This facility will provide a safe and secure place for these young people to be cared for. Warnings of disease (and crime) have been fabricated to create fear among residents. There are no credible threats to the health or safety of Americans from these immigrants. We need to stand up to fear mongering and see that these claims are simply not reality. There is no good reason to prevent them from using this site.
“RNs have a long and proud history as social advocates, fighting for and providing equitable healthcare for all. As Americans we must care about the plight of people in distress, especially children and young people. These people who have come here deserve humane treatment. We should treat all people with dignity and respect.”