Reminder: ANA/ANCC/AAN Leaders in the Running for Modern Healthcare’s “100 Most Influential People in Healthcare”
Meeting Friday to battle Synthetic Drug Problem
Cities across the state are grappling with what to do about synthetic drugs. Staffers at public shelters in Duluth have caught more than 100 people smoking, snorting, or injecting synthetics in the past year even though city council members have battled with a local head shop to halt sales.
On Friday, Minnesota Attorney General Lori Swanson and a special Committee on Controlled Substances and Synthetic Drugs will meet to develop some recommendations.
City and state leaders have fought again and again to stop these drugs that ER nurses and physicians say are turning people into zombies. The trouble is, every time they outlaw a substance, the substance changes and becomes legal again.
Swanson and House Speaker Paul Thissen, who appointed the committee, are have spearheaded the efforts to help communities stop the legal sales of synthetics. Duluth state representative Erik Simonson, who calls synthetic drugs a “real threat,” is heading up the committee.
Lawmakers are looking for nurses and community members who can show the magnitude of the problem of synthetic drugs on Minnesota’s hospitals and cities. Thissen hopes the public will be able to demonstrate the effects of abuse of prescription drugs as well. A strong turnout will urge the rest of the legislature to enact a statewide solution next year.
The meeting will begin at 2 p.m. June 7 at the Sheraton Hotel. More meetings are scheduled for in Brainerd and on the Iron Range, and the committee is expected to issue report with recommendations next February.
ANA’s Teresa Haller Attends World Health Assembly
Survey: What Keeps You Engaged at Work
We invite you to share your thoughts to support the research of Penn State University PhD Candidate Catherine Baumgardner. The letter below discusses her research in the area of workforce engagement and what influences nurses. The survey is open through June 18, 2013. In addition, Catherine is offering a drawing to win one of six $50 VISA gift cards as a thank you for completing the survey. We encourage you to participate in her survey and thank you for assisting in her data collection. She will be sharing her findings so that we may use the insights to further strengthen our support of the nursing field. Thank you in advance for all that you do!
The purpose of this survey is to assess your views and attitudes about your career as a Registered Nurse. Information gathered may be used to influence the thinking of organizational leaders, educators, legislators and nurse advocacy groups. All responses remain anonymous. Once you complete the survey, you will have the option to enter a random drawing to win one of six $50 VISA gift cards as a thank you for your time. There is no obligation to answer any of the questions. Please read each item and provide the response that best reflects how you feel. Completion and submission of the survey implies that you consent to take part in the research. The Implied Informed Consent Form for Social Science Research is available by clicking on https://pennstate.qualtrics.com/SE/?SID=SV_2beCTFiKON7yPTT.
MNA NewsScan, June 3, 2013: RN concern for patient safety is worldwide
NOTES ON NURSING
In Australia, Nurses Fight for Patient Ratios “You’re less likely to have the nursing hours you need the further you are from the city,” Miss Telfer said.
NSW Midwives Issued “Cease and Desist” on Patient Limits Despite Shortages ”We accept there is a shortage of midwives out there but management needs to understand that not only are staff at Nepean exhausted, they are deeply concerned that health care is being compromised. They have reached their limit and cannot continue on in this way.”
HEALTH CARE
The $2.7 Trillion Medical Bill In many other developed countries, a basic colonoscopy costs just a few hundred dollars and certainly well under $1,000. That chasm in price helps explain why the United States is far and away the world leader in medical spending, even though numerous studies have concluded that Americans do not get better care.
Hospital CEOs See Double Digit Pay Hikes A recent survey by Equilar, an executive compensation data firm based in Redwood City, Calif., found that — for the fourth time in five years — health care chief executives commanded the highest pay packages last year among publicly traded companies.
Violence Against Women is a Serious Public Health Problem IPV and domestic violence figures among the top ten global causes of years of life lost due to premature mortality and disability. The consequences of IPV are far reaching, insidiously destructive and have a widespread negative socioeconomic impact.
Trapped in a Hospital Bed But one number sent a murmur through the auditorium anyway: 43 minutes. That’s the median time a hospitalized elderly patient spends standing or walking daily, Dr. Brown and her colleagues reported in 2009.
LABOR UPDATES
Scores of Workers Die in Chinese Poultry Plant Fire Explosions and fire tore through parts of a poultry plant in northeast China on Monday, killing at least 119 people in one of the country’s worst factory accidents in recent years.
OpEd: Reaching Milestone of Working Women Still Finds U.S. Last Among Rich Nations in Supporting Working Families After 50 years, shouldn’t we stop debating whether we want mothers to work and start implementing the social policies and working conditions that will allow families to take full advantage of the benefits of women’s employment and to minimize its stresses?
Star Leadership Institute: Accepting Applications
Health care needs interactive and collaborative leaders prepared for today’s dynamic environment – from the bedside to the boardroom. The Pennsylvania State Nurses Association (PSNA), representing more than 211,000 registered nurses in Pennsylvania, is accepting applications for the Star Leadership Institute, a leadership development program designed to assist nurses in contributing to the delivery of high-quality health care while collaborating with other leaders in the reform needed to redesign health care in the U.S. Attendees will participate in interactive sessions focusing on leader attributes, real-world problem solving, employment practices, healthy dialogue, evidence-based practice and finance.
Titled Building the Future Leader of Tomorrow…Today, this three-day program will bring together experts including David Nelson, Master Trainer in Crucial Conversations©; and Lucretia C. Clemons, Esquire. These featured presenters will join five additional experts who will offer knowledge and related skills to enhance each participant’s managerial abilities.
Participants will be collaborating with senior leadership to identify a problem within their immediate area of responsibility; researching and developing an action plan for the resolution of the identified problem; implementing and completing the action plan within the organization; and presenting their problem-solving project to peers. Criteria for participation includes: front line nurse managers, nurse leaders or promising nurses who desire to move into management or leadership roles; demonstration of leadership ability; and commitment to attend the three sessions.
The program will be held October 16 and 17, 2013 and April 9, 2014 at The Desmond Hotel & Conference Center, Malvern. The program is a competitive application process with only 30 nurse leaders being accepted from across the Commonwealth. For more information about the Star Leadership Institute, or to download a program brochure and application, visit www.psna.org/StarLeadership. Applications must be July 1, 2013.
ANA Hails Iowa Court Ruling as Nurses’ Scope of Practice Win
ANA Hails Iowa Court
The American Nurses Association (ANA) hailed today’s Iowa Supreme Court decision affirming Advanced Registered Nurse Practitioners’ (ARNPs) ability to supervise a certain high-tech X-ray and imaging procedure as a victory for Iowa residents, who will benefit from having broader access and choice in obtaining important health care services.
The appeal to Iowa’s highest court by three nursing organizations was spurred by an Iowa District Court judge’s ruling that supervision of fluoroscopy was not “recognized by the medical…profession as proper to be performed by the registered nurse,” as required by Iowa Nursing Law. Fluoroscopy is a real-time X-ray imaging technique used to guide a variety of diagnostic and interventional procedures. The legal issue involves “scope of practice” – the range of services that nurses are educated and licensed and/or certified to provide.
“We believe the district court erred in second-guessing the department of public health and nursing board on the adequacy of ARNP training to supervise fluoroscopy,” the Iowa Supreme Court wrote. “Significantly, nowhere in the voluminous record is there any report of an injury resulting from ARNP-supervised fluoroscopy, although the practice has been ongoing in parts of Iowa for many years. The record affirmatively shows ARNPs have been safely supervising fluoroscopy and are adequately trained to do so…[A]llowing ARNP supervision of fluoroscopy improves access to health care for rural Iowans and helps lower costs.”
ANA President Karen A. Daley, PhD, RN, FAAN, commended the decision for recognizing Iowa ARNPs’ appropriate scope of practice. “In today’s high-demand health care environment, we need nurses and all other health care professionals working to the top level of their capabilities and licenses. The court’s decision will help Iowans get the health care services they need in a timely, efficient, and effective way.”
The Iowa Nurses Association (INA) had initially intervened in the case along with the Iowa Association of Nurse Anesthetists on the side of the Iowa Board of Nursing, which defended its regulation against claims of illegality by the Iowa Society of Anesthesiologists and the Iowa Medical Society. The Board of Nursing ultimately appealed the decision by the district court that invalidated the Board’s regulations providing educational requirements for ARNPs to order and supervise fluoroscopy, and INA again intervened.
ANA has supported its state affiliate, INA, in the legal actions. An ANA member, attorney Lynn Boes, represented INA in the appeal.