NOTES ON NURSING

Fatigue is Pervasive in the Health Care Industry; Directly Linked to On-the-job Errors     Sixty-nine percent of healthcare professionals surveyed said that fatigue had caused them to feel concern over their ability to perform during work hours. Even more alarmingly, nearly 65 percent of participants reported they had almost made an error at work because of fatigue and more than 27 percent acknowledged that they had actually made an error resulting from fatigue.

PA Considers Nursing by the Numbers   A pair of Democratic state lawmakers have introduced bills in both the House and Senate that would mandate a minimum number of registered nurses-to-patient ratio at all hospitals in the state. The concept has been embraced by nursing unions but is not being warmly received by hospitals and related organizations.

HEALTH CARE

Overpayment for Minnesota Medicaid Raises Serious Concerns     David Feinwachs, the health care insider who blew the whistle on Medicaid spending, tells 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS it is “time the government goes after the excess profits” from the four insurance companies that run the state’s Medicaid program.

Is Sanford Deal in Minnesota’s Best Interests?  But if a merger between South Dakota-based Sanford Health and Twin Cities-based Fairview Health Services, which owns and operates the U’s teaching hospital as well as other major metro hospitals, is a serious possibility, Minnesotans deserve to be informed and to weigh in.  Note:  Attorney General Lori Swanson has scheduled a Public Hearing for Thurs. April 7, at 1:30 p.m. in Room 15 of the State Capitol.  More details here.

Access to Medicaid Reduces Mortality Rates   Research shows a strong connection between mortality rates and insurance status: The uninsured are more likely to have poor health and higher mortality rates than those with insurance.

LABOR UPDATES

New Study Finds Record Level of Disengaged Workers   The working stiffs, whose productivity skyrocketed as wages stagnated in recent years, aren’t buying management’s shtick.

Nurses support Attorney General Review of Sanford-Fairveiw

(St. Paul) – March 28, 2013 – The Minnesota Nurses Association welcomes Minnesota Attorney General Lori Swanson’s inquiry into the possible merger of Sanford Health and Fairview Health Services and the continued corporatization of healthcare in Minnesota.  Investigators need to continue to look into the effects that big corporations are having on Minnesota patients.

“We congratulate Lori Swanson for having the courage to examine any deal that further puts the operation of more Minnesota hospitals into the hands of fewer corporations,” said Walt Frederickson, RN, MNA Executive Director.  “It’s time to hit the brakes on hospital mergers until we can determine what’s best for the state and especially its patients.”

Sanford and Fairview are reportedly in talks to merge, which would put the Fairview-run University of Minnesota Medical Center and the state research hospital under the control of a South Dakota company.  Fairview’s Board of Directors will reportedly discuss the merger at a retreat starting April 8, 2013.

“Considering it took more than a year to accept Fairview’s acquisition of the University hospital,” Frederickson said, “it’s entirely appropriate and necessary for the A-G’s office to start public hearings on April 7.  If this deal gets fast-tracked, it will be the people and patients of Minnesota who may be met with an unhappy surprise.”

As nurses previously warned during the Park Nicollet-HealthPartners merger, one size does not fit all, and any deal that impacts patients deserves close scrutiny.   Especially when a deal involves tax dollars and a non-profit/for-profit relationship, then that deal deserves a microscope.

Nurses have long warned that focus on the bottom-line has cost them patient care hours and impacted patient outcomes.  The concerns that hospital care had turned to a production-line process led 12,000 union nurses to walk off the job for a day in 2010.  Today those fears continue to materialize.  If such simple costs as staffing are cut to meet the demands of a spreadsheet, then the investment of research and medical training will be subject to the same cost-benefit analysis.  What’s different here is the investment in Minnesota’s medical professionals pays off by the decade, not the fiscal year, as more than 70 percent of doctors in the state are trained here and Minnesota continues to employ tens of thousands of other medical device and health care workers.

“The state and the citizens of Minnesota have faithfully invested into the research and education at the University of Minnesota,” Frederickson said, “and we believe these resources need to stay in the control of Minnesotans.  Nurses will continue to monitor and assist in the process in any way we can.”

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