Stressed Out Nurses

Nurses fired over missing work during blizzard

Tami Swartz — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 19:32:01 +0000

A Washington DC hospital’s decision to fire 21 hospital employees-15 of whom were nurses-for missing work during the blizzards that occurred between Feb. 5 and Feb. 11 has drawn attention from Nurses United of the National Capital Region and the American Nurses Association (ANA), reports Joe Cantlupe, for HealthLeaders Media. The dismissals at Washington Hospital [...]

Keeping older nurses in the workforce

Tami Swartz — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 18:46:08 +0000

If you’re a young nurse, I’m sure you rely on older, more experienced nurses for help. Not only is their expertise valuable, but older nurses make up so much of the nursing workforce that hospitals need them. The nursing shortage is certainly looming, making it more important than ever to ensure that older nurses who [...]

Want a prettier hospital? Save your discarded medical supplies

Tami Swartz — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 19:28:06 +0000

West Boca (FL) Medical Center’s Jill Wiser, RN, had a unique view of the utility of medicine vial caps, syringe holders, and paint samples. Wiser turned the materials into five mosaic-like abstract pieces of art that are now on display at the medical center, reports Nurse.com. The pieces are made by assembling the caps on [...]

Exploring why nurses eat their young

Tami Swartz — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 18:19:20 +0000

The Well blog in the New York Times this week explores an interesting and ever-present topic: why nurses bully each other, or “eat their young,” as many nurses call it. In it, Seattle nurse, consultant, and author Kathleen Bartholomew is mentioned-she literally wrote the book on the topic, which might be worth checking out: Ending [...]

Texas nurse to stand trial for reporting physician

Tami Swartz — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 21:23:22 +0000

This will be an interesting trial to follow for nurses and all healthcare professionals, sure to set some precedent about nurse and physician reporting. Anne Mitchell, a former administrative nurse at Winkler County Memorial Hospital in Kermit, TX, will stand trial in a week at a state courthouse for “misuse of official information” after she anonymously [...]

Half of nurses surveyed plan to change careers

Tami Swartz — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 19:49:40 +0000

A recent survey found that one-third of registered nurses say they won’t be working in their current job one year from now, and almost half say they plan to change career paths or reduce their direct patient care hours through a less demanding job within the next three years, according to AMN Healthcare–a healthcare [...]

Nurse goes to Haiti to teach class, comes back with invaluable lessons

Tami Swartz — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 18:47:22 +0000

What an incredible story by The Missoulian about nurses’ connections throughout the world. The article tells the story of Michele Sare, RN, founder of Nurses for Nurses International, who arrived in Haiti on January 12with the purpose of teaching a local public health class. Less than an hour later, the 7.0 magnitude earthquake struck, and [...]

Smoker? No need to apply

Tami Swartz — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 19:42:02 +0000

Many employers try to discourage their employees from smoking, but what about denying employment because the applicant smokes? Memorial Hospital in Chattanooga, TN, will no longer hire employees who smoke, reports The Chattanooga Pulse. The hospital plans to drug-screen prospective employees for nicotine. If tested positive, the hospital will rescind its offer of employment. Brad Pope, [...]

New nurses helped with sleep education program

Tami Swartz — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 17:13:35 +0000

An interesting piece written by Rebecca Hendren for HealthLeaders Media bridges nurse retention and sleeping. The article highlights a new graduate nurse retention program in Lynchburg, VA, that offers a formal sleep education class that explains how to get better sleep and why sleep is important. The program was created after the nurse retention coordinator, [...]

NCSBN raises standard of NCLEX-RN exam

Tami Swartz — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 17:05:44 +0000

The National Council of State Boards of Nursing, Inc., otherwise known as NCSBN, has raised the passing standard for the NCLEX-RN Exam. The new passing standard is -0.16 logits (the unit of measure for the exam) on the logistics scale. The standard is 0.05 logits higher than the previous standard of -0.21. The new standard takes [...]