MNA Blog (Page 85)

Recent news and updates from the Minnesota Nurses Association.

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In: Health Care Reform, Healthcare, Hospitals, Labor Unions, Legislative Policy, Nurses, Nursing

NOTES ON NURSING

Hospital Alarms Fail to Prevent Injury     “My own 2 cents: If an alarm sounds when someone stirs, is any hospital or nursing home so well-staffed that someone can materialize within seconds? Does a staff become less vigilant when patients have alarms and are presumed – wrongly, it seems – to be safer?”

HEALTH CARE

Health Care Costs Rise Faster than Wages   Health insurance costs for the average family have risen more than five times faster than incomes in the last decade, according to a new study from Commonwealth Fund.

Paying for Prevention Works    That kind of attention has always been good medicine.
… Read more about: MNA Daily NewsScan, December 14, 2012: Alarms don’t prevent falls, nurses do; Big bucks for HC C-Suites  »

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In: Activism, Health Care Reform, Healthcare, Hospitals, Labor Unions, National Nurses United, Nurses, Nursing, Politics

NOTES ON NURSING

New Model IDs Patients At Risk for Serious Safety Events  “A reliable system to identify, mitigate, and escalate risk can be implemented in a children’s hospital and is associated with a reduction in safety events in a context where these events were already uncommon.”

Perspective:  “Get Over a Death in 2 Months.  They Can’t Be Serious”  I just finished reading the American Psychiatric Association’s new recommendations regarding the wrenching universal experience called grief.  I’m pretty sure they have a misprint.  Two months? They meant two years, right?

HEALTH CARE

Mayo Puts Brakes on MegaMall Project    Mayo Clinic said Wednesday it will not be part of the Mall of America’s expansion scheduled to open next fall.
… Read more about: MNA Daily NewsScan, December 13, 2012: Hold the Mayo at Megamall; ID’ing patients at risk  »

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In: Uncategorized

Think of yourself in your early 20s-young, energetic, maybe a little naïve in some ways.   All it takes is a look into one’s old closet or record collection to realize that. But one thing we all have in common is the belief that when we entered our careers, worked hard, paid taxes, that our investment in our future would pay off.  Our health care costs would be taken care of because we faithfully paid into Medicare for 30, 40, 50 years.  It’s a good thing our 20-something self didn’t hear the current discussion of raising the Medicare age to solve Washington’s budget woes.

 

Pushing seniors off the Medicare rolls sounds like a good idea, but it’s not. 
… Read more about: Save money by skimping on Medicare?  »

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In: Activism, Health Care Reform, Healthcare, Labor Unions, Nurses, Politics, Right to Work

LABOR UPDATES

Wages in Minnesota Rise for the Richest, Fall for the Poor    It’s being called a “lost decade” for low- and middle-income Minnesotans.

NOTES ON NURSING

Study:  Rural RNs More Likely to Commute for Better Salaries  These  findings suggest that policies supporting more competitive rural RN salaries  could encourage more rural-residing RNs to work in the rural communities in  which they live.

RNs, Labor Allies to Picket Las Vegas Venetian Hotel Today  The enterprise is the business center for multi billionaire Stuart Adelman who funds radical  corporate interest political agenda.
… Read more about: MNA Daily NewsScan, December 12, 2012: Rural RNs more likely to commute for better salaries  »

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In: Activism, Health Care Reform, Healthcare, Hospitals, Labor Unions, Nurses, Nursing, Organizing, Politics, Right to Work

LABOR UPDATES

Right To Work Passes Michigan House    The Michigan House approved the first of two right-to-work bills Tuesday that would weaken union power in the historical labor stronghold as hundreds of protesters rallied at the Capitol.

Take Action!  Call
Michiganders right now to spread the word and tell them to contact Gov. Snyder
to let him this legislation is wrong for Michigan.

HEALTH CARE

How Much Compensation is Too Much Compensation?  For while a sprawling health care system with nearly $1 billion in annual  revenues may be an extraordinarily complex operation maneuvering in a rapidly  changing market, ultimately Lancaster General Health and similar systems are  charities.
… Read more about: MNA Daily NewsScan, December 11, 2012: RTW passes MI House; U.S. lives longer, sicker  »

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In: Uncategorized

The Minnesota Nurses Association is happy to welcome Rick Fuentes to represent its 20,000 members in Minnesota, Iowa, and Wisconsin.  Rick has been known to the Twin Cities as a TV reporter, and, most recently, he’s been an advocate for nonprofit organizations and public affairs campaigns.

Rick is a graduate of the University of Missouri’s Journalism School.  From there

he worked at KOMU-TV (NBC) in Columbia, MO; KCOY-TV (CBS) in San Luis Obispo, CA; KSNV-TV (NBC) in Las Vegas, NV; and the CBS station, WCCO-TV, in Minneapolis.  Rick served as an investigative reporter, which earned him an Edward R. Murrow Award in 1998, and as a regular beat reporter on labor issues, where he covered grocery store workers, culinary workers, bus drivers, and airline mechanics in separate contract disputes.
… Read more about: MNA Welcomes New PR person  »

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In: Bargaining, Hospitals, Labor Unions, Nurses, Unsafe Staffing

More than 150 nurses will vote Tuesday, December 11, on a new Tentative Agreement between the Minnesota Nurses Association and Douglas County Hospital.

 

Both sides had been at loggerheads over staffing issues and the rising cost of insurance benefits, but the stalemate broke when more than 30 nurses stood up a hospital board meeting, which equates to 1 for every 6 nurses affected attending.

 

Nurses delivered Thanksgiving-themed greeting cards signed by a majority of MNA members and with a message of thanks if management would negotiate on staffing and retention issues.  The strategy and the strong showing seemed to turn the tide toward nurses, as hospital management asked for a meeting even though a mediation session had been planned as the next step for negotations. 
… Read more about: New TA to be voted on by Alex Nurses  »

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In: Activism, Healthcare, Hospitals, Labor Unions, Nurses, Nursing, Politics, Right to Work

LABOR NEWS

Nurses Join Fight Against Michigan Right To Work Legislation   More than a dozen Michigan nurses stood on the steps of the Michigan Capitol this morning, their mouths covered in red duct tape in protest of right to work legislation.

Dayton:  Minnesota Is Getting Back to Work    Of the 2,700 Minnesota soldiers returning from Kuwait last spring, only 78 are still unemployed – a 90% improvement in only four months.

NOTES ON NURSING

Study:  Nurse Phone Calls Reduce Risk of Readmission    In addition, healthcare costs decreased by about $1,225 for each patient enrolled in the program compared with similar patients who were not enrolled, reported researchers with the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health.
… Read more about: MNA Daily NewsScan, December 10, 2012: Nurses Protest RTW in MI  »

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In: Activism, Bargaining, Healthcare, Hospitals, Labor Unions, Nurses, Nursing, Politics, Right to Work

NOTES ON NURSING

MNA Nurses Reach Tentative Agreement with Twin Cities Hospitals     The Minnesota Nurses Association and Twin Cities Hospitals reached agreement last night on new three-year-contracts, which are being unanimously recommended by the MNA Negotiating Committee for ratification by the membership.  Members, vote dates are Dec. 18, 19, 20.  Learn more about the agreement and the vote in the member portal.

LABOR UPDATES

Lame Duck Michigan Legislators Slam Through Right To Work Bills    In the state where workers sat down in Flint General Motors plants seventy-five years ago and emboldened the industrial labor movement that would give birth to the American middle class, Republican legislators on Thursday voted to gut basic labor rights. 
… Read more about: MNA Daily NewsScan, December 7, 2012: TC Nurse Contract Tentative Agreement; Sham Democracy in Michigan  »