Update: the Twin Cities TA voting results will be announced sometime this evening on the MNA website, after polls close at 9 PM, and a press release will go out after that.
… Read more about: Update: the Twin Cities TA voting result »
Congratulations to former MNA Bargaining Unit Chair and DFL legislator Chris Eaton, who has been appointed by Senate Majority Leader Tom Bakk to be one of his Majority Whips. We know she will be a strong and effective voice for Minnesota. http://ow.ly/i/1hazW
… Read more about: Congratulations to former MNA Bargaining »
LABOR UPDATES
More Young Adults Are Homeless Across the country, tens of thousands of underemployed and jobless young people, many with college credits or work histories, are struggling to house themselves in the wake of the recession, which has left workers between the ages of 18 and 24 with the highest unemployment rate of all adults.
RNs Picket at UMass “12 Days of Grinchmas” The daily picketing, which began on Dec. 10 and will continue through Dec. 21, is being held for one hour each day. Nurses will hold Grinch-themed signs and candles, and sing some special UMass-oriented Grinchmas carols as part of their protest against deteriorating staffing conditions and management’s lack of concern for its patients and employees.
… Read more about: MNA NewsScan, December 19, 2012: Hospital lays off hundreds and still renovates; For-profit prison operator sued for prisoner death »
NOTES ON NURSING
Nurses Call for Action on Nation’s Ravaged Mental Health Services “This is a massive tragedy that is being played out on a smaller scale every day in emergency rooms, in mental health facilities, and on the streets across our country, where, with sometimes devastating consequences, mental health is underfunded to a shocking, and sometimes deadly degree,” said Deborah Burger, RN, co-president of National Nurses United, the largest U.S. organization of nurses.
RN Senator Named to MN Senate Leadership Team On Monday, incoming Senate Majority Leader Tom Bakk, DFL-Cook, completed his leadership team by picking Sen. Chris Eaton, DFL-Brooklyn Park, and Sen.
… Read more about: MNA NewsScan, December 18, 2012: Nurses call for action on nation’s ravaged mental health system »
NOTES ON NURSING
Electronic Health Records May Turn Small Errors into Big Ones According to a review by the Pennsylvania Patient Safety Authority, mistakes and near misses involving electronic health records were analogous to those made with paper-based records with one caveat: those made with EHRs tend to be amplified and can affect a larger group of people.
LABOR UPDATES
Bay Area Nurses to Strike on Christmas Eve Union officials say the strike—the eighth by the association since September 2011—was not called over a salary dispute, but comes as the union and the hospitals remain at odds over staffing levels, health benefits and sick days.
… Read more about: MNA Daily NewsScan, December 17, 2012: Do EHRs mean bigger problems?; RNs to strike on Christmas eve »
More than 150 nurses voted on Tuesday, December 11 to ratify a new contract 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: MNA Nurses at Douglas County Hospital Ratify Contract »
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 »
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 »
Twin Cities nurses look below for your voting schedule. We’ll see you next week!
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? »
