MNA Blog (Page 98)

Recent news and updates from the Minnesota Nurses Association.

Stories we’re scanning:

HEALTH CARE

Health Care Costs Causing More Americans to Go Without Needed Care  Health care costs are weighing on Americans’ minds — and sapping their budgets, according to a new survey that shows that within the last year, more than half of people needing medical care didn’t get it because of the expense.

U.S. Lags In Bettering Value of Health Care   While the U.S. health system has the highest per capita cost of the 12 nations studied — spending 17.6% of its gross domestic product on healthcare — it ranked at the bottom in terms of readiness to implement a value-based care system.
… Read more about: MNA Daily NewsScan, June 12, 2012: American exceptionalism? Not when it comes to HC; Sutter RNs strike update  »

NOTES ON NURSING

Massachusetts Nurses Derail Proposed Law Allowing Unlicensed Personnel to Give Meds  The amendment that would have allowed unlicensed personnel to administer medications was withdrawn from the payment reform bill

LABOR UPDATES

State Unions Reach Tentative Agreement Covering 21,000 Workers   AFSCME and MAPE have reached a tentative deal on a two-year collective bargaining agreement with the State of Minnesota.

AFL-CIO – Olympic Medal Producer Tarnishes Spirit of the Games   Summer Olympic Games medal supplier, Rio Tinto—a union-busting global mining conglomerate with a track record of worker and environmental abuse—should be kept off the podium in London, says AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka.
… Read more about: MNA Daily NewsScan, June 7, 2012: MA RNs defeat unlicensed personnel measure; Olympic gold may be tarnished  »

NOTES ON NURSING

Can Patient Photos Help Reduce Error?  Putting children’s photos in their electronic hospital charts could help reduce one type of medical error, a study published Monday suggests.

HEALTH CARE

DeMoro:  Maybe We Can Get It Right   If President Obama is now confiding to Democratic donors that he may have to “revisit” health care in a second term if the Supreme Court throws out his first attempt, as Bloomberg News reported June 1, maybe this time we can get it right.

Hospitals Add Palliative Care Programs at a Feverish Pace   The field has expanded so rapidly that a majority of American hospitals now have palliative programs, to the delight of patients who say they’ve finally found relief and a sympathetic ear.
… Read more about: MNA Daily NewsScan, June 5, 2012: Another chance to get health care right? Labor woes at Belmont  »