Nurse licensure

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In: Home, Nurse education, Nurse licensure, Nurses, Nursing Practice

By Jackie Russell, RN, JD

MNA Nursing, Practice, and Regulatory Affairs Specialist

 

If it’s not documented, it’s not done. But what if it is documented and it’s not done?

 

Healthcare facilities throughout Minnesota are short staffed. Patient acuities are high, and lean management demands nurses spend less time with patients, which is distressing to nurses. Nurses have a duty to provide nursing care within their scope of practice and to practice safely. Priorities shift quickly on a short-staffed unit. To provide optimal nursing care on a short-staffed unit– from beginning to end of shift–leaves little time for timely documentation.
… Read more about: If it’s not documented, it’s not done. But what if it is documented and it’s not done?  »

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In: Home, Member Blog, Nurse Compact, Nurse licensure, Nurse licensure

(Note:  Two bills to enter Minnesota in the National Nurse Licensure Compact have been introduced in the Legislature.  This would allow nurses from other states to practice in Minnesota without a Minnesota nurse license.  The following is from testimony given Tuesday, March 27 in the Minnesota House Health and Human Services Reform Committee.)

 

My name is Sharon Carlson. I am a bedside nurse that works in the perioperative care center at Abbott Northwestern hospital. Perioperative careis the care that is given before, during and after surgery. As well as being a staff nurse I have the privilege of being a charge nurse in our Pre-Op, PACU, day surgery and cardiovascular recovery areas.
… Read more about: A Nurse Speaks Out Against the National Nurse Compact  »

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In: Board of Nursing, Home, Nurse licensure, Nurses, Substance Abuse

By Eileen Gavin

MNA Political Organizer

 

Atlanta drug rehab defines substance use disorder (SUD), also known as drug use disorder, as a condition in which the use of one or more substances leads to a clinically significant impairment or distress. Substance use disorders occur when the recurrent use of alcohol and/or drugs causes clinically significant impairment, including health problems, disability, and failure to meet major responsibilities at work, school, or home.

According to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) In 2014, about 21.5 million Americans (8.1%) were classified with a substance use disorder in the past year.
… Read more about: Nurses Helping Nurses  »

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In: Elections, Home, Nurse licensure, Nurses, Nurses Strike

By Laura Sayles

MNA Government Affairs Specialist

 

Seems like it’s a tradition that around Thanksgiving everyone writes about what they are thankful for. To mix holiday metaphors, the Grinch in me can’t find much to be thankful for right now. Regardless of who you voted for, there is no doubt that this election season was brutal: to people’s mailboxes and televisions, to relationships with family and friends, to a culture of civil dialogue, to candidates who lost, to candidates who won and now have to govern highly polarized electorates.

And in all honestly, I’ve mostly succumbed to the pessimism all this brings.
… Read more about: The tradition of feeling thankful – even this year  »

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In: Home, Hospitals, Labor Unions, Minnesota Board of Nursing, Minnesota Nurses Association, Nurse licensure, Nurses

By Mathew J. Keller, RN JDDSC_8097
MNA Regulatory and Policy Nursing Specialist

Those of us who collaborate with LPNs on a daily basis have come to respect their knowledge and experience in caring for patients. We know that LPNs are an important part of the patient care team. In fact, many MNA RNs started out as LPNs. That vital experience has proven to them that while both roles are valuable, they’re not interchangeable. Any facility that’s thinking of weathering any kind of storm by just staffing more LPNs will be inviting trouble and risk.

There are several differences in LPN vs.
… Read more about: Can LPNs Replace RNs?  »

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In: Home, Hospitals, Nurse education, Nurse licensure, Nurses, Nurses Shortage, Uncategorized

By Mathew Keller, RN, JD

MNA Nursing Policy and Practice Specialist

As this blog detailed last year, fears of a nursing shortage in Minnesota are somewhat unfounded. In fact, at the time, Minnesota was licensing more than three Registered Nurses for every new job opening in the state.

We’ve crunched the numbers once again this year, and it turns out the trend of licensing more RNs than there are jobs for continues. Add to this the fact that the number of job openings for RNs in the state actually decreased last year, and you have a recipe for plenty of competition over every available RN job.
… Read more about: Is There a Nursing Shortage? Part 2  »

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In: Home, Nurse licensure, Nursing

By Mathew Keller RN JD, Regulatory and Policy Nursing Specialist

In order to prevent the spread of communicable diseases, it is standard practice across the healthcare industry for healthcare workers who suspect they may have the signs or symptoms of communicable illness to report their symptoms to infection control.

Indeed, Medicare Conditions for Participation for receiving Medicare reimbursement require facilities to put in place “a system for identifying, reporting, investigating and controlling infections and communicable diseases of patients and personnel.”

So far so good.  It makes sense that healthcare workers who may have a communicable disease should work with infection control personnel to prevent the spread of disease and make sure they are symptom free before they return to work.
… Read more about: Blog: TMI Alert – Is Your Protected Health Information Safe in the Workplace?  »

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In: Nurse licensure, Uncategorized

Mat Keller headshot

By Mathew Keller RN JD, Regulatory and Policy Nursing Specialist

In a cost-saving move, when certain units at a Minnesota hospital are short staffed, managers are asking nurses to allow Unlicensed Assistive Personnel (UAP) to chart under the RN’s license.  This allows UAPs to care for patients autonomously without supervision and oversight from RNs.

Needless to say, this practice is incredibly dangerous for many reasons, three of which we will highlight here.

  1. UAPs simply do not have the training or expertise to independently care for patients without proper RN supervision (and chart accordingly).

    2. … Read more about: Say ‘no’ to UAP charting requests  »

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In: Minnesota Nurses Association, Nurse licensure

Mat Keller headshot`

By Mathew Keller RN JD, MNA Nurse Practice & Policy Specialist

In a cost-cutting move, many Minnesota hospitals are asking registered nurses to take on more pharmacy duties. Where there may have once been pharmacy staff available 24/7 to answer questions, compound pharmaceuticals, and dispense medications, many nurses are finding that such coverage is now limited to 9-5 with an outsourced pharmacist in another city (or state) available by telephone after hours to answer questions and certify prescriptions. This can lead to potentially dangerous situations for patients as well as nurses’ licenses when nurses are asked to dispense and/or compound medications in the absence of a pharmacist.
… Read more about: Practice Alert: Should nurses be filling the Pyxis?  »

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In: Minnesota Nurses Association, Nurse licensure

Mat Keller headshot

By Mathew Keller, RN JD, MNA Nurse Practice & Policy Specialist

“Samuel’s Law,” under consideration in the South Carolina Senate, would require the South Carolina Board of Nursing to revoke a nurse’s license “upon the board’s finding that a licensed nurse misreads the physician’s order and overmedicates or undermedicates a patient.”

While the circumstances surrounding the introduction of Samuel’s Law, involving the fatal overmedication of a 7-year old, are tragic, the bill is an inappropriate response and does nothing to correct the systems-level failures that are often the basis of medication errors.

As a systemic review of 54 studies on medication errors puts it, since “nurses find themselves as the ‘last link in the drug therapy chain’ where an error can reach the patient, they have traditionally been blamed for errors. 
… Read more about: Proposed Law Would Revoke Licensure for Medication Errors  »