Nurses (Page 21)

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In: Hospitals, Legislative Policy, Minnesota Nurses Association, Nurses, Politics, Unsafe Staffing

Originally posted in the New Ulm Journal: http://www.nujournal.com/page/content.detail/id/534962/Law-change-will-benefit-patients.html?nav=5004

Everyone who’s a patient in a hospital, who might be a patient in a hospital, or who cares about somebody in a hospital will be grateful that the Staffing Plan Disclosure Act was signed into law on May 9.

Rep. Joe Atkins (DFL-Inver Grove Heights) and Sen. Jeff Hayden (DFL-Minneapolis) authored a bill that provides for consumer transparency of hospitals’ nurse staffing plans. In addition, the Department of Health will study the correlation between nurse staffing and patient outcomes, with a final report due in January 2015.

Starting in January of 2014, patients will be able to see how many nurses care for them on a public website at www.mnhospitalquality.org/default.aspx Hospitals will be more transparent, and patients will make wiser decisions on where they have a procedure and where they can expect to make the best possible recovery.
… Read more about: Editorial: Law change will benefit patients  »

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In: Health Care Reform, Healthcare, Hospitals, Labor Unions, Minnesota Nurses Association, Nurses, Patient Safety, Unsafe Staffing

NOTES ON NURSING

Expert Affirms Nurses’s Warnings About Electronic Health Records System   At a meeting of the Marin Healthcare District board on May 14, a group of Marin General nurses told the board problems with the new computer system were diverting them from their patients and causing errors, such as sending orders to the wrong patients. One nurse reported that a patient had received a medication to which he was allergic.

Worst Times to be Admitted for Heart Attack.  Hint: Involves Nurse Staffing   It’s possible that staffing issues at hospitals during these times are part of the problem; patients who come into the hospitals just before the weekend and late at night may see fewer nursing staff members and this could contribute to less attention that may impact care.
… Read more about: MNA NewsScan, May 28, 2013: Nurses warn about electronic health system; The Obamacare shock  »

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In: Activism, Minnesota Nurses Association, Nurses, Nursing, Organizing, Patient Safety

rainbow fun
Put Nurses in the Spotlight This Summer

Attention MNA Members

The summer months offer a great opportunity for nurses to enhance our visibility as an organization and a profession. We encourage you to connect with the public by participating in area events in your local community.  Think of booths at the county or local fair, a 4th of July parade, organized sports tournaments, community festival or any fun activity that allows nurses to proactively advocate about issues that directly impact patients and families who might need our care.

MNA will provide giveaways and message banners. You need to organize the onsite crew and handle all other arrangements.
… Read more about: Parades, Fairs, Festivals and Nurses  »

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In: Activism, Healthcare, Minnesota Nurses Association, Nurses, Nurses Strike, Nursing, Patient Safety, Uncategorized, Unsafe Staffing

NOTES ON NURSING

More Proof:  Heart Patients Survive with Better Nurse Staffing    “This finding suggests that the correlation between cardiac arrest incidence and case survival was partly attributable to the hospital factors in the model,” the authors write. A hospital’s nurse-to-bed ratio and geographic region correlated with the greatest shift in the relationship between incidence and survival.

Moore MCHero Nurse Protects Newborn from Tornado   Miraculously, all the staff, patients and families survived the storm.  That includes nurse Cheryl Stoepker, who used her own body to protect a newborn she’d delivered barely an hour earlier.

LABOR UPDATES

UMass Nurses Poised to Strike if Today’s Negotiations Fail   Nurses at UMass Memorial’s University Campus are staging the 24-hour strike to draw attention to what they call deplorable patient conditions.
… Read more about: MNA NewsScan, May 22, 2013: More proof- heart patients survive with better nurse staffing  »

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In: Health Care Reform, Healthcare, Minnesota Nurses Association, Nurses, Nursing, Uncategorized

HEALTH CARE

Is the Future of American Health Care in Oregon?   “The governor has a notion that you can move away from medical billing and towards a more flexible approach to health-care spending that makes more sense for the community,” John McConnell, a health economist at Oregon Health and Science University, is telling me. Then he stops. “You’ve heard the air conditioner story, right?”

Medicaid Opposition Underscores States’ Health Care Disparities   Republican opposition in many statehouses to expanding Medicaid next year under President Obama‘s healthcare law — opposition that could leave millions of the nation’s poorest residents without insurance coverage — will likely widen the divide between the nation’s healthiest and sickest states.
… Read more about: MNA NewsScan, May 20, 2013: MN health care innovation cuts costs for the poor; poverty up in the suburbs  »

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In: Legislative Policy, Minnesota Nurses Association, Nurses, Politics, Unsafe Staffing

 

Health and Human Services

As we near the end of the session, the major budget bills are nearing completion. The details of the Health and Human Services Finance omnibus bill are still being decided, but the basic framework cuts $50 million from the HHS budget, not the $150 million originally planned. At the same time, it makes significant increases (3.25% in 2014 and 3.2% in 2015) to long term care, 75% of which will be mandated to go to workers’ wage increases. This is a major victory for workers whose wages have been frozen for years.

The HHS omnibus bill also includes funding to keep the Willmar state treatment facility, which had been slated for closure, open to continue providing much-needed services.
… Read more about: MNA Legislative Update, May 17, 2013  »

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In: Healthcare, Hospitals, Labor Unions, Legislative Policy, Minnesota Nurses Association, National Nurses United, Nurses, Nursing

NOTES ON NURSING

Federal Report Shows Wide Disparity in Nursing Supply   The U.S. Nursing Workforce Report issued by the Health Resources and  Services Administration National Center for Health Workforce Analysis predicts continuing shortages as more than 500,000 RNs are expected to retire within the next seven years.

HEALTH CARE

One-Third of Patients Willing to Change Doctors to Save Money Respondents also were asked how much money they would need to save annually to make that switch. Thirty-four percent thought keeping down out-of-pocket insurance costs was more important than retaining their doctors.

Angelina Jolie:  My Medical Choice   It has got to be a priority to ensure that more women can access gene testing and lifesaving preventive treatment, whatever their means and background, wherever they live.
… Read more about: MNA NewsScan, May 15, 2013: RN supply/demand gap to be 1.2M by 2020  »

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In: Healthcare, Hospitals, Labor Unions, Legislative Policy, Minnesota Nurses Association, Nurses, Nurses Strike, Patient Safety, Uncategorized, Unsafe Staffing

NOTES ON NURSING

Angels Fund Set Up for RNs and Co-Workers Lost in Limo Fire   This year’s Nurses Week was sadly darkened by the death of two RNs and three other caregivers in a tragic limousine fire on the San Mateo Bridge in the San Francisco Bay Area.

UMass Nurses Will Strike Over Poor Patient Care Conditions    After posting more than $88 million in profits, UMass Memorial Medical Center has slashed its nursing and support staff in the last two years.

LABOR UPDATES

Dairy Queen Offers Grads Their First Job – Without Pay    Edina-based Dairy Queen is giving new college grads the chance to shill for its Orange Julius brand.
… Read more about: MNA NewsScan, May 13, 2013: Fund set for RNs, colleagues lost in limo fire; ND highest in worker death  »

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In: Legislative Policy, Minnesota Nurses Association, Nurses, Politics, Unsafe Staffing

Standards of Care Campaign

Yesterday, Governor Dayton signed HF588/SF471 into law after it passed its final hurdle on the first day of Nurses Week when the House took a last procedural vote on Monday.  The bill requires the Department of Health to conduct a thorough study of the correlation between nurse staffing and patient health outcomes, and mandates every Minnesota hospital to publicly report their staffing plans.

When the study is complete, we will have Minnesota-specific data to underscore the stories nurses have been telling legislators for years: that unsafe staffing is a serious problem in Minnesota hospitals. Our ultimate goal is still a minimum standard of care for patient assignments in Minnesota.
… Read more about: MNA Legislative Update, May 10, 2013  »

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In: Health Care Reform, Healthcare, Hospitals, Labor Unions, Minnesota Nurses Association, National Nurses United, Nurses, Nursing, Patient Safety, Uncategorized, Unsafe Staffing

Nurses-Week

NOTES ON NURSING

HHS Secretary Sebelius Hails Nurses   National Nurses Week gives us a chance to recognize the contribution of the health care providers at the heart of our health care system.  Every day, nurses provide leadership, innovation and advocacy to meet the health care needs of Americans.

Advanced Nurses Lower Costs, Improve Care   Studies find that Advanced Practice Registered Nurses who provide preventive  care are as effective as primary-care physicians in accuracy of diagnosis and  prescription.

LABOR UPDATES

The Labor Market Won’t Be Healthy Until People Feel Like they Can Quit Their Jobs  The unemployment rate may be falling and the number of jobs rising.
… Read more about: MNA NewsScan, May 8, 2013: Kaiser battle=sign of vibrant HC unions  »