Nursing (Page 2)

Posts categorized as Nursing also pull into the Member Resources > Nursing Practices page.

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In: Bargaining, Duluth Bargaining, Essentia, Home, Nursing

By Mathew Keller RN, JD

Mathew Keller, RN JD Regulatory and Policy Nursing SpecialistMathew Keller, RN JD
Regulatory and Policy Nursing Specialist

Regulatory and Policy Nursing Specialist

Limousine service, upgraded television sets, nurse/patient “scripts,” gourmet food service, nurse uniform requirements – hospitals all over the U.S. are offering more “customer-centric” patient care in order to increase patient satisfaction scores, which are becoming more and more important for Medicare reimbursements.

These efforts often have unintended consequences.

In the first place, customer-centric interventions rarely (if ever) improve the quality of care patients receive: rather, they merely improve patients’ perceptions of care.
… Read more about: Essentia Health: Listen to your nurses  »

nurses week open house

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In: Home, Nursing

By Barb Brady

MNA Communications Specialist

May 6-12 is a time to celebrate nurses and all nurses do for patients and their communities.

Nurses Week celebrations are planned throughout Minnesota, including an open house at the MNA office in St. Paul.

MNA nurses are sponsoring a wide variety of events, and businesses in some communities have special offers just for nurses.

MNA is holding an open house at the St. Paul office on May 11. . Enjoy exciting education sessions, food, and drawings – and meet other MNA nurses!
… Read more about: Honor and celebrate nurses during Nurses Week  »

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In: Home, Nurses, Nursing, Nursing Education, Politics, Student Nurses

By Megan Gavin

MNA Education Specialist

On April 7, we welcomed 430 student nurses and faculty members from thirteen different colleges and universities to the MNA Student Nurses Day on the Hill. The event began with a social hour giving students an opportunity to network with MNA member leaders representing diverse nursing areas such as mental health, psychiatric nursing, surgery, PACU, oncology, and pediatrics. MNA committee and commission members hosted tables on Governmental Affairs, Nursing Practice, and Education Commissions as well as the MNA Foundation, Universal Healthcare, and the Nurses Peer-to-Peer Support Network.

President Mary Turner gave a welcome and shared her personal journey of becoming a politically active nurse.
… Read more about: Student Nurses Day on the Hill 2016 Is A Smashing Success  »

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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: Nurses, Nursing

Nurse Talking To PatientOnce again, Americans have rated nurses as the most trusted profession in the country,  according to a Gallup poll released December 21.

Nurses have been first in the annual Honesty and Ethics Ranking every year since 2005.

“With an 85 percent honesty and ethics rating – tying their high point – nurses have no serious competition atop the Gallup ranking this year,” according to the national polling firm.

“Minnesota nurses are proud of the trust the public places in us,” said Minnesota Nurses Association President Linda Hamilton. “People know that we are dedicated professionals who fight to make sure all patients receive the quality care they deserve.”

Here are the top five most trusted professions:

  1. Nurses
  2. Pharmacists
  3. Medical doctors
  4. High school teachers
  5. Police officers.

    6. … Read more about: Nurses once again ranked the most trusted and ethical profession in the U.S.  »

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In: Home, Issues, Minnesota Nurses Association, Nursing, Patient Safety

Mat Keller headshot

By Mathew Keller RN JD, Regulatory and Policy Nursing Specialist

 

“If you don’t stay and work extra, who will take the admission that’s coming?  There’s no one else.”

Sound familiar?

If you’ve been told by your nurse manager that you must work “mandatory” overtime, don’t buy it!  Under Minnesota state law, nurses cannot be disciplined for refusing overtime if, in the nurse’s judgment, it would be unsafe for the patient.

Study after study show that unplanned overtime assignments have a high potential to be unsafe.
… Read more about: Mandatory overtime: just say no  »

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In: Home, Minnesota Nurses Association, Nursing

Mat Keller headshot
By Mathew Keller RN JD, Regulatory and Policy Nursing Specialist

It is with growing concern that MNA has received reports of increasingly ineffective charge nurse utilization in our hospitals.  If you’ve been in nursing for more than a few years, you’ve seen the trend yourself: charge nurses have quickly gone from having no patient assignment, to having a few admits or discharges as needed, to always having half of an assignment, to always having a full assignment… to having two floors?

This alarming new trend is to assign the nurse variously described as a given unit’s “resource,” “foreperson,” and “air-traffic controller” to two units at once.
… Read more about: Is this the End of the Charge Nurse as We Know It?  »

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In: Minnesota Nurses Association, Nurses, Nursing

Mat Keller headshot

By Mathew Keller RN JD, Regulatory and Policy Nursing Specialist

With Minnesota’s medical cannabis law set to take effect on July 1, Minnesota nurses will likely be asked to administer medical marijuana in the hospital setting.  But are you ready to do so?  Here’s what you need to know about the new law.

  • Patients will not receive a medical marijuana “prescription” from a physician or APRN. Instead, a patient’s provider will certify that the patient has a medical condition that qualifies for medical cannabis use.  The patient will then need to register with the Minnesota Department of Health in order to be eligible to utilize the medication.

    • … Read more about: Are you ready to administer marijuana?  »

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In: Minnesota Nurses Association, Nursing

By Mathew Keller, RN JD, MNA Nurse Policy Specialist

We’ve all heard the news about the “nursing crisis” or “nursing shortage,” but imagine my surprise when, after graduating froNursem the University of Minnesota’s BSN program about 10 years ago, my classmates and I had a difficult time finding jobs. In fact, many of my peers were eventually forced to take on travel nursing assignments. Several are still in California, Missouri, and even Hawaii.

We here at MNA take claims of a nursing shortage very seriously. One of our priorities is to advocate for the profession. But, after digging into the numbers, we were surprised by what we found.
… Read more about: Minnesota Nursing Shortage: Fact or Fiction?  »

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In: Minnesota Nurses Association, Nursing

By Mathew Keller, RN JD, MNA Nurse Policy Specialist

We all know the five rights of medication administration: right patient, right route, right dose, right time, and right medication. Right documentation is often added as a sixth right.

But how can an RN give the right dose if she or he has not checked the patient’s blood glucose? In the clinical setting, blood glucose monitoring is often a delegated task. Whether the task is delegated to the patient or another properly trained assistive personnel is within the nurse’s discretion.

Diabetic items

Administering insulin based on an inmate’s self-reported blood glucose, however, presents an especially challenging ethical dilemma for  nurses in a prison setting.
… Read more about: Protect Your Practice: Insulin Administration in the Prison Setting  »