Uncategorized (Page 3)

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In: Bargaining, Duluth Bargaining, Hospitals, Labor Unions, Minnesota Nurses Association, Nurses, Nursing, Uncategorized, Unsafe Staffing

First there was the crowd.  Then there were the signs.  Then there were the red uniforms that adorned every man, woman, and child in the auditorium.  The scene was set for a champion sports team to walk in the room, but this huge crowd was there to see the contract negotiators.  When they entered the room, more than 225 nurses and their families cheered and applauded to show solidarity with their elected bargaining team at the Essentia-St. Mary’s contract talks and bid good morning to management’s team.  In the end, nurses won an agreement with management they could say is the result of  hard work by the negotiating team, but also because nurses showed Essentia that nurses are united and strong.
… Read more about: Crowd of Nurses Support Essentia Bargaining Team; Tentative Agreement Won in 33 Hr. Marathon  »

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Solidarity 470 Registered Nurses at Mankato Mayo entered contract negotiations today as a united group determined to address troubling staffing issues at the hospital that members believe put patients at risk. Lead MNA negotiator David Nachreiner reflected the views of the mass of responses the team collected from colleagues throughout the hospital as he read the Opening Statement.

“My colleagues and I approach these negotiations with one primary focus.   We believe our patients – our families, friends and neighbors of this community – face unnecessary risk when they require the services of this hospital.  They face that risk primarily due to inadequate staffing and poor planning.
… Read more about: Mankato Nurses Boldly Begin Negotiations with Community Utmost in Mind  »

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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: 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: 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  »

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Nurses-WeekNOTES ON NURSING

Sen. Boxer Proposes Federal Regulation for Nurse-to-Patient Ratios    “I am proud to introduce legislation that will help save the lives of countless  patients by improving the quality of care in our nation’s hospitals,” Boxer said  Tuesday. “We must support the nurses who work tirelessly every day to provide  the best possible care to their patients.”

HHS to Fund Solders-to-Nurses Program   A new program will help military veterans with healthcare experience or training  to build on their skills and abilities and earn bachelor’s degrees in nursing,  Health & Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius announced this week.
… Read more about: MNA NewsScan, May 6, 2013: Happy Nurses Week  »

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In: Activism, Labor Unions, Legislative Policy, Minnesota Nurses Association, Nurses, Organizing, Uncategorized

LABOR UPDATES

CEO Pay Gap Up 1000% Since 1950    Today Fortune 500 CEOs make 204 times regular workers on average, Bloomberg found. The ratio is up from 120-to-1 in 2000, 42-to-1 in 1980 and 20-to-1 in 1950.

Worldwide May Day Rallies Thousands of low-paid workers are rallying in the streets on May Day to demand better pay and improved working conditions a week after a Bangladesh building collapse that was a grim reminder of how lax safety regulations make work a danger in poor countries.

Health Care Dominates Highest Paying Jobs (no surprise:  nurses excluded) in America   Anesthesiologists top the list with average annual pay of $232,830 as of 2012, the latest year for which official figures are available from the U.S.
… Read more about: MNA NewsScan, May 1, 2013: May Day!  »

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Sanford Health has a lot of money and a lot of hospitals, but one more thing they’re bringing to Minnesota is scrutiny.  The nonprofit healthcare giant that runs facilities from Adrian to Wheaton now wants to add the Twin Cities to its corporate footprint, but Sanford executives got an earful of how their arrogance caused them to underestimate the height of the hurdles needed to takeover Fairview Health and the University of Minnesota Medical Center and research labs.

Minnesota Nurses have been talking about the short staffing situations in Bagley, Bemidji, Thief River Falls, and other facilities since Sanford took those over.  MNA President Linda Hamilton and Bemidji bargaining unit chair Peter Danielson were invited to give testimony. 
… Read more about: Sanford put in the hotseat over attempted Fairview/U of M takeover  »

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KSTP-TV reports the final audit confirms what Minnesota Nurses have long argued-that the healthcare system in the state is need of greater transparency and some of Minnesota’s HMOs owe the taxpayers a refund.

“When taxpayer dollars for patient care are so scarce,” said MNA President Linda Hamilton, “it’s unconscionable that even one penny could be wasted when it could’ve gone to treat somebody’s mother or grandmother.  Instead it’s padding somebody’s bank account somewhere.”

An independent auditor, the Segal Company, reveals in a report issued March 31 the government overpaid the four insurance companies that run the state’s Medicaid program by $207 million. 
… Read more about: Final Report shows taxpayers overpaid HMOs $200 Million  »