MNA Daily NewsScan, May 17, 2012 – Practice scope issues discussed TODAY; SEIU tentative agreement; Docs Ditch Rx Pads

Nursing

Board of Nursing Seeking to Expand LPN Scope –  Listening Sessions Today  Bethel University, 1:00 p.m. and 4:00 p.m. MNBON proposals reflect a corporate health care employer’s dream to muddy the lines of responsibility between RNs and LPNs – allowing health care facilities to get more work for less money. It also pits our two practices in a fabricated fight that will only result in jeopardizing public safety.   Please attend!

NNU’s Rose Ann DeMoro Named To Most Influential Health Care Leaders List for 10th Straight Year   This year, DeMoro was placed at number 31 on the list which is dominated by government officials and corporate executives. It is put together by Modern Healthcare, a nationally-known, Chicago-based healthcare industry news weekly.

Labor

SEIU workers Get Tentative Agreement with 8 Twin Cities Hospitals   Hospital negotiators and the Service Employees International Union Healthcare Minnesota, which represents 3,500 nursing assistants, technicians and support staff, have been negotiating a contract since January. The current contract had been extended several times.

Health Care

Iraq Veteran Uses Music to Treat His PTSD   The use of music to heal war wounds is part of an emerging field of alternative treatment being embraced by military officials eager to help veterans suffering from PTSD. In Wisconsin, New Jersey, California and other states, government doctors in recent months have launched experimental music therapy programs that rely on the smoothing sounds of classical or acoustic music to help veterans get well.

Docs Ditch Rx Pad    At the end of 2011, 36 percent of all prescriptions were electronic — the doctor wrote it by computer and sent it directly to the pharmacy with the push of a button, the report found. That’s up from 22 percent of prescriptions that were paperless a year earlier.