NOTES ON NURSING
When Paying It Forward Pays Us Back One such example is the Transitional Care Model (TCM), which provides planning and home follow-up by trained nurses for chronically ill Medicare patients during and after hospitalization. The TCM illustrates a key point. Often, to save money you need to change systems, or add new functions, not just cut things.
Nurse Staffing, Bedsores Remain on Parkland Problem List Parkland Memorial Hospital has completed 94 percent of the quality and patient safety targets necessary for it to continue receiving federal funding, but the institution continues to struggle in the areas of nurse staffing, timely patient discharges and bedsore prevention, according to a report given to the hospital’s Board of Managers Tuesday.
Prolonged CPR Make Boost Chances for Cardiac Arrest Victims Performing CPR for longer periods of time boosts chances of survival in both children and adults in hospital settings, two large U.S. studies show.
HEALTH CARE
To Reduce Hospital Admissions, Get Everyone Involved Efforts to improve care transitions and stem the tide of unnecessary readmissions should be a collaborative effort in which hospitals, home health agencies, and social service providers—as well as patients and family caregivers—all take part. And reimbursement systems must reflect this by spreading costs and savings alike across all providers.
LABOR UPDATES
Union Membership Drops, Despite Job Growth The total number of union members also dropped sharply, by 400,000, to 14.366 million, even though overall employment in the United States rose by 2.4 million last year, the B.L.S. said. From 2010 to 2011, the number grew by 50,000, and the percentage of unionized workers fell only 0.1 percentage point.