What an incredible story by The Missoulian about nurses’ connections throughout the world. The article tells the story of Michele Sare, RN, founder of Nurses for Nurses International, who arrived in Haiti on January 12with the purpose of teaching a local public health class. Less than an hour later, the 7.0 magnitude earthquake struck, and Sare’s entire purpose for being there changed. Sare spent the next week side by side with a small group of...  Read More »

Many employers try to discourage their employees from smoking, but what about denying employment because the applicant smokes? Memorial Hospital in Chattanooga, TN, will no longer hire employees who smoke, reports The Chattanooga Pulse. The hospital plans to drug-screen prospective employees for nicotine. If tested positive, the hospital will rescind its offer of employment. Brad Pope, the vice president of human resources, told the Pulse that the reason for...  Read More »

An interesting piece written by Rebecca Hendren for HealthLeaders Media bridges nurse retention and sleeping. The article highlights a new graduate nurse retention program in Lynchburg, VA, that offers a formal sleep education class that explains how to get better sleep and why sleep is important. The program was created after the nurse retention coordinator, Cheryl Burnette, began to see a potential tie between nurse retention of new graduates and sleep. Around...  Read More »

The National Council of State Boards of Nursing, Inc., otherwise known as NCSBN, has raised the passing standard for the NCLEX-RN Exam. The new passing standard is -0.16 logits (the unit of measure for the exam) on the logistics scale. The standard is 0.05 logits higher than the previous standard of -0.21. The new standard takes effect on April 1, 2010. The standard is reviewed by the NCSBN Board of Directors every three years. The Board used an expert panel...  Read More »