Angie Abner, a paramedic and emergency room nurse at St. John’s Regional Medical Center in Joplin, MO, was on duty when the tornado tore through the city. In an interview with National Public Radio (NPR), Abner shared her story about how she was in the triage department of the emergency room when the storm came. Abner said the hospital informed staff of a “Condition Gray,” which told staff what to do., and they had 10 minutes to get patients and visitors...  Read More »

The American Nurses Association (ANA) has chosen a winner for its first video contest on nurse leadership. The winner, Mandy Mayer, RN, BSN, won with a video portraying her role as a school nurse. Click here to read the ANA’s press release and view the winning video.   Read More »

Today marks National Nurses Day, the last day of Nurses Week, and the birthday of Florence Nightingale, who developed modern nursing. Nurses all over the world have celebrated their profession this week, and the American Nurses Association (ANA) has held a series of events. On May 10, the ANA offered a webinar entitled “Lead from where you stand,” that discussed the importance of nurse leadership, reports an ANA press release. The ANA has also held a...  Read More »

Staffing levels are the center of attention at Tufts Medical Center in Boston as registered nurses announced on Monday the threat of a one-day strike. The Massachusetts Nurses Association, the labor union that represents 23,000 members, told The Boston Globe that recent staff cuts mean nurses are caring for even more patients at a time. The union also says the changes have changed the hospital from one of the best staffed in Boston to the worst. The union and...  Read More »

The American Nurses Association (ANA) is holding a contest for nurses to make their own videos sharing what leadership means to them. In two minutes or less, the ANA asks registered nurses or nursing students to share what the phrase “I am a Nurse; I am a Leader” means to them. A panel of ANA judges will select the top five videos and then post them online for the public to vote and select their favorite. The contest ends May 1 and public voting will occur...  Read More »

An ambulance service in North Carolina has launched a new program that lets people who call 911 with minor concerns speak to a nurse before deciding whether to be transported to a hospital by ambulance. Nurses at Carolinas Medical Center and Presbyterian Hospital, in Charlotte, NC, are on hand to speak to people who call 911 with minor problems such as nausea, nosebleeds, or constipation, if they prefer not to be immediately transported by ambulance. The new...  Read More »

Annual competency assessments can sometimes be a tiresome task for nurses and for educators. Every organization completes assessment differently. At St. John Medical Center in Tulsa, OK, staff were bored of the repetitiveness of annual competency assessment, while managers were frustrated with the lack of staff completing requirements. To get staff interested and engaged in the competency assessment, educators decided to hold a fair around the theme of the...  Read More »

A just-released study says nurses are afraid to speak up if they notice physicians making mistakes. The study, The Silent Treatment: Why Safety Tools and Checklists Aren’t Enough to Save Lives , was conducted by the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses (AACN) and the Association of periOperative Registered Nurses (AORN) in partnership with VitalSmarts, a corporate and organizational performance training company. The study involved interviews of more...  Read More »

Virtual technology at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, TN, is allowing nurses to interact as avatars with each other and with patients using the website Second Life. Vanderbilt was given $1.6 million by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to create and launch the project through the agency’s Nurse Education Technologies program, reports The Tennessean. Right now, the project is only a pilot while the university conducts research. In the Second...  Read More »

When a patient walks through those hospital doors, just how many people are there to assist him or her? Nursing blogger, The Nerdy Nurse, recently discussed this topic in a post “How many people are involved in patient care?” When her preceptor was showing her an infection control report, author realized just how many people take part in the care of a new patient. She thinks most noses don’t think about how much goes on behind the scenes of patient care....  Read More »