In protest to the firing of 18 registered nurses who stayed home during the Washington, D.C. area snowstorms in February, Washington Hospital Center nurses have decided on a one-day work stoppage, reports Cheryl Clark for HealthLeaders Media. The decision was made after online voting was made available between July 29 and July 31 to the hospital’s 1,600 nurses. About 42% of nurses voted. Out of that 42%, 80% voted for the stoppage....  Read More »

Nurses are well aware of the stress that comes with the job. Taking care of numerous patients atl varying levels of sickness, and dealing with many competing priorities, is enough to make anyone stressed out. Now, with the help of the BREATHE technique, nurses and patients can lower their blood pressure, heart rate, and experience a decrease in stress. The BREATHE technique was developed by John M. Kennedy, medical director of preventative...  Read More »

Susan Hassmiller, PhD, RN, FAAN, senior advisor for nursing at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, is spending her summer vacation doing something extraordinary. She is not spending her days soaking up the sun, or taking a cruise to Alaska. Instead she is traveling in Europe, learning about the life and work of Florence Nightingale. Throughout Hassmiller’s journey across Europe, she is blogging about her experience. Her trips marks...  Read More »

The phrase “like-mother-like-daughter” definitely pertains to Barbara Toney and Rachel Craft, who this month became the first mother and daughter pair to graduate from the Ohio University Southern (OUS) school of nursing. After receiving advice from the Lawrence County Workforce Development Resource Center, Toney and Craft decided nursing would be a good fit for the both of them. Craft, being recently married, believed the schedule...  Read More »

On June 10, nurses from 14 Twin Cities hospitals participated in a one-day strike, the effect of which is still unknown. The disagreement is between the Minnesota Nurses Association and Twin Cities hospitals, and no one is sure who has the upper hand, reports the Star Tribune. Nurses want strict nurse-to-patient ratios, while hospitals want to decide those ratios on an as-needed basis. The sides are also disputing whether nurses should...  Read More »

A 12,000-strong nurses’ strike is planned for June 10. The nurses will represent 13 Twin Cities hospitals. On the same day, 13,000 California nurses will strike as well. The nurses in Minnesota are fighting proposed pension and benefit cuts. They are also fighting for the hospitals to commit to strict nurse-to-patient ratios. Citing economic woes, the hospitals are requesting more autonomy in this area, with the option of floating...  Read More »

If you’re visiting this site, chances are you’re a nurse who has had his or her share of stress. Well, it may be time to focus on incorporating anti-stress methods into daily life. In her blog about workplace reviews, New York Times blogger Tara Parker-Pope mentioned a 15-year study of 12,000 nurses that found nurses struggling with “excessive work pressures” had double the risk of heart attack. So stay healthy and...  Read More »

Many nurses already know that as the ones with the most direct contact with the patient, they have a great opportunity to improve patient safety. However, nurses often have a difficult time enforcing and implementing new patient safety initiatives while taking care of their patients and taking care of documentation-especially if those initiatives are constantly changing. A great HealthLeaders Media piece explores what The University of Kansas...  Read More »

About a month ago, I wrote about the University HealthSystem Consortium (UHC) AACN Nurse Residency Program,TM which dramatically decreased turnover rates for nurses in their first year on the job. The blog post prompted Daniel McCarthy, a retired airline pilot and flight instructor, as well as an aircraft mechanic, to write a comment. At 53, McCarthy went to nursing school and later became a nurse. Despite his experience in the tough field...  Read More »

How do you help nurses understand and feel competent in end-of-life care? Simulate death. That’s the approach studied by Kim Leighton, PhD, RN, CNE, and Jenna Dubas, MSN, RN, as a way to successfully teach nurses about end-of-life care. The study, published in Clinical Simulation in Nursing, looked at how nursing students and practicing nurses could increase self-efficacy and competency levels for end-of-life care. (Click here to read...  Read More »