A new movement is quietly creeping into healthcare, and its silencing effect is being felt at one New York hospital. Press Ganey reports, which measure patient satisfaction, have long included noise level on it surveys, and some hospitals, like St. Elizabeth Medical Center in Utica, NY, are working to ensure noise doesn’t disrupt a patient’s stay. The hospital is working to reduce noise levels in an effort to increase patient safety...  Read More »

“Dear Deanna: I am a newer nurse, and from time to time I have questions about procedures and other areas. I have asked a few questions but at times I get the eye rolling that makes me feel as if I am ignorant. What should I do?” Asking questions shows that you truly want to know the correct answer. If we all knew everything that there is to know related to healthcare and nursing, there would not be references available. Think...  Read More »

Red, green, yellow, purple, and pink—these are the colors of one wristband color system improving patient safety in hospitals across the nation. But the key to success isn’t just the colors; it’s the fact that one particular color-coding system is catching on. It’s common for hospitals to use an array of colors for patient wristbands as reminders for certain conditions, such as allergies or fall risks, but Bonnie Haluska, RN, CRRN,...  Read More »

Nurses aim to spend the bulk of their time in direct contact with patients. Other responsibilities, such as paperwork and gathering supplies, often get in the way. To remedy the problem, 21 hospitals across six Rocky Mountain states are joining a Rapid Adoption Network (RAN) that will allow them to share information about clinical practices and seek ways to improve them. The RAN was created in response to a recent Veterans Health Administration...  Read More »

Our Last Semester columnist, Chelsea, is no longer in her last semester. She’s no longer looking for a job, either. After passing the NCLEX a couple of weeks ago, Chelsea is quickly moving on to the next phase of her life. Here’s a look inside her first REAL nursing gig: Not only am I a real nurse, but now I actually have a job! (This grown-up stuff isn’t quite so scary anymore.) I came to the realization that my first...  Read More »

Former pilot Gary L. Sculli, RN, MSN, ATP, no longer works in the skies. But some might say he now leads his nursing unit to even greater heights. Aviation safety concepts Sculli learned during his previous career are changing the way his staff members practice nursing at Baptist Memorial Hospital in Memphis, TN. Now nurse manager of a 40-bed unit, he has transferred his knowledge and experiences in the air to the bedside in the quest to...  Read More »

By Richard Freedberg, RN, MSN, MPA I teach in a community college that offers four different nursing programs designed to build on the past experiences and accommodate the busy lives of our diverse students. There are differences among the entry and upper levels of students in all of the programs, but there are also some striking similarities. One common thread shared by all is the question: “When will I feel like a nurse?” This...  Read More »

Are you nervous about your senior year of nursing? Are you busy studying feverishly for the NCLEX exam? Could you use a little refresher on some nursing skills you haven’t used lately? No matter where you are on your nursing journey, our Quick-E clinical pocket guides can help. We just published 12 new editions a couple of weeks ago and we’re already hearing great reviews about the glossy covers, the tabs for easy navigation,...  Read More »

When Gwinnett Medical Center in Lawrenceville, GA, decided to cut nursing paperwork by 50% to increase nursing time at the bedside, it was an all-hands-on-deck approach. “What we found was that it was the paperwork that was keeping us from patient care,” says Deborah Briese, RN, BSN, CCRN-CMC, who is in charge of Provision of Care chapters for the facility. In October 2007, medical-surgical leadership chartered a nursing documentation...  Read More »

By Richard Freedberg, RN, MSN, MPA Have you ever had one of those days? You introduce yourself to the patient assigned to you in clinical, “Hi, I’m Rick, your student nurse,” and he or she responds, “Great, another rookie! I feel like a guinea pig! Why don’t you just go practice somewhere else?”  Your experience seems to plummet from there. What went wrong? How can you establish a relationship? How can...  Read More »