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...  Read More »

“You’re gonna have to man up here and take some of the pain because we can’t give you a lot of medication.” That’s what Sarah May Casareto, RN, is alleged to have said to a patient who screamed in pain during his November 8 surgery at Abbot Northwestern Hospital in Minneapolis. Turns out, she couldn’t give him more of his medication because she had taken it herself prior to surgery. The patient, undergoing surgery...  Read More »

Nurses’ long work hours are connected with patients’ chances of dying from heart attacks or pneumonia, according to researchers at the University of Maryland School of Nursing and the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore, who published their findings in the January/February issue of the journal Nursing Research. Researchers found that long shifts and lack of time off contributed to poor patient outcomes, including...  Read More »

A giant purple bus named “Buszilla” may sound frightening, but it’s the complete opposite; it saves lives. In Toledo, OH, Buszilla, a 72-passenger bus, brings healthcare providers to those who are either homeless or uninsured, according to CovChurch.org. The bus is operated by Lifeline Toledo, a mission organization to homeless and poor residents of Toledo. Each Saturday, volunteer nurses arrive on the bus ready to give routine health...  Read More »

The union National Nurses United notified the DC Health Department on Monday that understaffing is taking place at Washington Hospital Center in Washington, DC, therefore endangering patient safety. National Nurses United allegedly filed a 19-page report referencing 50 different incidents pertaining to patient care, and asked the Health Department to investigate, reported The Washington Post. The report says that due to nurse understaffing...  Read More »

According to a report from the Association of American Medical Colleges, there will be a shortage of 63,000 physicians in the United States by 2015. With the possibility of a shortage, a report about nursing was released just in time. The Institute of Medicine, along with the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, issued The Future of Nursing: Leading Change, Advancing Health, which calls for regulatory burdens to be removed so that advanced practice...  Read More »

Coffee and dirty linens all over the floor are two things that patients, family members, and staff do not want to see in a hospital room. However, last week at Oklahoma State University’s Medical Center, a patient’s room had both, part of an exercise known as “Forty Wrong Room.” The goal was to help nurses and other staff members remember patient safety rules. In the exercise, 40 different things were wrong in the mock room and nurses...  Read More »

Not being a nurse, I’ve never really thought about what happens when patients are admitted to the hospital and they are smokers. However, this is something that nurses and healthcare providers have to deal with all the time, and a recent survey says that many are not offering patients any help with quitting. The survey, published in the July issue of Nicotine & Tobacco Research, finds that nurses and healthcare professionals often...  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 »

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 »