The downturn in the economy has done a couple of things for the nursing profession. More nurses who have not worked as nurses for awhile have returned to active status in order to bolster their family income and to cover lost income for instance if a spouse has lost a job. This has lessened some of the nursing shortage. On the other hand, as in any industry, cut backs are likely. Where nurses are going to be most affected by this is in areas where nurse-to-patient ratios are not set and/or enforced. Mandatory overtime will also continue to be an issue, and where it has not been, expect that it…
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Share Your Ideas with Nurses in Congress
Health care and the nursing shortage are going to be BIG on the Hot Topics list for the next administration and Congress to discuss this next term…. One of the primary points that I feel very passionate about is that nurses must advocate for themselves, their fellow nurses and their patients. We must have a strong and collective voice. That doesn’t mean that we must all have the same voice. Providing quality patient care means that we often have to be imaginative, inventive and flexible. Home health nurses know that often we have to improvise when we don’t have the exact tool that we need to get a job done.…
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Hospice Pioneer Florence Wald Has Died
The American Nurses Association announced the death of Florence Wald, RN, MSN, FAAN. Wald passed away Saturday, Nov. 8, at her home in Connecticut. She was 91. Florence Wald was a home health nurse, a professor and a dean, and a pioneer in the field of hospice nursing in the U.S. She studied hospice care in London and returned to the U.S. and developed a model for the holistic and humanistic care of the dying that continues to this day to influence hospice care in this country. She taught nurses that they had to understand the concepts and dynamics of death and dying in order to provide quality care to…
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Obama Invites Your Ideas
President-elect Obama has asked the nation to contribute ideas about the change we need to see come to fruition. You can add your ideas to the website. If you need some ideas here are a few: Teri Mills MS, ANP,CNE, RN would love for as many nurses as possible to visit The National Nurse site to learn more about this proposed program and then to send a personal vision note to the Obama site. This could certainly help nursing move forward. If your facility has a particularly bad or good set of working conditions for nurses and the nursing profession, please be sure to send along your ideas and help…
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A Clear and Decisive Election
After eight long years and three presidential elections, we have finally managed to elect a President without hanging chads, and election tampering issues abounding from every corner!! We don’t have to wait for a recount and the results were clear with a wide margin. There were still issues at many polling places, but thankfully, far and above, the issues revolved more around record turnout and long lines than with irregularities. No matter who your candidate was, the election was for a change fair and clearly evident. This was best accomplished by the huge turnout of voters who wanted to be sure their voice was heard. Americans voted and their voices…