With concerns growing about a nursing shortage, hospitals are looking at ways to improve retention of the nurses they have on staff. Susan Meyers at Nurse.com (via RWJF) reports on an initiative at Los Angelesâs Cedars-Sinai Hospital to improve physician-nurse communication in order to boost morale:
With nearly a nine-year jump on the [MD-RN Collaborative], Cedars-Sinai has seen many positive benefits stem from the collaborative, including safer and more efficient care, a greater focus on patient-centered care, increased nurse retention, improved satisfaction among physicians, nurses and patients, and a more pleasant work environment, says Chris Ng, MD, physician co-chairman of the collaborative. âAccording to senior physicians, the interaction between doctors and nurses is like night and day,â Ng says. âThe nurses are now treated with respect and as equal partners in care, and this translates into better quality of care.â
Meanwhile, a new GAO report on nursing at the Veterans Administration (via the WSJ Health Blog) cites mundane work (including answering phones and housekeeping duties) and insufficiently flexible schedules as problems that reduce nursesâ morale and impede recruitment and retention.
In other news:
Associated Press: Over the last 11 months, nine emergency medical helicopter crashes have killed 35 people (including patients and crewmembers); the National Transportation Safety Board says the Federal Aviation Administration has responded too slowly to recommendations that it improve the safety of EMS flights.
NIOSH: An average of 197 landscape workers died each year from on-the-job injuries during 2003-2006, making this industryâs fatality rate similar to those for agriculture and mining.
Army Times: A trash-incineration pit at the largest U.S. military base in Iraq, Joint Base Balad, raises concerns about hazardous exposures for tens of thousands of troops, contractors and Iraqis.
Washington Post: Stock-market turmoil has caused many public pension funds to lose as much as 20% of their value.
New York Times: Infections like staph are common among athletes of contact sports like football, due to skin-on-skin contact, frequent cuts, and locker-room environments.
Thanks for including TWO stories about nursing!
A copy of this post with photos is available at:
Bobbysturgell[dot]com
Failed FAA Pilot Bobby Sturgell Racks Up His 3,000th Civilian Kill, And Somehow Keeps Flying
To this day, our federal government in the United States has continued to allow the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), for good reason otherwise known as the Tombstone Agency, to be run by a morally-bereft, incompetent liar/perjurer by the name of Robert Allan [Bobby] Sturgell. You already know Bobby Sturgell. Bobby self-touts his Top Gun status while seemingly unable to cite any bona fide combat experience. Bobby professes his married status while somehow unable to wear a wedding ring while on business trips. Bobby feigns public official status, while borne of a DelMarVa shoot-em-up biker bar until recently owned by his FBI Mom who formerly served as personal secretary to J. Edgar Hoover. Bobby Sturgell is the imposter known as FAA -Acting- Administrator. How apt.
A few months ago, Bobby Sturgell racked up his 3,000th civilian aviation kill. That makes for a lot of notches on his Top Gun wing. In but one (1) short year in office as bumbling Acting Administrator of the FAA, Bobby Sturgell has finished the job, and he has murdered aviation safety. Yet the Bobby Sturgell homicide-of-decency commenced at least 5 years ago when Bobby Sturgell joined the FAA back in 2003. The period of time from 2003 forward, to the date within the next few weeks that Bobby Sturgell ejects from his corner office at 800 Independence, shall be forever known as:
The Bobby Sturgell Tombstone FAA Regime, 2003-2008.