An $800,000 grant from the Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research will pave the way for nursing research at UBC’s Okanagan campus to be integrated into a four-year program for better palliative care services for the whole province.

UBC nursing researcher Barb Pesut, Canada Research Chair in Health, Ethics and Diversity, and Barbara McLeod, a clinical nurse specialist from Fraser Health Authority, lead one of three principal areas of research called Educating for a Palliative Approach while Elisabeth Antifeau represents Interior Health on iPANEL as a practitioner co-investigator in the area of Patient and Family-Centred Improvements.

A new network was created for the purpose. Initiative for a Palliative Approach in Nursing: Evidence and Leadership or iPANEL is tasked to find ways how nurses can further incorporate palliative nursing services in areas in a variety of care settings.

Three principal areas of research comprise the body with UBC nursing researcher Barb Pesut, Canada Research Chair in Health, Ethics and Diversity, and Barbara McLeod, a clinical nurse specialist from Fraser Health Authority, leading Educating for a Palliative Approach.  Interior Health on iPANEL will be represented by Elisabeth Antifeau as a practitioner co-investigator in the area of Patient and Family-Centred Improvements. Educating for a Palliative Approach will research knowledge on how to best prepare nurses but considering their workload, healthcare setting and skills while the area of Interior Health will be looking into practical opportunities for nurses to work with patients who have chronic life-limiting illnesses needing palliative care.

source: http://www.bclocalnews.com/okanagan_similkameen/kelownacapitalnews/news/130744333.html

Signs of Burnout

Nurses and other occupations frequently exposed to stressful environments will reach a point when she feels nothings going right anymore. This is defined as burnout which can be avoided by adequate staffing and enough rest periods. There are 10 signs that tell you you’re having burnout.

1. Feeling overworked.

2. Asking to go home earlier more often.

3. Feeling emotionally drained

4. Not looking forward  to go to work everyday.

5. Unexplained physical ailments.

6. Angry at those making demands

7. Becoming less productive at work

8. Losing patience more frequently than before, whether at home or at  work

9. Feeling under-appreciated

10. Planning on looking for a new job

A review of 29 academic studies finds non-attendance more effectively reduced to about 39% if patients are reminded through calling or texting patients before healthcare appointments as compared to 29% if done through automated reminders.

The review carried out since 2000 by telemedicine specialists at the university hospital of North Norway and published in the Journal of Telemedicine and Telecare aims to lessen wastage in resources and disturbance in planned work schedules caused by non-attendance for hospital appointments.

No significant difference was seen on the timeline of reminders, whether sent  a week or just a day  before.

“We recommend that rigorous health economics studies of the costs and savings of reminders should be carried out, preferably in the form of randomised controlled trials,” authors Per Hasvold and Richard Wootton said in the review.

This article is published by Guardian Professional.

A summary of the results of the Gallup survey commissioned by Robert Wood Johnson Foundation revealed that even if nurses compose majority of the health care population, they are still not made part of decision-making and health care policies

Participants were health care executives who also believed that the quality of nursing care now greatly influences reimbursement rates that Medicare and Medicaid use to pay hospitals.

To quote the key findings presented:

• Only 14 percent of executives believed that nurses had a great deal of influence on health reform.
• Well over 60 percent of executives said that nurses are deprived of leadership roles because they are not key decision-makers and do not generate revenue.
• Almost all executives envisioned nurses having at most, a moderate influence on health reform over the next decade.

Health care leaders also proposed that shortage of bedside nurses be met before they can migrate to leadership positions.

Source: http://www.rwjf.org/humancapital/product.jsp?id=72668

By: Khoury CM, Blizzard R, Wright Moore L and Hassmiller S

In: The Journal of Nursing Administration, 41(7/8), pp.299-305

Publisher: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins

Published: July/August 2011

A study on 8,000 nurses and healthcare assistants working under the NHS revealed that a very few number of nurses considered their future secure in their nursing career. The study conducted by the Royal College of Nursing seemed to reinforce the ongoing controversies on increased harassment and pressure that nurses reportedly suffer from work.

This was in sharp contrast to results of a study made two years ago in 2009 that showed 74% of the nurses looked at nursing as the best career for them.

This year, a significant 70% of the total number of participants complained about work pressure while about 3 out 10 admitted to maltreatment from patients or their family members while doing their job. As if that’s not enough, half of the participants expressed plans to leave their present occupation.

The results of the latest survey prompted the association to plan for a meeting, to discuss among other issues, improving the pension policy of the NHS. This move came after the study showed that one-third of the participants said they will stay on if pension rates get better by at least 3percent.

RCN Chief Executive Peter Carter was quoted saying, “This is completely unacceptable and all NHS staff should be able to care for patients, while feeling safe and properly supported by employers and without the threat of bullying, harassment and violence”.

Following the death a patient at In the Alta Bates Summit Hospital due to a medication error committed by a replacement nurse. The costly mistake happened while a labor dispute was ongoing and regular nurses were locked out after their first day of strike.

Regular nurses said it would never have happened under their care. When it comes to administering medications, locked-out staff nurses say there is a strict process that involves at least three checks and they say this protocol might not have been followed.  It’s an avoidable mistake that’s made them angry, adding tension to the bargaining situation, UC Berkeley labor relations expert Harley Shaiken said.

They will be back on duty Tuesday, but highly doubtful if business will be as usual.

Alta Bates Summit released a statement accusing the nurses’ unions of trying to exploit a tragic accident for their own gain.

Multiple investigations by the hospital, the state Department of Public Health and Oakland police are being conducted.

A post from the Paris Post Intelligencer reports that Tennessee is moving strongly toward increased legal protection of nursing homes, and that has many families of home residents uneasy.

A new law goes into effect this week setting strict limits on the rights of patients and their families to sue nursing homes on claims of poor care. The law also limits the amount of damages a jury can award in such cases.
Two years ago, the legislature eliminated a rule that said when adverse events affect health care, nursing home operators must file detailed reports and the state must investigate. State officials said that gave them more time to investigate more serious complaints.
Those changes were defended as removing some burdensome requirements of the law.

That wouldn’t be of too much public concern, except for government reports that rank Tennessee near the bottom in its quality of nursing home care:
• The U.S. Government Accountability Office gave the state Health Department a failing grade for how well it investigated serious complaints. It cited a backlog of cases that had not been investigated, and said one factor was the shortage of department staff to handle investigations.
• The federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services rank Tennessee fourth worst among states in the number of hours per patient per day given by certified nurse assistants and seventh worst for registered nurse hours per patient per day. There again, the primary problem is staffing.
• In 2009, a GAO audit ranked Tennessee worst in the nation in accurately reporting the number of poorly performing nursing homes.
Nursing homes, like other businesses, deserve a fair break from government and should not be loaded with regulations that amount to busy work. But because they shelter some of the most vulnerable people in our society, the law must give even more protection to the patient, not less.

Source : http://www.parispi.net/articles/2011/09/26/opinion/editorials/doc4e809ccc08dd3789424691.txt

A news report from the San Francisco Chronicle: A former student midwife who delivered a baby without supervision has been sentenced in Los Angeles to three years of probation.

A Superior Court judge said Friday that while the 37-year-old Katharine McCall exercised poor judgment, she shouldn’t be sent to prison.

McCall also must complete 280 hours of community service and pay $10,000 in restitution. Now a licensed midwife, she’s prohibited from practicing her profession under the judge’s terms.

McCall had faced up to three years in prison after being convicted last month of practicing medicine without a license in connection with a birth in November 2007. Authorities say the baby’s shoulder got stuck during the delivery and the mother suffered a vaginal tear.

Both the woman and her baby recovered fully.

Nursing students who served selflessly in the February 22 earthquake in New Zealand were not only hailed as unsung heroes, but also achieved a 100% pass rate for graduation last week.

All 80 graduating students of Christchurch Polytechnic Institute of Technology (CPIT) missed the entire last semester of their studies and offered hundreds of unpaid hours of medical assistance in residential care facilities when the magnitude-6.3 quake struck.

Executive director of nursing Mary Gordon regarded the graduates as “brilliant” as they helped out wherever they were needed and did whatever was needed to be done.

“The efforts of CPIT’s students in the nursing student volunteer army proved crucial to the continued delivery of health and disability services across the region at this most difficult time,” she said.

A 100 percent pass rate was normal in the nursing school, according to CPIT nursing and human services head of school Cathy Andrew, but with the occurrence of the quake staff became uncertain that it would still be achievable.

Students made up for missed classes by attending two days at Lincoln University, where staff condensed the semester’s essential information. Students reviewed the rest of the academic course materials at the CPIT website where it was uploaded.

Top paying states for Registered Nurses as of May 2010 according to hourly mean wage:

1.    California              -      $42.06

2.   Massachusetts     –     $40.86

3.   Hawaii                     –     $39.48

4.  Alaska                      -     $38.15

5.  Maryland               –     $36.76

6.  New Jersey            -     $36.27

7.  Oregon                    -     $36.23

8.  Nevada                   –     $36.21

9.  New York              -     $35.58

10. Connecticut        -     $35.51

Information provided from U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics