Empathy Decline in Nursing Students Dmitry Vereshchagin – Fotolia.com A study reported in the January issue of the Journal of Professional Nursing shows a decline in an important nursing skill that is more about understanding a patient’s perspective and fears than about technical ability: empathy. E...
Read more →Nurse Executives Taking the Helm In the Atlantic, Christine Mackey-Ross writes about the importance of improving the quality of health care, not just driving down costs, and the new breed of health care leaders that have been attracted by this challenge: physician and nurse executives. Many organiza...
Read more →Reduce Worthless Tests Hakan Kiziltan – Fotolia Some tests are life-savers, but some are worthless. A campaign called Choosing Wisely has been launched by nine national medical groups, with the goal of getting U.S. doctors to tell the difference. Specifically, Choosing Wisely wants health care provi...
Read more →Alexander Raths – Fotolia.com Baby Boomers a Driving Force Behind Demand for Nurses In its biannual Employment Outlook report, the U.S. Department of Labor stated that the healthcare and social assistance fields would experience the highest growth for new jobs, with more than 5 million new workers n...
Read more →Nursing Shortage Over, For Now Jaimie Duplass – Fotolia.com A study indicates that the nursing shortage is over, but that it will likely come roaring back. By 2020, it might be more difficult than ever to fill nursing vacancies. An article in the Detroit News indicates that the the number of full-ti...
Read more →James Steidl – Fotolia.com Paying Hospitals Didn’t Improve Mortality Rates A study by the New England Journal of Medicine has cast doubt on a central premise of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). The ACA took inspiration from Medicare’s efforts to pay hospitals based on how they perform, which was thoug...
Read more →More Men Becoming Nurses © Minerva Studio – Fotolia.com The nursing field is still dominated by women, but more and more men are joining their ranks. The stigma is fading, and the opportunities are beckoning. For students like Trevor Potts, interviewed in an article in the South Dakota State Univers...
Read more →Hospitals Often Must Hurt to Heal © iceteastock – Fotolia.com Theresa Brown, an oncology nurse, is concerned about surveys that ask patients about their hospital experience. For many years, hospitals have been collecting data regarding patient satisfaction, and now the Centers for Medicare and Medic...
Read more →A.C.O.s Offer New Healthcare Option An article in the New York Times explains a new type of health care practice called accountable care organizations, or A.C.O.s. The article takes the case of Fannie Cline as an example of how A.C.O.s work. Mrs. Cline, a 69-year-old retiree, was struggling to manag...
Read more →Changing the Face of Nursing Education © Lulla – Fotolia.com Nursing curricula today focus on the nurse-to-patient relationship, backed with heavy content and a plethora of facts to be memorized. Most nursing students graduate without a basic understanding of the entire healthcare system, team nursi...
Read more →Physicians are resisting legislation that is geared towards allowing advance practice registered nurses (APRNs) like nurse practitioners to practice independently. This has been proposed as a solution to the problem of increasing health care costs. The main objection stated by physicians has been th...
Read more →Fewer ICU Beds Mean More Patient Deaths Image courtesy of markhillary via Flickr A study from France has found that a shortage of beds in hospital intensive care units may mean that more patients die. An article from Reuters reports on the study, which focused on 10 hospitals in western France. The...
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