Nursing News

Nominations due by July 23, 2010. 

Healthwatch, The Hill’s daily health care blog, recently covered CCNA’s work with twelve states that have successfully launched state-level partnerships to address the nursing shortage. The Center to Champion Nursing in America (CCNA) is helping 31 states build multi-stakeholder collaborations that are redesigning nursing education, implementing policy change, and addressing faculty recruitment and diversity.

According to a Marketplace, American Public Media radio story aired as nurse practitioners (NPs) began their annual conference in Phoenix, health care reform has breathed new life into the care that NPs provide to Americans. With a focus on reducing costs, policy makers, health care leaders, and consumers are viewing access to NPs and the health care they provide in a new light. In many states NPs can diagnose disease, prescribe medications and interpret lab tests. In some rural areas, the NP is the only health care provider available.

According to recently released study in the Journal of Intensive Care Medicine, simulation-based learning significantly reduces the number of medication errors. This first-of-its-kind study, was conducted in adult coronary critical care (CCU) and medical intensive care (MICU) units in the Pittsburgh area. Because patients in these types of units receive multiple medications, they are at greater risks for error than those in non-intensive units..

Legislation requiring hospitals to have a circulating nurse during procedures using general anesthesia or deep sedation has become law in Pennsylvania. Governor Rendell, who is the current chair of the AAN Raise the Voice Campaign (link to campaign), is a staunch supporter of patient safety and access to quality care in all health care settings. Thirty-eight other states require a circulating nurse in the operating room when sedation is necessary. Read more.

Hoping to set the tone for identifying ways to help strengthen the nursing profession, Senators Merkley (D-OR), Snowe (R-ME), Johanns (R-NB), and Mikulski (D-MD) recently announced plans to form the Senate Nursing Caucus. The new caucus will examine the role nurses play in delivering high-quality health care. Senators will review the issues surrounding the nursing shortage, tuition debt and patient safety. Nurses will be invited to share their ideas and concerns about their profession. Read more here.

The latest edition of the Charting Nursing’s Future examines state efforts to increase education capacity and build a 21st century nursing workforce. The Center to Champion Nursing in America (CCNA) has worked to help states build multi-stakeholder teams across the country that are collaborating to redesign nursing education, implement policy change, and address faculty recruitment and diversity, among other strategies.

According to an Indianapolis Star article, 15 Indianapolis-area schools have a nurse practitioner (NP) on staff in their on-site health clinics. In many cases, these NPs serve as primary-care providers, not only for students, but for an entire family. In some states, nurse practitioners can diagnose conditions and write prescriptions. Although this article puts the spotlight on a local practice, the National Assembly on School-Based Health Care reports that about 24 percent of school-based health centers offer such care, and 42 percent see relatives of students.

According to this op-ed piece, federal dollars could not be better spent than on a program like the Nurse-Family Partnership (NFP). The newspaper highlights this evidence-based program as an excellent example of how to reduce health care costs and improve quality through preventive care.

The program, started 30 years ago by University of Colorado pediatrics professor David Olds was initiated in Dallas in 2006 by the Dallas Foundation in collaboration with the YWCA of Metropolitan Dallas to serve eligible mothers and children, many from disadvantaged homes.

As a way to reduce the number of trips to the emergency room, Louisville (KY) Emergency Medical Services has initiated a new program to help patients determine the most appropriate health care for their conditions.,. Begun in April of this year, the program uses nurses or nurse practitioners to talk by phone to patients who have what was considered lower risk conditions, such as an ear ache or a stomach ache. Nurses can spend more quality time with patients, thus better determining if emergency medical services or needed.