HealthLeadersMedia.com - Nursing News and Analysis

Jackson Health System, SEIU agree on $52M in concessions

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 12:08:00 GMT

Negotiators for Jackson Health System and SEIU Local 1991 agreed Tuesday to a contract that calls for $52 million in concessions for each of the next three years, but workers could get some of that money back if they find ways of saving the hospitals money or gaining new revenue. The tentative agreement will be voted on next week by the bargaining units covering nurses and other healthcare professionals. A third unit, covering physicians, was still in discussions with management late Tuesday afternoon.

Hahnemann boosts use of RNs in bid to improve care

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 11:55:00 GMT

In a move that defies conventional wisdom, Hahnemann University Hospital is replacing less expensive workers with people who are paid more. Michael Halter, the hospital's chief executive officer, believes that ultimately the change will earn Hahnemann more money and customers, and create a more loyal staff when the labor market becomes competitive again.

Designing a Hospital? Ask Nurses First

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 17:48:00 GMT

Hospitals are increasingly involving nurses in facility design, consulting on everything from the size of patient rooms to the art that hangs on the walls. This not only helps improve patient care; it can also improve staff morale and employee satisfaction.

Flushing Hospital nurses reach benefits settlement, averting strike

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 12:07:00 GMT

A Queens hospital has avoided a potentially disastrous strike after hammering out an 11th-hour deal with its nurses. Negotiations between staffers and Flushing Hospital Medical Center's sponsor, MediSys, came to a head last month when the nurses issued a 10-day strike warning after their health and pension benefits expired Dec. 31. Historically, management has issued temporary contract extensions throughout negotiations, though that courtesy was not extended to employees this time, union officials said. The walk out was set for Tuesday.

Healthcare's jobs boom

Fri, 03 Feb 2012 12:00:00 GMT

While the economy lost 7.5 million positions during the 18-month recession, the health-care industry added doctors, nurses, and other hospital personnel. Together with the social assistance category, which includes day-care workers, career counselors, and similar positions, the sector will add more than 5.6 million employees and be the biggest job gainer by 2020, according to new projections by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Manufacturing is forecast to lose 73,000 jobs by then. "The first baby boomer just turned 65 last year, so when it comes to health-care jobs, we haven’t seen nothing yet," says Chris Rupkey, chief financial economist at Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ in New York.

UMass hospital system to shed up to 900 jobs

Thu, 02 Feb 2012 12:18:00 GMT

UMass Memorial Health Care, which lost money in the last three months of 2011 amid shrinking patient volume, told its employees yesterday that it will shed 700 to 900 jobs, about 6 percent of its workforce, through a combination of layoffs at its flagship hospital and selling divisions that provide health services. The health care system, which operates UMass Memorial Medical Center in Worcester and four community hospitals, is the largest employer in central Massachusetts, with about 13,500 workers.

Rutgers, Duke, Horizon form education partnership for nurses

Thu, 02 Feb 2012 11:48:00 GMT

Horizon Healthcare Innovations announced Wednesday the formation of an educational partnership with Duke University School of Nursing and Rutgers University College of Nursing for a new type of training for nurses. The 12-week course, which involves face-to-face and online sessions, trains nurses to become population-care coordinators, the cornerstone of patient-centered medical homes.

Rochester General reassigns nursing staff

Thu, 02 Feb 2012 11:42:00 GMT

Rochester General Health System will be using only registered nurses in acute-care inpatient hospital settings and moving licensed practical nurses into other roles. The health system announced the plan Wednesday and said it affects about 40 LPNs at Rochester General Hospital and about five at Newark-Wayne Community Hospital. No LPNs are being laid off.

Cook County health system to bolster front line

Wed, 01 Feb 2012 12:08:00 GMT

The Cook County Health & Hospitals System plans to hire up to 85 nurses and front-line health care workers in coming months as the cash-strapped public hospital system tries to boost patient satisfaction in preparation for national health care changes. Ramanathan Raju, the health system's new chief executive, laid out on Monday a series of initiatives its plans this year to ramp up services amid intensifying competition among the region's hospitals.

Thousands of Kaiser workers wage one-day strike

Wed, 01 Feb 2012 12:01:00 GMT

As striking workers circled outside Kaiser Permanente medical centers throughout Northern California on Tuesday, hospital and union leaders traded allegations about the motivations behind the bitter dispute. Much of the controversy centered around the striking nurses, who have a contract through 2014 but walked out in sympathy with mental health and optical workers who are negotiating a new contract. A hospital association ran a full-page newspaper advertisement claiming the nurses have no sympathy for patients and are only concerned about increasing their membership.

Improved patient problem list enhances diagnoses

Wed, 01 Feb 2012 11:56:00 GMT

A clinical decision support tool developed by researchers at Harvard-affiliated Brigham & Women's Hospital in Boston can increase the completeness of patient problem lists in electronic health records (EHRs). Having all of a patient's diagnoses on a single list helps physicians provide better care, because they're more likely to treat a condition such as diabetes or hypertension if they're reminded of that problem when a patient visits.

CMS finds critical missteps at NC hospital

Wed, 01 Feb 2012 11:53:00 GMT

Documents from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services reveal it took Gaston Memorial Hospital staff some six hours to realize a nurse gave an emergency-room patient insulin instead of potassium. A spokeswoman with CaroMont Health, which operates the hospital, said the company may appeal some of the findings in the government's report as misleading, inaccurate, or based on insufficient facts.

Highest healthcare pay found in CA, AK

Tue, 31 Jan 2012 12:01:00 GMT

California dominates the pay rankings for several lines of work, so it comes as no shock that California markets set the U.S. pace for health-care salaries. But Alaska? Its strong performance is much more surprising. On Numbers has analyzed compensation data for two closely related employment sectors—health-care practitioners and support staffers—in 406 metropolitan areas and divisions.

Opinion: Feeling strain when violent patients need care

Tue, 31 Jan 2012 11:58:00 GMT

I didn't know much about the patient—just that he'd showed up on my floor the previous evening after some confusion about whether his room was ready. When I went into his room that morning, he was still asleep. I gently roused him while his doctor, who had followed me in, explained that he needed to do a physical exam. The patient, suddenly fully awake, challenged him: "Are you going to examine me or are you just going to stand there and talk about it?" His voice had an edge to it that, I'll reluctantly admit, scared me, especially when he quickly got up out of the bed and started yelling at the doctor and me.

55 percent of nurses overweight or obese

Tue, 31 Jan 2012 11:53:00 GMT

Researchers at the University of Maryland's School of Nursing found that 55 percent of the 2,103 female nurses they surveyed were obese, citing job stress and the effect on sleep of long, irregular work hours as the cause. The study, which measured obesity using estimates of body mass index, found that nursing schedules affected not only the health of the nurses but the quality of patient care.

Religious opposition to new healthcare changes

Mon, 30 Jan 2012 11:44:00 GMT

Green Bay Catholic Bishop took time Sunday to a read a letter during Mass, calling on Catholics in Northeast Wisconsin to take action against new healthcare regulations. The regulations Bishop David Ricken is opposing come from the Dept. of Health and Human Services, which announced this week most church-affiliated groups will be required to offer their workers coverage, that includes contraception plans. Under the new law churches and other employers with a religious base have a year to comply with the changes so they have time to adapt, but the bishop said they can never adapt. "It's a direct disconnect against our principles, our philosophy, our background, our teaching," said Ricken.

AK healthcare industry booming

Fri, 27 Jan 2012 11:57:00 GMT

The health care industry is booming in Alaska, and growth will continue. Health care providers pay a $1.53 billion annual statewide payroll with nearly $1 billion of that in the Anchorage and Matanuska-Susitna regions of Southcentral Alaska. Jobs in health care totaled 31,800 in 2010, up 46 percent in 10 years. The growth rate is five times the rate of the state's overall population, and three times that of all other sectors of the economy.

U of MD moves ahead with county healthcare overhaul

Thu, 26 Jan 2012 11:47:00 GMT

University of Maryland officials soon will begin working to help Prince George's County overhaul its healthcare system. The university will conduct a survey of county residents in late January and will question residents on their state of health, access to primary care, and general attitude toward the quality of health care facilities in Prince George's County. Feedback will help the county and university officials as they make plans to build a new $600 million regional medical center in the county.

Highmark to spend $500M on care network

Wed, 25 Jan 2012 11:49:00 GMT

Health insurance giant Highmark Inc. will spend up to $500 million to develop a new network of doctors, community hospitals and outpatient locations in Western Pennsylvania in addition to the $475 million it has promised to prop up West Penn Allegheny Health System, the Tribune-Review has learned. The network will include medical malls, ambulatory care centers, a health information exchange, partnerships with community hospitals and primary and specialty care centers, officials with the insurer said.

Meth fills hospitals with burn patients

Tue, 24 Jan 2012 13:30:00 GMT

A crude new method of making methamphetamine poses a risk even to Americans who never get anywhere near the drug: It is filling hospitals with thousands of uninsured burn patients requiring millions of dollars in advanced treatment—a burden so costly that it's contributing to the closure of some burn units.