The new healthcare law will bring a lot of questions for those who do not know about the many different aspects of the upcoming legislation. In order to get answers about the law, patients are turning to people in the hospital industry they can trust: nurses. Groups of nurses are going to gathering places to explain the Affordable Care Act to people who have concerns about the soon-to-be law. The nurses are primarily explaining the ACA to those who never had health insurance.
Loretta Pierce is only 46, but she has already retired from nursing in favor of a desk job. After years of lifting heavy patients and equipment that resulted in a herniated disc, she said she knew her body just couldn't handle the work anymore. Nursing aides, orderlies and attendants suffer more musculoskeletal injuries than people in any other profession – including firefighters, according to the latest data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Registered nurses also endure more of these injuries than the average worker.
Shared medical appointments are becoming more widespread as physicians look for more efficient and effective ways to treat increasing numbers of patients with chronic diseases. The visits could increase significantly under the nation's healthcare overhaul when millions more Americans gain insurance coverage and need to access doctors. Multi-patient appointments are especially valuable in areas with physician shortages, proponents say. Group appointments are being offered through UC San Diego to patients with diabetes, HIV and liver disease.
As nurses we are taught that we are professionals and we must maintain a certain emotional distance with our patients. It's a boundary that encompasses the therapeutic relationship: nurses as caregivers, patients as the recipients of the care. But now, working as a nurse, I have found that while most of my professional boundaries are well defined, sometimes the line between a professional and personal relationship with a patient can become blurred. I work on an orthopedic surgical unit where most patients are coming in and going out very frequently. That makes it hard to get to know anyone too well. But there are some patients that we never forget, for good or bad reasons.
A year ago, Parkland Memorial Hospital had a 15 percent vacancy rate, causing it to rack up millions of dollars in unbudgeted overtime and temporary staffing costs. Nurse staffing levels were especially low, which was not a good thing, because state and federal inspections had determined a severe nursing shortage was one of the major factors causing inferior patient care. Since that time, Parkland has turned things around on the hiring front with assistance from a company called Supplemental Health Care, which hospital administrators hired to help them add staff fast. I spoke with Janet Elkin, president and CEO of Supplemental Health Care, about the process.
Nurse practitioners say efforts to expand primary care to millions of Americans under the health law are hampered by insurance industry practices that limit or exclude their participation. Despite laws in 17 states and the District of Columbia allowing them to practice independently, nurses with advanced degrees say some insurers still don't accept them into their credentialed networks as primary care providers, while others restrict them mainly to rural areas. After years of fighting doctors in state legislative battles to expand their authority, nurse practitioners are taking a new tack: asking the Obama administration to require insurers to include them in the plans offered to consumers in new online marketplaces, which open for enrollment Oct. 1.