Nurse practitioner Martha Strong, asking Maryannie Flores, 7, to do her open-wide best, has operated Children's Clinic of Richardson for almost eight years. Nearly all of her 1,500 patients are enrolled in Medicaid. The shiny new clinic was quiet and nearly empty. It's been that way since Immaculata Inyang, a family nurse practitioner, opened the Potter's House Family Clinic last month in Oak Cliff. Six weeks, 17 patients. Still, Inyang is undaunted. She has no regrets plunking down her own money to start
RALEIGH - Nurse anesthetists from across the state packed a hearing room at the N.C. General Assembly on Wednesday to show their dislike of a bill that calls for a physician to formally supervise their work. Certified nurse anesthetists now may work either "in collaboration with" or "under supervision of" doctors, an arrangement that bill sponsors say leaves the CNA-physician relationship vulnerable to interpretation and possible litigation. The goal is to put into state law "a fundamental patient-safety standard," said Rep. Nelson Dollar, a Republican from Cary who is one of four primary sponsors of the bill.
FLINT (WWJ/AP) - Documents show a Michigan hospital agreed to pay an undisclosed amount of money as part of a settlement following an accusation that it granted a man's request that no black nurses care for his newborn. The settlement agreement was released Tuesday by Hurley Medical Center in Flint following a request from The Flint Journal. The suit was filed by nurse Tonya Battle, who alleged a note was posted on an assignment clipboard reading, "No African American nurse to take care of baby." According to the settlement, Hurley agreed to pay Battle, as well as two other women who were not named as plaintiffs in the original lawsuit, a monetary amount the sides agreed upon during a meeting on Feb. 21. The dollar amount was not disclosed.
In North Carolina, there are nearly 4,500 nurse practitioners, who are increasingly on the front lines of the American health care system. They can write prescriptions and make diagnoses under the supervision of doctors. Most are nurses who have earned a master's degree to increase their training in direct patient care. But starting in the fall, those seeking to be advanced nurses will have the option - and eventually, the requirement - to gain more education. Last month, the UNC system's Board of Governors approved the Doctor of Nursing Practice, or DNP degree, for six public campuses: East Carolina, UNC-CH, UNC-Charlotte, UNC-Greensboro, Winston-Salem State University and Western Carolina University. Two private universities, Duke and Gardner-Webb, already offer the more advanced degree.
A bill that would require Minnesota hospitals to meet national standards on nurse staffing appears headed for a roadblock in the Legislature. The chair of the House Health and Human Services Policy Committee says she doesn't intend to hold a hearing on the bill unless the Minnesota Nurses Association and the hospitals start getting closer to a compromise on the issue. The union is lobbying hard for the legislation because it says nurse staffing levels in some hospitals are too low and could put patients in danger.
Democrats in the Michigan Legislature and a nurses? union are calling for a state law that would require hospitals to maintain staff levels without resorting to mandatory overtime. Sixteen states currently have rules regarding staff-to-patient ratios. Right now, California is the only state with a law that sets minimum staffing levels in hospitals. State Representative Jon Switalski (D-Warren) is about to introduce legislation to set staffing requirements in emergency rooms and other hospital wards.