If you or a loved one has ever been a hospital patient, you know what it feels like to helplessly wait for a nurse to check on your progress, discuss your symptoms, administer your medicines, contact your doctor, or deliver any number of other critical caregiving tasks. You know when you hear the words “I’ll be back soon,” that it might really mean hours — depending on a nurse caseload that could exceed 10 or 15 patients who are just as uncomfortable as you.
Ballad Health announced Monday an increased annual investment of $10 million in salaries for nurses and support staff involved in direct patient care. The increased investment will occur annually, with adjustments for inflation. Those impacted include acute care registered nurses, licensed practical nurses and nursing assistants, in certain roles.
Physicians, once among the most trusted professionals in the United States, now face a credibility crisis. Only one-third of Americans say they have a great deal of trust in physicians, down from around two-thirds in the 1970s. This lack of trust is leading to a burgeoning appetite for medical misinformation, causing many Americans to avoid vaccines and cholesterol-lowering statins.
I have spent the last 30 years of my career in health care, with much of that time spent railing against a dysfunctional system and working to change it. At every step of my journey, however, I have been inspired by great caregivers – doctors, nurses, pharmacists, therapists, technicians – who keep the patient’s needs in focus, despite our administrative limitations.
Calling it a milestone, members of the New York State Nurses Association (NYSNA) have announced they had reached a four-year agreement with three local hospital systems. NYSNA members and the Mount Sinai, Montefiore and New York-Presbyterian hospitals systems have agreed on contract terms that include the hiring of 1,500 new nurses and guidelines for staffing ratios.
The Hawaii Nurses Association — which represents more than 70 nurses at North Hawaii Community Hospital in Waimea — is preparing for an informational picket on Saturday. They’re expressing safety concerns from low staffing levels and frustrating contract negotiations with the hospital’s owners, The Queen’s Health Systems.