Megan Goodman was a dean's list student at Pennsylvania College of Health Sciences who served on two student nursing boards before she earned her associate degree in nursing in May. Since then, the 30-year-old Downingtown, Pa., resident still is seeking work after applying for more than three dozen hospital jobs. "Truthfully, an associate's program is not really going to get you anywhere anymore," she said. Hundreds of thousands of Americans flocked to nursing schools over the past decade, drawn by the prospect of a well-paying job with a degree that takes as little as two years. [Subscription Required]
The efforts to unionize more than 3,900 nurses at three Indiana University Health hospitals have stalled. The United Steelworkers union is working to earn support from nurses at IU Health's Methodist, University and Riley hospitals in Indianapolis, where there have been complaints of low staffing levels, low pay and troublesome attendance policies. But Maria Somma, organizing coordinator for the Pittsburgh-based Steelworkers union, which was invited to work on the unionizing effort about nine months ago, said that there's no estimated date for a vote.
The well-being of some 700 patients in state psychiatric hospitals is in the hands of nurses who say they're overworked, overtired and overstressed because of excessively mandated double shifts. Sometimes several days a week, nurses in Michigan's five state-run hospitals end their regular eight-hour shifts only to be ordered to cover staffing shortages by working another eight hours, against the recommendations of nursing groups and one of the state's own task forces. Several current and former nurses at the Michigan Department of Health & Human Services told the State Journal they're worked to the point of exhaustion and ragged nerves, more prone to errors or poor judgment as they deal with unpredictable, sometimes violent patients.
A nurse administering flu shots to dozens of employees of a pharmaceutical company reused syringes, the state Department of Health said Wednesday. There is a low risk of infection and syringes that hold the vaccine, not needles, were reused, they said. But state and local health officials, as well as the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, are recommending testing for hepatitis B and C and HIV, which can spread via blood. Officials said it happened Sept. 30 when a nurse with TotalWellness administered flu vaccines to 67 employees of Otsuka Pharmaceutical in West Windsor.
The four applicants for Massachusetts nursing licenses didn't seem to have much in common. They gave addresses in Randolph, Everett, Milton, and Lihue, Hawaii. Their applications arrived between last October and June. All four claimed to already have nursing licenses from Hawaii, and each filed a form purportedly signed by Kathleen Yokouchi, identified as an officer of the Hawaii nursing board. There was one problem: Yokouchi retired five years ago. "OMG...these verifications are totally fraudulent," wrote Lee Ann Teshima, executive officer of the Hawaii Board of Nursing, in a Sept. 2 e-mail to an investigator with the Massachusetts Board of Registration in Nursing.
Knoxville police are investigating a report of a stabbing on Monday morning at Physicians Regional Medical Center in North Knoxville. Hospital spokesman Jerry Askew told WBIR that it happened around 6:30 a.m. Monday. The alleged attacker is Gary Michael Smallwood, 40, of Covington, Ky. Smallwood was a patient at the facility, located at 900 E. Oak Hill Ave., according to the Knoxville Police Department. Smallwood is charged with two counts of attempted first-degree murder. Knoxville police said Smallwood had scissors and a knife. Askew said both nurses attacked are in stable condition.