All Entries Tagged With: "nurse satisfaction"
Washington, DC, nurses strike again
After almost a year of on-again, off-again contract talks and labor disputes over wages, benefits, staffing, and patient safety, nurses at the Washington Hospital Center—the region’s largest hospital—began a 24-hour strike on the morning of Friday, March 4.
Between 200 and 250 nurses picketed outside the hospital complex, chanting slogans and wearing red scrubs, the trademark color of National Nurses United, which represents the 1,600 nurses at Washington Hospital Center and is the nation’s largest nurses union.
According to The Washington Post, the nurses were picketing over potential cuts in wages, the need for more nurses, and benefit disputes—the same topics that have been an issue for the past year. A hospital spokesperson told The Washington Post that of the 313 nurses scheduled to work the 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. shift that day, more than 150 came in, and that replacement nurses were hired to fill in for the rest. The paper also reported that 125 hospital physicians had signed a petition requesting nurses to stay at patients’ bedsides.
The protest was supposed to last until the morning of Saturday, March 5, at 7 a.m., but hospital officials said they would lock out striking nurses for five days without pay, because the hospital is obligated to pay the replacement nurses for at least 60 hours of work.
To read more about the disputes at the Washington Hospital Center, click here.
Nurses refuse raises in the name of patient care
Newspapers and websites have been inundated this year with protests, strikes, and complaints of nursing staff shortages affecting patient care. It’s the same old story that’s being told everywhere, and after a recent poll that asked nurses whether they’d turn down a pay increase to hire more nurses on the floor received an 83% response of “Yes, we need more help,” it’s a story that seems to be evolving into one for the ages. Type “nurses strike” into your browser and enjoy the show of headlines from 2010 that pop up before your very eyes:
- Early in 2010, 18 nurses at Washington Hospital Center, the largest non-profit hospital in the DC area, were fired for not reporting to work during a snow storm, in what was dubbed the Blizzardgate firings. The move was protested by National Nurses United who said such a move was unprecedented in the hospital’s history and brought decreased morale to the hospital’s staff members. Ramifications of the issue were still being felt as of early November, when National Nurses United sent a 19-page report to the DC Health Department informing it that Washington Hospital Center is understaffed and compromising patient safety. The report contained more than 50 different allegations of incidents related to patient care in hopes that the Health Department will investigate.
You can’t teach with apathy: Why it’s important to support your preceptors
by Julie Harris, MSN, RN
I occasionally peruse online nursing forums to see what the hot topics are. Last night, I was on a highly popular forum and came across an interesting discussion. A new graduate was being oriented and her preceptors were not interested in training her. She perceived their behavior as intimidating and somewhat hostile and she didn’t know what her next step should be. Should she quit and look for a new job? Should she stick it out?
Responses to her post ranged from “This is part of orientation. Try not to take it personal,” to “Those nurses shouldn’t be preceptors. If this facility supports that kind of behavior, you need to leave and find a new job.”
I find myself agreeing more with the last response. Nobody should be forced to precept. Some nurses are wonderful caregivers with excellent clinical skills; however they do not possess the desire to train orientees. Other nurses have a strong craving to teach and pass on their knowledge to orientees. Both options are perfectly acceptable.
Effective precepting: Giving feedback to orientees
Whenever I conduct a preceptor workshop, I always ask the question, “What is the most difficult aspect of precepting?” I usually get a range of answers, but at least one nurse will always say, “Providing feedback to orientees.” Providing feedback can be difficult, especially if it is your first time doing it.
In a preceptor-orientee relationship, the best type of feedback to provide is constructive feedback. Constructive feedback focuses on improving orientees’ performance by reinforcing desired behavior, and correcting poor performance. It allows orientees to maintain their motivation for learning, and enables them to experience at least partial success.
Rebecca Schorn: Image of nursing in clinical practice
HCPro’s Image of Nursing in Clinical Practice award recognizes nurses who embody a positive image of nursing through their clinical excellence. The award goes to a nurse who has made significant contributions to improve patient outcomes, patient safety/quality initiatives, staff satisfaction, practice changes, research or evidence-based practice projects, interdisciplinary collaboration, or organizational goals.
This year, the judges gave the honor to Rebecca Schorn, RN, BSN, CCRN, nurse clinician level 4 in the PICU at Nemours/Alfred I. duPont Hospital for Children in Wilmington, DE. Schorn serves in a direct care role, providing hands-on, evidence-based nursing care, while simultaneously attending to the emotional and spiritual needs of her patients and their families.
Karen Hill: Image of nursing in leadership
Each year, HCPro’s Nursing Image Awards recognize nurses who have helped elevate the image of nursing. One of the categories, the Image of Nursing in Leadership award, recognizes nurse leaders who embody a positive image of nursing through leadership excellence. The award honors leaders who serve as inspiring mentors and outstanding role models to nurses as they strive to be professional in all they do, whether by overcoming challenges, spearheading change, or fostering teamwork that results in the achievement of operational goals and objectives.
This year, the judges bestowed their accolades on Karen S. Hill, DNP, RN, NEA-BC, FACHE, a visionary vice president and chief executive officer at Central Baptist Hospital in Lexington, KY. Hill began her career at Central Baptist Hospital as a teenage candy striper. Twenty-six years later, Hill is a source of empowerment and support for other nursing professionals.
New nonfiction book encourages nurses to live healthier
As a nurse, it’s your job to take care of people. But, with the stress of long hours and the additional exposure to diseases, it’s important to ask: are you caring for yourself with the same expertise you give your patients?
A new nonfiction book written by Julia Buss, RN, MS, attempts to motivate the three million registered nurses in the United States to lead a healthier lifestyle. The book is titled Your Care Plan: A Nurse’s Guide to Healthy Living, and is designed to help nurses make a difference in their own lives.
The book provides in-depth discussions on the basics of eating, digestion, and exercise, and is full of tools for nurses to assess their current health and lifestyle, tips on how to improve, and information backed by statistics and professional studies.
Diane von Furstenberg designs hospital gown for Cleveland Clinic
Fashion has made its way into hospitals! Fashion designer Diane von Fursternberg is lending her expertise to the Cleveland Clinic on the design of a new hospital gown.
The hospital had been working to upgrade the notorious open-backed gown for the past three years, and several creations have been turned down after being deemed no more attractive than the original. But, a chance encounter between the clinic’s CEO, Toby Cosgrove, and von Furstenberg at a medical conference provided a fresh perspective.
The new gown will have sides that tie and the Cleveland Clinic logo in the fabric design. It’s also required that the gown be lightweight and comfortable, accessible for medical procedures, and durable enough to withstand multiple washings.
Visit latimes.com to view a picture of the new gown.
Source: HealthLeaders Media
A tough economy forces nurses to make hard decisions
There’s no denying it’s hard out there on the job front. As companies nationwide are continuing to cut budgets, thousands of Americans are still bidding farewell to steady employment, and life doesn’t seem to be any different in our hospitals. It’s no shock that hospitals aren’t excluded from the pool of organizations that need to tighten their financial belts, but the question is whether these institutions are asking their nurses to sacrifice too much in order to make ends meet.
Chained by large budget restrictions, hospitals are cutting back in areas that put strain on nurses. Earlier this year, Cambridge Health Alliance in Boston gave nurses the option of an early retirement to maintain full benefits, or otherwise be subject to a 40% cut in their retirement health benefits.
Nurses at the Charlie Norwood VA Hospital in Augusta, GA, are planning a protest next week because of an $8 million budget deficit. The hospital’s budget problems, they say, have forced nurses to work 16-hour shifts, and have slowed the rate of hiring and cut back on equipment budgets. This leads to tougher working conditions, a higher nurse turnover rate, and could ultimately decrease patient care.
Online breathing technique program helps reduce stress in nurses and patients
Nurses are well aware of the stress that comes with the job. Taking care of numerous patients at varying levels of sickness, and dealing with many competing priorities, is enough to make anyone stressed out. Now, with the help of the BREATHE technique, nurses and patients can lower their blood pressure, heart rate, and experience a decrease in stress.
The BREATHE technique was developed by John M. Kennedy, medical director of preventative cardiology at Marina del Rey Hospital in California. It’s a 15-minute computer program that helps ease the stress of nurses and patients by combining deep breathing with guided imagery.
