Health & Medical Newswire

According to The U.S. Department of Labor’s March 2008 Employment Summary reports, employment in the health care sector continues to grow, adding 360,000 jobs during the past 12 months. The Labor Department estimates employment of registered nurses will grow 23 percent from 2006 to 2016 and the country will need 500,000 new RNs by 2016.

“I’ve been a nurse since 1969 and have experienced different economic up and down turns,” said Linda Norman, DSN, RN, FAAN, senior associate dean for academics at Vanderbilt University School of Nursing in Nashville, Tennessee. “There has always been a sustained need for nurses and a shortage of nurses.”

“Nursing not only is a recession-proof profession but it is one that has multiple opportunities,” Norman added. “The value of nursing is being appreciated throughout the health care industry.”

“The number of nurses who graduated has gone up during the last 40 years, but, the interesting piece is the demand for nurses also has increased,” Norman said. “Nursing programs have had difficulty keeping up with the demand.”

Pat Witzel, RN and chief nursing officer at Strong Memorial Hospital at the University of Rochester Medical Center located in New York, stated, “Nursing is not generally affected by the economy. People becoming ill or needing health care services is not dependent on what happens economically.”

The average age of a nurse  is almost 50 years with many possibly retiring soon.

“The workforce will be consistently losing nurses during the next five, 10, 15 years, and those nurses will need to be replaced,” said Hila Richardson, director of the undergraduate, continuing education and community health programs at New York University (NYU) College of Nursing.

Nursing jobs  and travel nursing  will always be in demand because people will always need medical care, however schools are just not producing enough nurses.

June 19th, 2009 New York Daily News – Two doctors and two nurses are facing possible criminal charges for covering up the death-by-neglect of patient Esmin Green last year in the psychiatric ward at Kings County Hospital, the Daily News has learned.

Watch surveiilance video of neglected dead woman

The city Department of Investigation will release a report today of its probe of misconduct by medical personnel after a shocking surveillance tape documenting Green’s death – one year ago today – revealed major inconsistencies with reports documenting her care in the emergency room.

“Discrepancies were uncovered that called into question the acuracy of the medical records created by certain Kings County Hospital doctors,” according to the report obtained by The News.

“DOI’s investigation further disclosed that the failures docmented in Ms. Green’s ill fated stay at the facility in all likelihood were not aberrations, but rather the result of systemic weaknesses in the emergency room’s operating procedures…”

The findings of fabricated records and false testimony include:

*A nurse identified only as Gonzalo admitted that after Green was pronounced dead, she made three false entries in the patient’s progress notes to make it appear that Green had appeared fine in the prior 45 minutes while under the nurse’s care.

In fact, Green was out cold on the emergency room floor for one hour, ignored by staffers and security as she lay face-down on the floor.

“Nurse Gonzalo who feared she would lose her job, admitted to DOI that she fabricated portions of the entries in Ms. Green’s progress noptes in order to mislead,” the report states.

*Nursing Aide Royal Easton made false entries in an observation sheet indicating she observed Green asleep. When questioned by investigators, Easton invoked her 5th Ammendment right against self-incrimination.

*The surveillance tape showed Dr. Rashed Abedin and Dr. Dimitru Magardician made no attempt to examine Green after she was brought into the emergency room for observation as they asserted in a medical records. Both doctors also invoked the 5th Ammendment when questioned.

The 18-page report will be forwarded to Brooklyn District Attorney Charles Hynes “for whatever action they deem appropriate.”

Lawyer Sanford Rubenstein who represents Green’s children in a suit against the city said: “I have the utmost confidence in Charles Hynes, the Brooklyn D.A., that based on the evidence in this report he will take appropriate action against all parties.”

Green’s daughter Tecia Harrison, recently settled the suit for $2 million, said the DOI report was a long time coming.

“Those who are guilty should be prosecuted and sent to jail,” Harrison said today. “That’s more important than the settlement.”

The American Medical Association (AMA) said  it opposes a proposal by President Obama to create a public health insurance plan as part of a massive effort to reform the health care industry.

Charles E. Grassley, Iowa Republican and ranking member of the Finance Committee is urging Mr. Obama to support taxing employer health benefits to pay for reform, an idea which President Obama denounced Sen. John McCain for proposing during the presidential debates.

“It looks like he’s looking at doing similar to what McCain wanted to do, and I think for the benefit of making this bipartisan, presidential leadership in this area would be very good based upon the tune of the last campaign,” said Sen. Grassley.

Sen. Christopher J. Dodd on the other hand while appearing Sen. Grassley on “Fox News Sunday” that he’s against taxing the benefits.

“I mean, the idea that you’re going to have people out there that are struggling to make ends meet today, they’re falling further and further behind with wages, people losing jobs, losing homes – to turn around and say, ‘You basically have no change in your health care plan, and by the way, we’re going to tax you now for those benefits’ – we can actually pay for this with proposals Mr. Obama has made”, he said.

Obama plans to pitch the AMA’s annual meeting in Chicago. President Obama is expected to walk through the case for health care reform, including how medicine is delivered and how efficiency could be improved, White House press secretary Robert Gibbs told reporters.

Nurses are not happy with the portrayal of their profession when it comes to Nurse Jackie, the Showtime television drama played by veteran actress Edie Falco. A spokesperson for the New York State Nurses Association says “we believe that the public’s view of nurses is influenced by TV dramas, and we have yet to see an accurate portrayal of what nurses really do.”

Come on people, it is just a TV show. Television is all about sensation and controvery that do one thing – increase ratings.

Do I think that all plastic surgeons are like the doctors portrayed on Nip/Tuck? Obviously not. If they were all like that, it would be a sick world. Come to think of it, are we the ones who are sick for watching these shows?

We know that all nurses are not like this. Nursing by far is still one of the noblest professions on this planet!

Nurses Forum is dedicated to providing online information to the nursing community. At Nurses Forum, you can find information about travel nursing, search for nursing jobs, post resumes and find the latest nusring news.

The following article was reported today by the Associated Press (AP)

MADISON, Wis. – A nurse was called out of surgery so a manager could tell her she was being laid off. Dean Health said the surgery was minor and the patient wasn’t affected, but the manager who summoned the nurse from surgery violated medical protocol. Dean Health spokesman Paul Pitas said the incident happened at Dean’s West Clinic in Madison on Wednesday or Thursday.

Pitas said there was a period of time in which a nurse wasn’t present during the procedure. He said while there were other clinical staff present, the absence of a nurse is a violation of patient care procedures.

The Madison-based health care provider announced Wednesday that it planned to “immediately” lay off 90 employees.

Pitas declined to name the employees involved or what type of surgery the nurse was attending when she was called away.

In recent years, the need for traveling nursing has grown dramatically as a way to fill a nationwide shortage of nurses at hospitals. What started in the 1980s as a short-term solution to staffing problems has blossomed into an essential part of hospital operations.

“Travel nurses are people looking for some adventure in their lives,” says Marcia Faller, chief nursing officer and executive vice president of San Diego-based AMN Healthcare. “It’s a nice, easy way to experience different types of jobs without being tied down to one hospital.”

Most travel nursing companies act as your personal recruiter, helping you determine where in the United States you want to work and the type of facility that’s best for you.

Travel nursing jobs usually last about 13 weeks, Faller says, but some nurses choose to extend stays for up to a year or more. Many companies, including AMN, cover moving, housing and utility costs as well as offer a full benefits package in addition to a competitive salary.
Travel nursing also offers flexibility, as there are typically no annual contracts involved and you can work for as many assignments as you’d like.

“You can go anywhere you want in the country,” Faller says.

Gabe Westheimer who became a registered nurse in January, has been unable to find a nursing job in his preferred area, an emergency room nurse. Nursing jobs are not as abundant as they were before the economic downturn.

His wife, Kate, is a doctoral student with a National Institutes of Health fellowship has a limited income, and two more years of schooling left. Gabe abd his wife had budgeted for him to be without a job until April, but he’s up against the deadline.

“We budgeted for us to get that income now, but I’m still looking,” he said. “We sure would love not to draw on savings.”

More experienced nurses who might have chosen to retire are staying, and those who worked part time have moved to full time, squeezing out new graduates.

Gabe feels that like the country, he and his wife are building their foundation now, and although their finances, and the national economy, might be gloomy, things will improve soon.

“I have no worries about our long term prospects,” he said. “I trust that sooner rather than later I will land a job in the field I want to work in.”

We have just recently updated our forums with a whole new look. It’s now much easier to sign up and participate in our nursing jobs forums. We have Nursing News , General Nursing Discussion, Travel Nurses Talk Travel Nursing, Nurses Talk with Nurse Recruiters, Nurse Recruiters Talk to Nurses plus many more interesting and relevant discussions that are of interest. Please have a look and you are welcome to participate.

By Kayley Mendenhall
The Bulletin: bendbulletin.com

“A nursing shortage has gripped the nation for years and has hit home with more than 100 nursing vacancies advertised in recent months by Cascade Healthcare Community, parent company of St. Charles Medical Centers in Bend and Redmond. Local medical officials, state and national experts agree that a gap in available education is part of the problem.” Read full article.

Nurses Forum provides resources for nursing jobs, travel nursing, nursing information, articles and forums.

This article by Wendy J. Meyeroff, Monster.com contributing writer, talks about the nursing jobs shortage and what to consider when chosing a job offer. Because the demand is greater than the supply, nurses are now in the driver’s seat when it comes to chosing their careers. Read full article.