RNs Reach Settlement at St. Joseph, Eureka Hospital Cite Gains for Patients, Security for RNs

Registered nurses at St. Joseph Hospital in Eureka have achieved a tentative settlement with hospital officials on a new collective bargaining agreement that nurses say bring significant improvements in patient care protections and economic gains for the RNs.
Some 375 St. Joseph Eureka RNs are represented by the California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee (CNA/NNOC). The [...]

St. Johns Hospital on Trial for Attacking RN Rights

The federal agency that oversees labor law has ordered St. Johns Health Center, located in Santa Monica and a part of the Catholic chain, Sisters of Charity of Leavenworth, to stand trial on charges that it violated the rights of its registered nurses. The National Labor Relations Board is prosecuting the hospital for unlawful harassment [...]

Data to Help Make Informed Decisions About Nursing Homes in MA

The decision to place an elderly loved one in an unfamiliar setting, such as a nursing home or other skilled care facility, is never easy. Unless you have had direct experience with nursing homes, it is difficult to know what to expect. It is also challenging to weed through the varying reports associated with nursing [...]

Amid Calls for More Highly Educated Nurses, New AACN Data Show Impressive Growth in Doctoral Nursing Programs

According to new survey data released yesterday by the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN), enrollment in doctoral nursing programs increased by more than 20% this year, signaling strong interest among students in careers as nursing scientists, faculty, primary care providers, and specialists. Final results from AACN’s 2009 annual survey confirm that enrollments in [...]

Reforming Care Delivery: How Will It Affect Your Nursing Career?

While no one knows whether Congress and the president will achieve comprehensive health care reform, nursing experts are convinced that, regardless of what happens in Washington, nurses will find greater career opportunities in the future.
From larger patient populations and greater demand to advances in telemedicine and more community-based, non-hospital careers, a number of factors are [...]

California Forecasts Nursing Shortage of 12,000 By 2014

A new report just released by California’s key legislative analyst, Elizabeth G. Hill, now forecasts that due to an increase in new nursing graduates and an anticipated greater future “inflow” of these graduates, California will have a nursing shortage of only 12,000 registered nurses, instead of the 29,000 previously anticipated by 2014.
Previously, California was expected [...]

Nursing Shortage National Concern

Tens of thousands of hospital deaths every year can be blamed on a nationwide nursing shortage, according to a report released today by the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations.
The private commission, which inspects and accredits hospitals, believes that a lack of nurses is to blame for thousands of deaths caused by problems [...]

West Virginia has a nursing shortage

Martinsburg’s West Virginia University Hospitals-East will soon undergo a $28 million expansion, which will allow the emergency department alone to treat 20,000 more patients per year, said Teresa McCabe, the facility’s vice president for marketing and development.
“We currently see about 45,000 patients a year in our emergency department, and it was not designed for that [...]

Effects of the Nursing Shortage

A study published in the January/February 2006 journal Health Affairs provides new evidence that if hospitals invest in appropriate Registered Nurse (RN) staffing, thousands of lives and millions of dollars could be saved each year. Specifically, the study shows that if hospitals increased RN staffing and hours of nursing care per patient, more than 6,700 [...]

New survey finds nursing shortage likely to increase

Nearly one-third of registered nurses surveyed in January say they will not be working in their current job a year from now, and close to half say they plan to alter their career path in one to three years.
The 2010 survey of registered nurses released Wednesday by AMN Healthcare, a San Diego-based provider of [...]