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The Coalition for Nursing Careers in California:"Our Mission will be to lead an outreach effort to achieve an adequate and diverse nursing workforce to meet the needs of California."
http://www.cncc.org/
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October 1, 2005: California: Grant to help ease nursing shortage:"A $1.1 million state grant to the College of the Desert should help alleviate the local nursing shortage.
The college plans to create services that help more students complete the nursing program in four semesters. Eighteen other community colleges statewide also received grants from a $30 million program aimed at addressing California's shortage of registered nurses.
It's a serious problem. The United States already is short almost 150,000 nurses. With retirements in the profession and the growing number of baby boomers who will need increased medical care in their retirement years, the nation soon may be short as many as 600,000 RNs. A four-fold increase in new nurses is needed locally through 2010, according to a report this spring from The Coalition to Address the Bedside Nursing Crisis in the Coachella Valley authored by local doctor Max Harry Weil."
http://www.thedesertsun.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051001/OPINION01/510010319/1004
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August 7, 2005: Cal State nursing program deemed 'impacted' by CSU officials:Cal State San Marcos will have the unusual opportunity to pick and choose which students are admitted to its new nursing program, based on their grades and other criteria. Nursing officials at the college received permission from Cal State officials in Long Beach last week to declare the nursing program ---- set to start in the 2006 fall semester ---- an "impacted" major. That designation will allow the college to rank applicants based on their grades in science classes and whether they have previous experience in health care."
http://nursingdiscussions.com/2242
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Saturday, July 30, 2005: California: Board of Supervisors fear nurse shortage in Kern County:"The Kern County Board of Supervisors recently outlined what they referred to as nurse staffing shortages that threaten to interrupt operations at Kern County Medical Center. Although some KMC trauma patients have had to be diverted to other hospitals, authorities said no deaths have been reported. The nursing shortage is due in part, officials contend, to California AB 394. The statute, which was signed into law in October of 1999, established a call for minimum and specific nurse-to-patient ratios. After a long period of review, actual ratio numbers were formalized in January of 2004."
http://www.ridgecrestca.com/articles/2005/07/24/community_events/local01.txt
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Sunday, April 17, 2005: California: Nursing shortage to get worse:"Dropout rates increase for student nurses. Aggravating California's critical nursing shortage, nearly a quarter of all students studying to be nurses in Los Angeles community colleges dropped out in 2003-04 more than 35 percent higher than the statewide average.
College officials say the drop-out rate is so high that it is becoming one of the most significant bottlenecks in an already-strained system that produces two-thirds of the state's nurses."
http://www.presstelegram.com/Stories/0,1413,204~21474~2821778,00.html
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Sun, Apr. 10, 2005: California hospitals try to meet nurse ratio:"California hospitals are struggling to meet a new, first-in-the-nation requirement that they have one nurse on duty for every five patients at all times, and officials say most institutions are falling short.
Some hospitals have tried to close the gap by hiring nurses from outside agencies and making staffers work more hours. Others are closing beds or keeping people longer in the emergency room to prevent other parts of the hospital from becoming overcrowded."
http://www.myrtlebeachonline.com/mld/myrtlebeachonline/news/nation/11358309.htm
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Apr 10 2005: Great Britain: Nurse struck off for abusing patient:"A MENTAL health nurse who verbally abused and roughly handled a 74-year-old Alzheimer's sufferer in a care home has been struck off. Lisa Howells, 35, also took her 14-year-old son to work and slept for four hours on a night shift at Plas Cwm Carw Nursing Home in Port Talbot. She was in charge of 38 elderly and vulnerable patients at the time."
http://icwales.icnetwork.co.uk/0100news/0200wales/tm_objectid=15386499&method=full&siteid=50082&headline=nurse-struck-off-for-abusing-patient-name_page.html
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Wednesday, April 6, 2005: California: Hospitals scrambling to meet nurse ratio:"California hospitals are struggling to meet a new, first-in-the-nation requirement that they have one nurse on duty for every five patients at all times, and officials say most institutions are falling short.
Some hospitals have tried to close the gap by hiring nurses from outside agencies and making staffers work more hours. Others are closing beds or keeping people longer in the emergency room to prevent other parts of the hospital from becoming overcrowded."
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apscience_story.asp?category=1500&slug=Nurse%20Law
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Monday, March 28, 2005: California: Education can solve nursing shortage:"WE hear a lot of grumbling about nursing ratios at hospitals, and nurses unions and hospital associations are at odds over whether a nursing shortage currently exists.
But with the courts overturning Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's delay of implementing the ratios, it's clear more nurses will be needed to meet the 1-to-5 nurse-to-patient general hospital staffing required under the second phase of a law passed in 1999."
http://www.whittierdailynews.com/Stories/0,1413,207~12044~2786518,00.html
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March 21, 2004: California: Nurses union to be on guard despite recent court victory:"Despite winning a court victory this week in its fight against Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to implement a nurse staffing law, the Oakland-based California Nurses Association isn't letting up on its relentless campaign against the governor. The 60,000-member union says it will expand its efforts and vigorously protest the governor's proposals to overhaul the state's pension system and change redistricting rules.
"We believe our new role is to work with other groups that are under attack, such as teachers," said Deborah Burger, president of the California Nurses Association. "It would be shortsighted for us to stop now."
http://www.insidebayarea.com/oaklandtribune/localnews/ci_2615410
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March 18, 2005: Nurse's attorneys say mistrial constitutes double jeopardy:"The defense says this week's mistrial in the case of former nurse in Nocona charged with killing ten patients constitutes double jeopardy. Vickie Dawn Jackson's attorneys say her capital murder trial in San Angelo came to an untimely end Monday because of a prosecutor's error that may have been intentional."
http://www.team4news.com/Global/story.asp?S=3093437
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Thursday March 17: California Hospital Association Files Appeal Seeking to Overturn Nurse Ratio Ruling:"The California Hospital Association (CHA) has filed an appeal seeking to overturn a recent ruling by the Sacramento County Superior Court that invalidated common-sense modifications to California's nurse-to-patient ratio regulations. The appeal was filed with the 3rd District Court of Appeal in Sacramento. In addition to the appeal, CHA also has asked the Appellate Court to immediately stay the lower court's ruling during the appeals process."
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/050317/sfth084_3.html
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March 17: India: GMCH nurses give a number to healthcare: 1 nurse for 30 patients:"STAFF Nurses of the Government Medical College and Hospital (GMCH) are complaining of shortage of nursing staff at the hospital. They say there is only one staff nurse for every 30 patients in the wards.
Voicing their discontent at being overburdened with work, members of the Nurses Welfare Association of Government Medical College and Hospital add that the nurse to patient ratio is around 1:4 in the Intensive Care."
http://cities.expressindia.com/fullstory.php?newsid=121745
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Tuesday, March 15, 2005: California: New nurse-to-patient ratios go into effect:"Hospitals became subject Monday to controversial legislation that requires them to adopt lower nurse-to-patient ratios.
Superior Court Judge Judy Hersher had ruled March 4 that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's administration had illegally tried to block more stringent nurse-to-patient ratios from taking effect at the beginning of the year.
The judge signed the order Monday, making it official. Hospitals will now have to have one nurse for every five patients on medical and surgical wards, as opposed to a nurse for every six patients, the previous minimum."
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2005/03/15/BAG73BP9SK1.DTL&type=health
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March 02, 2005: Canadians quench Enloe nurse drought:"To make up for America's nursing shortage, Canadian nurses have migrated to Enloe Medical Center. Of the 400 nurses at Enloe, 30 are from Canada. There are many reasons for hiring foreign nurses, especially those from Canada, said Charlene Davis, director of recruitment at Enloe.
"Of course, we are in the middle of an extreme nurse shortage, but many nurses are not able to find steady work in Canada," Davis said. "The United States isn't graduating enough nurses to keep up with those that retire."
http://www.orion-online.net/vnews/display.v/ART/2005/03/02/422533f2d2599
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February 22, 2005: California: Girlie men? Manly girls? The Governator and nursing's gender issues:"Today CNN's web site posted an unsigned AP story about recent charges by California nurses and teachers that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's policies and attitude toward them--including his references to them as "special interests"--reflect an ingrained hostility to women and "women's occupations." Probably unintentionally, the piece raises difficult questions about how society sees nursing, and how nurses advocate for their profession, including the pros and cons of using the profession's predominant gender as a political weapon."
http://www.nursingadvocacy.org/news/2005feb/22_cnn.html
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January 17, 2005: California: Nurses headed to Sacramento:"Group opposes Schwarzenegger's changing of part of safe staffing law.
Lobbying in Sacramento for safe staffing ratios has become somewhat of a hobby for registered nurses in San Bernardino and Riverside counties.
Much to their chagrin, they'll be flying to the state's capital again today.
This time it won't just be on the Capitol's steps. About 1,000 Southern California nurses 100 to 200 from local medical facilities hope to testify before the state's Department of Health Services. The nurses want to keep intact a provision of the 1999 safe staffing law that requires a one-nurse-per-five-patient ratio on medical and surgical floors."
http://www.sbsun.com/Stories/0,1413,208~12588~2659011,00.html
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Sat Jan 8, 2005: L.A. Hospital Suspends Nurse After Death:"A patient died at a troubled hospital after an intensive care nurse ignored her worsening condition and alerted doctors only after the woman went into cardiac arrest, Los Angeles County health officials said.
Alarms on the patient's vital-signs monitor were either turned off or lowered before she died Nov. 18 at Martin Luther King Jr./Drew Medical Center, the officials said. The 47-year-old woman had been suffering from pneumonia and sepsis."
http://www.optonline.net/News/Article/Feeds?CID=type%3Dxml%26channel%3D32%26article%3D13456873
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Tuesday, November 16, 2004: California: State faces nursing shortage dilemma:"Most everyone agrees that California is facing a major nursing shortage as many retire and schools struggle to keep up -- a shortage that places the state near the bottom nationwide for nurse-to-patient ratios and is predicted to get much worse by 2020. But while hospital administrators are calling for more nurses to be trained, the California Nurses Association, or CNA, has emphasized improving work conditions as the best way to attract more nurses."
http://www.sfexaminer.com/article/index.cfm/i/111604n_nursing2
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November 10, 2004: California: Agency tackles nursing shortage:"In an effort to address a region-wide shortage in nurses and health care educational facilities, a local agency is considering donating up to $5.5 million toward a proposed third building at Cal State University San Bernardino’s Palm Desert campus. At a meeting Tuesday, a Desert Healthcare District task force unveiled its written recommendation, which includes a $1 million sum to be given in April and a consideration of an additional $4.5 million added by June 2007."
http://www.thedesertsun.com/news/stories2004/local/20041110002558.shtml
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Saturday, October 16, 2004: California, No flu shots for ER staffs, Nurse predicts decision will lead to 'disaster:"San Mateo County is so low on flu vaccine that emergency-room doctors and nurses will not be offered shots this year, a situation they say will exacerbate a nursing shortage in local hospitals once the virus starts making its rounds.
"If we are ill and unable to work, there are no replacement nurses available," said Laura Grgich, a registered nurse who works in the ER at Seton Medical Center. "We see a disaster waiting to happen this flu season with this situation."
http://www.sanmateocountytimes.com/Stories/0,1413,87~11268~2472249,00.html
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February 5, 2003: California: SFSU strengthens the nursing career ladder:"As the nationwide nursing shortage focuses attention on recruiting first-line RNs, SFSU's School of Nursing is finding new ways to also increase working nurses' career satisfaction and retention. Associate Professors Amy Nichols and Andrea Boyle have designed an innovative MSN program that helps RNs with bachelor's degrees move up the career ladder -- an effort to retain these much-needed professionals in their field.
With an emphasis on flexibility, peer support, and respect for the experiences and knowledge that working professionals hold, the two-year MSN cohort program is tailor-made for nurses who want to enhance their career mobility and earning potential without putting their careers or family lives on hold."
http://www.sfsu.edu/~news/2003/14.htm
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January 27, 2003: California: CA Nursing Shortage Threatens Care:"California is facing a nursing shortage so severe that it's being called a health care crisis.
While lifting and turning patients unable to move themselves, nurse David Turner puts his back and shoulders into his work, as well as his heart.
Seventeen years ago, Turner sold his ice manufacturing business in St. Louis and decided to become a nurse. Five years into nursing he had second thoughts, but has stayed for the rewards.
Nursing needs more people like Turner: more men. More men, more women, more minority community members and more instructors to train them."
http://www.kron4.com/Global/story.asp?S=1101577
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Friday, January 24, 2003: California: Hospital, Napa schools work together to find nurses:"As baby Brian poked his head into the world, 16-year-old Amanda Edginton made a beeline for the door.
Feeling faint in the hospital hallway, Edginton, a junior at Vintage High School, was positive she did not want to be a nurse who assists in delivering babies. But Mariam Aboudamous, who enthusiastically took pictures of the experience for the high school's yearbook, had found her calling.
"I think I just discovered what I want to be," said Aboudamous, 16.
As California faces one of the nation's worst nursing shortages, Queen of the Valley Hospital is teaming up with Napa Valley Unified School District to attract students to careers in health care. Five Vintage High juniors dressed head-to-toe in scrubs Tuesday and shadowed nurses in various departments."
http://www.napanews.com/templates/index.cfm?template=story_full&id=71094287-9924-45DA-AFF5-B0DC7CB49FBF
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January 23, 2003: California: Doctors seek more beds:"Since last fall, the hospital has reopened a number of beds that had been kept empty because of a lack of nursing staff, which local officials cite as a local example of a national nursing shortage. The hospital signed contracts with firms to provide temporary nurses. If the hospital could find more nurses, it could open up an additional eight or nine beds, Chief Executive Officer Mathew Abraham said Thursday."
http://www.dailynews.com/Stories/0,1413,200~20943~1131684,00.html
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Tue, Jan. 21, 2003: California:"Nurses strike shows no sign of ending:"There's no end in sight to a more-than-two-month old strike by registered nurses at Doctors Medical Center San Pablo/Pinole. Remaining sharply divided over benefit issues, management and nurses haven't talked since October. The hospital remains open, but the future of its nurses is far from certain. Already 75 percent have accepted new jobs, although many may return if the strike ends. Nurses are demanding pensions and retiree medical benefits. It's a demand every other Bay Area hospital has fulfilled where nurses are represented by the California Nurses Association, which also represents nurses at Doctors Medical Center. But management insists the pension demand is non-negotiable."
http://www.bayarea.com/mld/cctimes/4995166.htm
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January 19, 2003: California: Homeless alcoholics clog ERs:"S.F. hospitals forced to turn away others:"Chronic homeless alcoholics found passed out on San Francisco streets are taking up the city's declining number of emergency room beds, jeopardizing the health of other patients seeking medical treatment and putting more strain on an already overtaxed health care system. The finding is part of a new study conducted by a City Hall task force about the skyrocketing number of times that overcrowded emergency rooms must divert ambulances to other hospitals to find an empty bed."
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2003/0
1/19/MN127370.DTL
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January 17, 2003: California: Hospital district earmarks $1.5 million for nursing school:"Washington Hospital District's board has approved a $1.5 million grant to Ohlone College for its nursing school program. The award is the single-largest financial contribution for an academic program at the Fremont community college. The board approved the allocation at its Jan. 8 meeting.
In addition, the hospital plans to use $150,000 to build a skills laboratory to train nursing students. The lab, to be built on the hospital campus in Fremont, will have 12 beds and include some of the latest medical technology.
"This is an incredibly generous contribution," says Barbara Harrelson, regional vice president of the Hospital Council for Northern and Central California.
http://sanjose.bizjournals.com/sanjose/stories/2003/01/20/story7.html
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Mon, Jan. 13, 2003: California: Short on help, medical industry seeks men to fill nursing ranks:"Profession makes effort to dismantle
traditional image of women in white. While shaving and bathing his quadriplegic neighbor, Jim Kennedy discovered what he wanted to do when he
grew up.
He was 9 at the time, living in Kansas City, Mo., and making extra cash by helping out a couple across the street. He was so excited about
his revelation that he had to share it with the wife of the man he was helping.
"I told her, 'God I love this ... I think I'd make a great nurse,'" recalled the Richmond resident. "And she said: 'You would... Too bad men
can't be nurses.'"
http://www.bayarea.com/mld/cctimes/living/4934832.htm
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Sunday, January 5, 2003: California: Code blue
alert for ERs, Shortage of beds and nurses threatens stressed system:"The ambulance sped to Summit Medical Center's emergency department
in Oakland, carrying a patient with chest pains. Approaching the ER's back entrance, the paramedics encountered a line of patients lying on
gurneys waiting to get inside the packed facility.
The paramedics remained outside with the patient for 30 minutes before reaching the charge nurse, who admitted the ailing man.
This scenario plays out at Bay Area hospitals frequently these days - but was rare a decade ago, said Mark Slingerland, one of the paramedics
in the ambulance."
http://www.trivalleyherald.com/Stories/0,1413,86%257E10
669%257E1091117,00.html
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January 04, 2003: California: Study finds poor people wait longer for emergency care:"One of the biggest challenges facing hospitals today is
the nursing shortage, which can affect emergency wait times, he added.
"Registered nurses are golden right now,' he said.
The nursing shortage has hit California hard, and the state ranks 49th in terms of registered nurses per capita, according to the California
Institute for Nursing and HealthCare."
http://www.dailybulletin.com/Stories/0,1413,203%257E21481%257E1088482,00.html
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December 30, 2002: California: MJC puts nurses on the market:"At a time when nurses are in big demand, Modesto Junior College has produced its biggest class of graduates in five years.
The class of 55 students that graduated this month with associate degrees is nearly double the size of nursing classes at MJC in the 1990s, according to Bonnie Costello, director of the nursing program.
The college gradually has admitted and graduated more students in an effort to catch up with the nursing shortage.
But Costello said she does not see the shortage ending any time soon."
http://www.modbee.com/local/story/5748309p-6719653c.html
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December 18, 2002: California: Community Memorial plans to expand:"As the county faces a severe nursing shortage, Strople said Community Memorial is doing its best to find new nurses who will be needed to staff the new building.
"We're always concerned about the nursing shortage. We're continually recruiting nurses," Strople said. "We have several programs that deal with that. We're just going to have to do our best."
http://www.insidevc.com/vcs/ve/article/0,1375,VCS_251_1617452,00.html
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Saturday December 14, 2002: California: Nurses at Large Calif. Hospital Unionize:"Nurses at the West Coast's largest nonprofit hospital voted to join the California Nurses Association, a decision that union officials say will curb the state's nursing shortage.
Registered nurses at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center voted 695-627 Friday in favor of unionizing. The National Labor Relations Board supervised the vote.
``It will be a sea of change in terms of how nursing is enhanced in Southern California,'' said Rose Ann DeMoro, executive director of the union."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uslatest/story/0,1282,-2244647,00.html
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December 14, 2002: California: Cedars-Sinai nurses to join union
Workers planning to negotiate for better pay, benefits, staffing:"Nurses at the West Coast's largest nonprofit hospital voted to join the California Nurses Association and looked forward Saturday to negotiating for better pay, benefits and staffing.
Registered nurses at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center approved the move late Friday with a 695-627 vote. The National Labor Relations Board supervised the election in what's been called a significant union victory.
"I'm ecstatic,' said Joao da Silva, an emergency-room nurse. "Nurses need to be united ... I think nurses are going to be respected a lot more now by management."
http://www.whittierdailynews.com/Stories/0,1413,207%257E12026%257E1053288,00.html
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December 10, 2002: California: Los Angeles: Molina Cuba trip for trade:"It's an initial tour to see what kind of collaboration can be established,' Molina spokesman Miguel Santana said. "Cuba has a surplus of health-care professionals, and we obviously are in desperate need of nurses."
http://www.presstelegram.com/Stories/0,1413,204%257E21474%257E1045392,00.html
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December 9, 2002: California: Nursing shortage and taxes: situation critical at hospital:"With nurses leaving the area and going out on medical leave, the situation at Indian Valley Hospital is critical.
Indian Valley Health Care District directors were told to plan for the future of the troubled hospital by physician Dan Williams.
He thinks the hospital can only continue functioning at current levels of service for about three more months, if nothing happens to change the situation."
http://www.plumasnews.com/news_story.edi?sid=823&mode=thread&order=0&thold=0
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Saturday, December 7, 2002: California: Local hospitals try to combat nurse shortage, Recruitment efforts include area colleges, nationwide searches:"The nursing shortage that threatens California will not spare Monterey County, Salinas-area hospital officials said this week.
"I don't see an end to it," said Raye Burkhardt, director of nursing at George L. Mee Memorial Hospital in King City. The state Employment Development Department estimates an additional 30,000 registered nurses will be needed in the next four years, far more than can be obtained through nursing schools and the hiring of nurses from other states and countries.
By 2010, there will be a demand for 109,600 additional registered nurses."
http://www.californianonline.com/news/stories/20021207/localnews/528043.html
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December 4, 2002: California: Sutter hospital workers OK deal, The Roseville employees turn aside their union's plea to reject the pact:"Unionized workers at Sutter Roseville Medical Center voted Tuesday to ratify a new three-year contract. By approving the deal, they rejected their union's recommendation to go on strike Dec. 23 in a push for better wages and benefits and more input on hospital staffing decisions.
The Service Employees International Union, which represents 450 service and technical workers at the hospital, had recommended that its members reject the contract and approve a strike, which would have been the second walkout at Sutter since bargaining began in October."
http://www.sacbee.com/content/business/story/5460249p-6444687c.html
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Tuesday, December 03, 2002: California: Hospital hopes job fair will help will nursing positions:"Arrowhead Regional Medical Center expects to fill at least 20 nursing positions today during a recruiting fair here.
The recruitment effort, the first of its kind being held at the county hospital, is in response to area growth and hospital expansion, said spokesman Jorge Valencia.
"This is a result of a large number of openings here,' he said. "We are hoping to fill more than 20 (nursing) positions."
http://www.sbsun.com/Stories/0,1413,208%257E12588%257E1028136,00.html
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December 02, 2002: California: Eden township aids nursing shortage:"In an attempt to stave off a public health crisis, the Eden Township Healthcare District is boosting Cal State Hayward's efforts to educate future nurses.
The district, which helps govern Castro Valley's Eden Medical Center and oversees a $30 million endowment for local health and wellness programs, gave Cal State Hayward a $133,510 grant to expand its undergraduate nursing program.
That pays for recruitment, an additional teacher and 10 more students to complete the university's three-year program, which has about 200 students. The grant covers the costs, such as labs and tutoring, associated with the program's expansion. Those students still pay tuition."
http://www.theargusonline.com/Stories/0,1413,83%257E1971%257E1025009,00.html
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December 1, 2002: California State: Hospital takes big step forward
Ground to be broken for Simi tower:"As the neighborhood around Simi Valley Hospital gears up for its expansion, so does hospital staff, particularly when it comes to staffing and employee morale. Peterson, who arrived at Simi Hospital in July 2000, is dealing with a nursing shortage that has spread nationwide and is overhauling practices and procedures to attract nurses and find ways to get them to stay. She began her career as a nurse and believes money is not the only incentive for nurses to stay.
Strong leadership, a challenging workplace and procedures that will allow nurses to "work smarter, not harder" are as important as a paycheck, Peterson said. She also believes in recognition for nurses and all of the medical staff for the work they do, seven days a week, 24 hours a day. As a measure of appreciation on Thanksgiving, Peterson and Cheryl Nance, newly appointed hospital vice president and chief nurse executive, returned to work at 11:30 p.m. on the eve of Thanksgiving to serve a holiday dinner to hospital staff on the night shift."
http://www.insidevc.com/vcs/sv/article/0,1375,VCS_239_1580844,00.html
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Sat, Nov. 30, 2002: California grapples with critical nursing shortage:"Lark Galloway-Gilliam is convinced that California's nursing shortage contributed to her father's death.
Although he was 89, the Los Angeles health care advocate believes the stress of poor care during a hospital stay about a month earlier caused his heart failure in August. At one point, Galloway-Gilliam said she went to find a nurse and found no one at the nursing station.
``You'd hear the little machines beeping, beeping, beeping, the alarms, and nobody was watching,'' she said."
http://www.bayarea.com/mld/bayarea/news/4637680.htm
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November 24, 2002: California, Eden helps CSUH fund its program:"In an attempt to stave off a public health crisis, the Eden Township Healthcare District is boosting Cal State Hayward's efforts to educate future nurses. The district, which helps govern Castro Valley's Eden Medical Center and oversees a $30 million endowment for local health and wellness programs, gave Cal State Hayward a $133,510 grant to expand its undergraduate nursing program. That pays for recruitment, an additional teacher and 10 more students to complete the university's three-year program, which has about 200 students. The grant covers the costs, such as labs and tutoring, associated with the program's expansion. Those students still pay tuition. http://www.trivalleyherald.com/Stories/0,1413,86%257E10669%257E1010998,00.html
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November 22, 2002: California: Nurse ratio may rise at Good Samaritan:"A decrease in patient volume at Good Samaritan Hospital has caused a reorganization in staff that could result in the elimination of nursing positions.
Overall patient volume at the San Jose hospital has decreased about 20 percent this year compared with last year, and women's health services patient volume has decreased about 33 percent, says Julie Clayton, chief nursing officer for Good Samaritan.
"We are trying to better match our staff with our patient volume," she says."
http://sanjose.bizjournals.com/sanjose/stories/2002/11/25/story2.html
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November 22, 2002: Californians Weigh In On Nurse Staffing Plan:"The scene outside the Los Angeles building where the California Department of Health Services (DHS) held a public hearing recently typified a labor dispute. Unionized registered nurses wearing red shirts held picket signs that read, "All-RN ratios save lives" as TV crews searched for sound bites.
The mood inside was decidedly different. People -- some of them nurses who had held a daylong strike the previous day in Long Beach -- took turns at the podium, offering their thoughts about landmark California legislation proposing a one-to-five nurse-to-patient ratio on acute-care hospitals' general medical floors."
http://www.stateline.org/story.do?storyId=273142
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November 22, 2002: California: Teachers now vital in curing nursing gap:"No one's ready to declare they've solved the escalating nursing shortage just yet. But some East Bay nursing programs say the number of qualified applicants is growing and has begun to surpass the spaces available. Adding classrooms won't solve the problem, though. A nursing instructor shortage that has nagged the industry for years is worsening, leaving educators wondering: Who will teach the students and where will colleges find the money to expand programs?"
http://eastbay.bizjournals.com/eastbay/stories/2002/11/25/story1.html
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November 20, 2002: California: Nurses: Toughen up new state law:"Charging that staffing shortages are hurting the nursing profession and shortchanging patients, hundreds of nurses rallied Tuesday for a new law requiring hospitals to boost the ratio of registered nurses to patients.
The rally was held outside the State Building, where the Department of Health Services held hearings on a new law requiring minimum ratios of licensed nurses in California."
http://www.examiner.com/news/default.jsp?story=n.nurses.1120w
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November 20, 2002: California, San Francisco: Nurses get tough Hospitals ask for a break on staffing ratios:"Testifying before a largely hostile audience, hospital administrators told state officials at a hearing Tuesday that California's nursing shortage may undercut efforts to implement the state's proposed nurse-to-patient ratios.
"Our biggest concern is the fact that we have in California the biggest shortage of nurses in the country. Only Nevada has fewer nurses" in proportion to its total population, Jan Emerson, a spokeswoman for the California Healthcare Association, said in an interview after the hearing."
http://www.sacbee.com/content/politics/story/5272341p-6277895c.html
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November 14, 2002: California: Sutter Roseville hospital workers on strike:"Hundreds of hospital employees at Sutter Roseville Medical Center went on strike Thursday over an unresolved contract. Top negotiating issues are higher wages and better benefits.
The Service Employees International Union Local 250 represents roughly 450 employees at Sutter Roseville who hold positions ranging from food service jobs to X-ray lab technicians."
http://www.sacbee.com/content/business/story/5192775p-6201520c.html
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November 1, 2002: California: Sutter Roseville, union going down to wire:"Licensed vocational nurses, for example, earn starting wages of $15.17 an hour at Sutter Roseville, more than $2 per hour less than they would make at Kaiser or Mercy hospitals, which pay $17.78 and $17.52, respectively.
"We do look at the local market," said Barbara Nelson, chief nursing executive for Sutter Roseville. "It certainly influences the package we put on the table, but it can't be the sole driver."
http://www.sacbee.com/content/business/story/5025136p-6033142c.html
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May 5, 2002: California, Los Angeles: Nursing Schools Facing Faculty Shortage, Career Columnist:"Media coverage on the nation's shortage of nurses has been substantial. Not as widely covered is the shortage of faculty facing nursing schools across the country.
The situation has already begun limiting the number of students nursing schools can accept at a time when the nation needs to increase its supply of nurses."
http://www.latimes.com/classified/jobs/silver/la-silver050502.htmlstory?coll=la-class-employ-silver
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Friday, November 16, 2001: California: Long Beach nurses vote to unionize:"Calling it a dramatic victory for patient care, registered nurses at Long Beach Memorial Medical Center voted Friday to join the California Nurses Association.
With the National Labor Relations Board supervising, nurses voted 630-523 in favor of unionizing."
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/news/archive/2001/11/16/state2136EST0174.DTL
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June 27, 2001: California, Glendale: Nursing shortage imperils patients Overworking key caregivers may cost lives, studies find:"The day started out like most others for Barbara Carey, a hospital nurse from Glendale, Calif.: a heavy patient load and not enough staff. That usually just meant that Carey had to work harder and faster.
But on this particular day in 1989, short staffing led to tragedy. Carey began to check in on her patients but had so much to do that it took 45 minutes to get to patient No. 4.
Carey walked into the room and realized the liver cancer patient was dead. She still wonders if the delay, caused by short staffing, might have hastened the woman's death."
http://www.usatoday.com/usatonline/20010627/3435466s.htm
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Tuesday, June 26, 2001: California, Northern: Settlement averts walkout by nurses:"A strike involving thousands of registered nurses at 10 Northern California hospitals has been narrowly averted after one of the state's largest hospital chains reached a tentative deal with the California Nurses Association.
About 3,500 nurses were set to walk off the job Wednesday in a one-day strike at Seton Medical Center in Daly City, Dominican Hospital in Santa Cruz, St. Francis and St. Mary's medical centers in San Francisco, St. Louise hospital in Gilroy and five Sacramento-area hospitals."
http://www0.mercurycenter.com/premium/local/docs/nostrike26.htm
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Tuesday, June 8, 2000: California: Hospitals scramble to maintain nursing staff:"With their nurses on strike for a second day and no new negotiating sessions scheduled, officials at Lucile Packard Children's Hospital have transported less-critically ill patients to other facilities.
Meanwhile, some of the 1,730 Packard and Stanford hospital nurses who went on strike Wednesday are again walking picket lines today, as the impasse with hospital officials over wage and other issues continues.
Packard Hospital sharply reduced its census to allow the hospital to cope with a shortage of pediatric nurses among the replacement nurses recruited for the strike's duration. As at Stanford Hospital, the replacement nurses were brought in from a Denver-based agency."
http://www.paloaltoonline.com/news_features/stanford_nurse_strike_2000/2000_06_08.strike.html
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May 1999, Safe Staffing bill back in California Legislature:"Dramatic testimony underscores need for safe staffing
legislation. On April 6, Inho Park of Los Angeles (l) told
the State Assembly Health Committee how his son,
Jonathan was almost fatally strangled by a restraint after
being left unattended in a facility following an auto
accident. As a result, Jonathan is permanently disabled
and will require round-the-clock care for life."
http://www.calnurse.org/cna/cal/may99/cn4may99.html
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See also:
National Council of State Boards of Nursing, Inc.:"The following narratives have been written by individual state boards of nursing regarding the significant activities in their respective states related to the nursing shortage. These excerpts do not provide a comprehensive update of the nurse shortage in these states or nationwide. The information is simply intended to share information among Member Boards."
National Council of State Boards of Nursing, Inc.
676 N. St. Clair Street
Suite 550
Chicago, Illinois, 60611-2921
Telephone: (312) 787-6555. info@ncsbn.org
http://www.ncsbn.org/news/stateupdates_state_shortage.asp
Choose by State, Country: Africa, Australia's Nursing Shortage, Canada's Nursing Shortage, British, Great Britain's Nursing Shortage, Nursing & Healthcare Chatrooms, Discussion Boards, Staffing Discussion Boards
Choose by local nursing shortage news by state: Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York State, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah State, Virginia, Washington State, Wyoming
2003 Nursing Shortage News Coverage
2002-2000 News On the Nursing Shortage
1999 News on The Nursing Shortage
Nursing Shortage Serious For Seniors, About.com:"As the population ages the impact of the nursing shortage will be even greater. There is a threat to the health of every older adult in the United States and Canada looming on the horizon. It is not a virus or new type of bacteria that is causing this threat. The threat to health is a result of the increasing shortage of nurses in both countries. Over the last couple of years there have been numerous stories in the press about the magnitude and causes of the shortage. So far solutions for this situation have been few. Additionally this nursing shortage will impact the oldest of citizens the most. Older adults use health care services at a higher rate than do younger people. Advances in medicine and improved nutrition and lifestyle have added years to the average life span. With this longer life comes higher needs for medical services, especially the services of professional nurses."
http://seniorhealth.about.com/cs/prevention/a/nurse_shortage.htm
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The Nurse/Patient Ratio by Genevieve M. Clavreul RN, Ph.D.:"The New Year heralds many things, and this year brings legislation mandating a patient/nurse ratio in California. But after the confetti stops falling, did we get what we want? We now have a panacea for thousands of nurses in California, however, the ratio really can’t be enforced. (At the writing of this article the companion bill for enforcement is stalled in the legislature, having been defeated at least once already).
As my children are fond of saying, “why am I not surprised?” Having been a nurse for almost 30 years, most of those years spent in the NICU/PICU, I am used to working with a strict nurse/patient ratio. ICU’s and a few other areas of nursing have always been under the control of an “acuity” system. Actually, all nursing is supposed to be, but we all know this isn’t always the case. For this reason, I knew in my heart that legislating a nurse/patient ratio was probably an exercise in futility."
Working Nurse, Working World Magazine
3600 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 1526
Los Angeles, CA 90010
Tel:(213)385-4781,
Fax:(213)385-3782, WorkingNurse@WorkingWorld.com
http://www.workingworld.com/magazine/viewarticle.asp?articleno=254&wn=1
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Nursing: A Medical Emergency, and Opportunity, hits home by Ronald A. Reis and Karen F. Reis RN:"You’re an RN, and you’ve been at it, administering to the sick and wounded, for months, years, maybe even decades. You’ve got your hands full with 12-hour shifts, high turnover, an often less than supportive work environment, and a stressed-out health care system that is, in places, itself on life-support. What to do? How to keep going? How to make this job, career, meaningful again? How to get out of nursing what you went into it for? How to avoid adding to the national nursing shortage by short-circuiting your own involvement in a noble profession?"
Working Nurse, Working World Magazine
3600 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 1526
Los Angeles, CA 90010
Tel:(213)385-4781,
Fax:(213)385-3782, WorkingNurse@WorkingWorld.com
http://www.workingworld.com/magazine/viewarticle.asp?articleno=253&w
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Preparing for Battle: What YOU can do for YOU, Sicker patients, reduced staffing, longer hours, and increased responsibilities—by Deborah Lynne, RN, BSN:"As Registered Nurses, few of us think of the hospital we work in as a battlefield, or of ourselves as soldiers. But the truth is, there are more similarities than you might think. We show up for our shift each day, not knowing what challenges we might encounter. Our job requires us to be in the moment at all times, and to make split second decisions on the run. What we do or don’t do can mean the difference between life and death. We often work under extreme stress, yet must remain calm and in control. Although there are others who function in a supportive capacity, we are the ones on the frontline."
Working Nurse, Working World Magazine
3600 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 1526
Los Angeles, CA 90010
Tel:(213)385-4781,
Fax:(213)385-3782, WorkingNurse@WorkingWorld.com
http://www.workingworld.com/magazine/viewarticle.asp?articleno=255&wn=1
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Gifts For Nurses:
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4nursinguniforms.com:"Choose from Top Nursing Uniform Companies. All sizes, styles and popular name brands available. Large selection of accessories as well: Accessories Blood Pressure Cuffs, Sphygnomanometers Nursing Tote Bags, Carry-Ons, Medical Bags Clinical, Medical Supplies, Nurses Discount Outlet: Angels, Books, Clothing , Equipment, Figurines, Holidays, Home Decor, Jewelry, Nurses, Office Decor, Scrubs, Shoes, T-Shirts Footwear, Shoes, Sandals, Discount, Bargains Gifts For Nurses (Nurses Week) Hosiery, Socks, Stockings Hats, Jackets, Jumpers Jewelry, Earrings, Necklaces, Watches Luxury Spas, Facials, Manicures, Pedicures Perfumes, Fragrances, Phermones Shoes, Boots, Sandals, Footwear, High Heels, Slippers Stethescopes, Nurse Kits, Replacement Parts Swimwear (Tan-Through) Women's Lingerie "
4nursinguniforms.com
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http://nursingdiscussions.com
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