December 24, 2002: New Hampshire: Baby Becca is home for the holidays:"Born almost three months early, weighing just 1 pound 14 ounces, Becca Rose had spent her entire life in hospitals. She's now more than 10 pounds, but the tracheostomy required after nearly three months on a respirator means she needs round-the-clock monitoring and skilled nursing care. Christine said Becca Rose may need the tracheostomy, which is a surgical construction of a respiratory opening, for as long as a year.
The baby's doctor was ready to release her from Elliot Hospital Newborn Intensive Care Unit on Dec. 3, but the Interim Health Care Agency couldn't find licensed practical or registered nurses to care for her even though the insurance company was willing to pay for 70 hours a week." http://www.theunionleader.com/articles_show.html?article=16802
December 10, 2002: New Hampshire: Shortage strands infant in hospital:"Becca Rose Wenzel has come a long way since her birth Aug. 5. Weighing just 1 pound 14 ounces when she was born almost three months early at Elliot Hospital in Manchester, Becca Rose now weighs an impressive 9 pounds, 9 ounces.
But the baby daughter of Christine and Paul Wenzel of Barnstead is still in the Newborn Intensive Care Unit at the Elliot, hostage to a nursing shortage.
Her parents and 6½-year-old sister, Zoe, want her home. And the hospital was ready to release her Dec. 3, but her parents and the Interim Health Care agency couldn't find registered nurses or licensed practical nurses to help care for her at home." http://www.unionleader.com/articles_show.html?article=16482
December 6, 2002: New Hampshire: Nursing Shortage Due To Inefficiency?
Report: New Supply Of Nurses Counterproductive:"Nurses don't spend enough time actually practicing nursing -- and that may be the reason behind the perceived nursing shortage, according to an article in this week's British Medical Journal.
Professor Steven Lewis said that evidence from the United States, Canada, and Germany found that nurses spend time performing functions not related to their professional skills, such as cleaning rooms or moving food trays.
Nurses also reported more pressure to take up management responsibility, taking them away from the direct care of patients, Lewis wrote." http://www.thewmurchannel.com/health/1823842/detail.html
June 24, 2002: New Hampshire: Foreign Professionals Ease Nurse Shortage
Hospitals Eye New Ways To Recruit Staff:"The situation has been called critical -- too many sick people, not enough nurses to care for them.
Many nurses are retiring, while others say the nursing shortage has increased the demands on those who are working -- making the job overwhelming.
Now some hospitals are examining new ways to recruit staff.
Marivic Tolete is a Filipino nurse, but she doesn't work in the Philippines. Since March, she has worked at Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital in Boston.
"Nursing in the Philippines is not really as good," Tolete said. "We start off as a volunteer, we don't get a job, not unless we also pay for the volunteer work that we do."
In fact, Tolete can make as much money in one day at Spaulding as she can in one month back home. Part of the money helps to support her husband and two young children who still live in the Philippines." http://www.thewmurchannel.com/sh/health/stories/health-152687120020624-080644.html
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
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
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
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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