Recently in Health Care Workers Category

Source: Jeanne Geiger-Brown, Alison M. Trinkoff, Journal of Nursing Administration, Vol. 40 no. 9, September 2010
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From the abstract:
This article is part 3 of the series "Pulling the Plug on 12-Hour Shifts." In part 1 (March 2010), the authors provided an update on recent evidence that challenges the current scheduling paradigm and supports the lack of safety of long work hours. Part 2 (April 2010) described the barriers to change and challenges for the nurse executive in moving away from the practice of 12-hour shifts. This article presents strategies for mitigating the effects of 12-hour shifts for nurses who continue to work 12-hour shifts despite the potential risks to their health and to patient safety.

Source: Heather Mayer, DOTmed News, August 19, 2010

Events like these are not uncommon nowadays. Nurses face a growing pattern of violence, whether in an ER, psychiatric ward or even just patrolling the floors.

All health care workers, nurses especially, face workplace hazards every day in a hospital setting. In fact, hospital workers suffered more than 275,000 injuries and illnesses in 2008, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). An unsettling number of the injuries resulted from patient attacks.

Source: Lew McCreary, Harvard Business Review, Vol. 88 no. 9, September 2010
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A blend of anthropology, journalism, and empathy can lead to radical improvements in the quality of health care delivery - or any people-based business - without requiring expensive technology.

Source: J. Gacki-Smith, A.M. Juarez, L. Boyett, C. Homeyer, L. Robinson, S.L. MacLean,
Journal of Healthcare Protection Managegement Vol. 26 no.1, 2010

Violence against ED nurses in highly prevalent. Precipitating factors to violent incidents identified by respondents is consistent with the research literature; however, there is considerable potential to mitigate these factors. Commitment from hospital administrators, ED managers, and hospitals security is necessary to facilitate improvement and ensure a safer workplace for ED nurses.

Source: Herman Benson, WorkingUSA, Vol. 13 no. 2, June 2010
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From the abstract:
Registered nurses, professionals upon whom we depend so urgently for effective medical care, have been moving toward unionization. The formation of the new National Nurses United, which claims 150,00 members, proposes to unite nurses into a formidable force to represent them in collective bargaining, to organize to unorganized, and campaign for a progressive national healthcare policy. But a majority of those nurses who are already organized remain divided among a multitude of other unions, some affiliated to major internationals, some independent, some in competition with one another. One barrier to unity has been the fear of many nurse unionists that their rights would be imperiled in a centralized union which fails to respect the autonomous rights of its affiliates. The author suggests that any conflict between the desire for a strong central force and the insistence upon autonomous rights could be mitigated, even overcome, by a strong infusion of democracy into internal union life, not only among nurses but throughout the labor movement.

Source: Kirsten Nordang, Marie-Louise Hall-Lord and Per G Farup, BMC Nursing 2010, 4 June 2010

From the abstract:
Burnout is a psychological reaction triggered by interaction between personal characteristics and stress factors. Reorganizations and downsizing with increased workload imply stress for health-care professionals. This is a study of burnout in nurses during a period with two comprehensive reorganizations.

There was a significant development of burnout in a group of nurses during a period with two reorganizations and downsizing. Burnout was associated with low SOC. Working with seriously ill patients with cancer has probably made the nurses exceptionally vulnerable to the stress and workload related to the reorganizations.

Source: Carol Porter, Journal of Nursing Administration, Vol. 40 no. 6, June 2010
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From the abstract:
Clinical nurses and nursing management strive for a collaborative relationship that supports nursing practice. When collaboration exists between labor and management, the joint focus moves toward provision of quality patient care and a positive work environment. The author describes a Nursing Labor Management Partnership implemented in a major teaching hospital with Magnet(R) designation. Examples of each dimension of the partnership are included.

Source: Robert Berenson and Eugene Rich, Journal of General Internal Medicine, Vol. 25 no. 6, June 2010
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From a Commonwealth Fund summary:
"Fee-for-service, the predominant physician payment scheme, has contributed to both the continuing decline in the primary care workforce and the capability to serve patients well," write the authors of this article in a special supplement to the Journal of General Internal Medicine. At the same time, the alternatives, including bundled payment, capitation, and salaried physicians, "each have their own problems," they say. The authors explore the history of primary care physician reimbursement and the current system within that context, and illustrate why physician payment mechanisms are "inadequate for even basic primary care services, let alone the fully implemented medical home." They argue that new, hybrid payment models combining the best features of the standard approaches "will likely be required to restore primary care to its proper role in the U.S. health care system and to promote and sustain the development of patient-centered medical homes."

Source: Amy Norton, Reuters Health, May 31, 2010

Nurses who work in hospital wards that are usually filled to capacity may have a higher risk of depression than their counterparts in less-crowded hospitals, Finnish researchers suggest.

Their new study found that hospital staffers who worked in the most crowded wards were twice as likely to take sick leave for depression as staff who worked in wards with "optimal" numbers of patients. The large majority of workers in the study -- 93 percent -- were nurses.

The findings, published online May 4 in the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, don't prove that hospital overcrowding contributed to the nurses' depression. But they raise the possibility that chronic stress due to a heavy workload might impair some hospital workers' mental health, lead researcher Dr. Marianna Virtanen, of the Finnish Institute of Occupational Health in Helsinki, told Reuters Health in an e-mail.

Source: Ron Rajecki, Drug Topics, April 7, 2010

Drug Topics' 2010 salary survey drew 1,619 responses from across the country. They paint a picture of a stable and well-paying field with an average salary of $115,455 and personnel boasting an average of 21.6 years of experience. The hours, in general, aren't grueling, with respondents working an average of 41.5 hours per week.