Recently in Health Care Workers Category

Source: Wanda Lawrence, Dennis Sherrod, Nursing Management, Vol. 41 no. 1, January 2010
(subscription required)

Influences of the economy on staffing in your work setting.

Source: Chandra Stroth, Journal of Nursing Administration, Vol. 40 no. 1, January 2010
(subscription required)

From the abstract:
RN turnover is expensive and disruptive for rural hospitals, constraining finances, impacting patient care, and stressing remaining nurses. Recent investigations have described a promising new construct related to employee retention: job embeddedness. Leaders in nonhealthcare organizations have adopted a job-embeddedness model to guide retention strategies and experienced a subsequent reduction in turnover. The author explores job embeddedness as an effective retention plan strategy for rural hospitals.

Source: Rachel Willard, National Association of County & City Health Officials, Research Brief, November 2009

From the summary:
NACCHO has completed the second in a series of surveys measuring the impact of the economic downturn on local health departments (LHDs). This survey found that job losses in LHDs are accelerating and that budget cuts are reducing public health services. In the first half of 2009, approximately 8,000 staff positions in LHDs were lost due to layoffs or attrition. An additional 12,000 LHD employees were subjected to reduced hours or mandatory furloughs.
See also:
- Overview of Survey Findings
- State-specific data
- NACCHO Press Release
- Budget Cut Survey Technical Documentation 2009
- Budget Cut Survey Instrument 2009

Source: Jack Meyer and Lori Weiselberg, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and National Association of County & City Health Officials, December 2009

From the summary:
Job losses and budget cuts directly tied to departments' ability to protect health.

The ability of local health departments to protect and improve health is in jeopardy, according to a new Robert Wood Johnson Foundation-funded report by Health Management Associates, an independent research group. State, county and city public health departments keep Americans healthy and safe and prevent disease and injury. Health departments help assure the safety of the water we drink, the restaurant food we eat and the air we breathe; they educate us about and respond to emerging health threats such as H1N1 influenza; they offer preventive care like vaccines; and they develop and enforce new policies and standards to create the conditions that make communities healthier.
See also:
Policy Brief

Source: Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, November 25, 2009

A new study from researchers at the Baylor College of Medicine finds that nurses working in intensive care units (ICUs) may get less sleep than their peers on other units, and that they are more likely to make medical errors as a result. The study, findings from which were presented earlier this fall at the annual meeting of the American College of Chest Physicians in San Diego, Calif., correlated nurses' scores on a sleep quality index and a psychomotor vigilance test.

"Nurses working in the ICU tend to have abnormal sleep and tend to have a greater frequency of errors across the length of their shift," researcher Salim R. Surani said in an interview with Reuters Health. "These findings could be explained on the basis of the ICU nurses having a more impaired sleep quality as seen by PSQI [Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index], and perhaps having a more demanding and intensive work schedule in the ICU as compared to the floor."
See also:
* Reuters article
* Medical News Today article (scroll down)

Source: Alex McEllistrem-Evenson, Healthcare Workforce News, November 2009

Pandemic places stress on health care systems and staff in surprising and complex ways.

Little attention, however, has been paid by the media to the certain challenges and controversies faced by health care providers, clinicians, administrators, and other members of the health workforce who must, by necessity, deal with this pandemic on the front lines.

There are health concerns that arise any time health care providers have to deal with viral infections on a broad scale, and controversies about mandatory employee vaccinations and required time off have surfaced in many facilities. There are more subtle issues as well, which only emerge when talking directly to practitioners and administrators. In that regard, increased employee stress levels, broader needs for employer-sponsored daycare services, and ethical concerns which ask administrators in some areas to weigh employee safety against budget constraints are just a few of the ways that the H1N1 pandemic has trickled down through our health care system thus far.

Source: Patty Enrado, Healthcare Finance News, November 24, 2009

With 100,000 nursing positions currently unfilled and the shortage expected to climb to 340,000 nurses by 2020, healthcare systems need a strategy to reduce nurse turnover.

Healthcare systems should shift their focus from why nurses leave to why they stay, said David Rowlee, vice president of research services for Moorehead Associates, an employee survey and research firm.

Source: Association of American Medical Colleges, Center for Workforce Studies, November 2009

The 2009 State Physician Workforce Data Book is an update of the 2007 State Physician Workforce Data Book, examining current physician supply, medical school enrollment, and graduate medical education in the U.S. The report provides the most current data for each state and the District of Columbia in a series of figures and tables, including the U.S. average, state median (excluding DC), and state rank. Additionally, the 2009 edition includes key findings, a new series of U.S.maps, as well as several new figures and tables.

Source: Cathryn Domrose, Nurse.com, December 2009

States consider the pros and cons of mandating RN staffing levels.

Source: Chiu-Fang Chou, Pamela Jo Johnson, Andrew Ward, and Lynn A. Blewett, American Journal of Public Health, Vol. 99 no. 12, December 2009
(subscription required)

From the abstract:
We examined rates of uninsurance among workers in the US health care workforce by health care industry subtype and workforce category.

Because uninsurance leads to delays in seeking care, fewer prevention visits, and poorer health status, the fact that nearly 1 in 8 health care workers lacks insurance coverage is cause for concern.