A new study in The New England Journal of Medicine based on the HCAHPS (Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems) looked at the perceptions of patients’ experiences at hospitals and found that the characteristics of hospitals that cause high nurse staffing levels may also be the same elements associated with good patient experiences.
What [...]
A recent article at HealthLeaders Media discussed the importance of treating travelling healthcare staff members the same as permanent staff. Glendive Medical Center in Montana has bought in to this philosophy and are seeing results.
Among the many attempts at easing the nursing shortage, there is one that is having a very positive affect. Hospitals all across the country are introducing a mentor program which is aimed at retaining the current or seasoned nurses while easing new hires into the workforce.
The mentor is paired with a new nurse or new [...]
There’s no surprise in the reality that the United States is in the middle of a nursing crisis. According to some statistics, currently there is an estimated shortage of 150,000 nurses in the U.S. alone. Over the next ten years or so, there will be a need for over 650,000 new nursing jobs, while at [...]
I just read an interesting article in Managed Executive Healthcare about ways to improve your methods for finding new healthcare talent. There were a lot of great take aways, including evaluating talent beyond technical skills, understanding the real reasons people are leaving your hospital and interviewing properly. You can read it here, but one area [...]
As you face the day to day challenges of staffing your hospital facility, one area you may not always consider is the way it is affecting the mindset of your current nursing staff. A recent study by the American Nurses Association looked at this issue specifically and came to some disturbing, but probably not too [...]
According to a recent story in the New York Times, low staffing levels in facilities combined with the nationwide nursing shortage increase the risk of an assault. The article also notes that nurses and other personal care workers suffer injuries from these attacks at a rate 12 times higher than the overall private sector.
Nurses and [...]
As of January 1, 2008 California has implemented it’s historic safe hospital staffing law which states that every hospital must abide by certain ratios for every department within the care facility. These ratios have transformed hospital care and helped increase patient safety by ordering them to maintain minimum, specific nurse-to-patient staffing ratios for all hospital [...]
