By Diane M. Goodman, APRN, BC, MSN-C, CCRN, CNRN In a world where Nurses' Week has become a big deal, with contests, gifts, and a celebration of all things ''nursing,'' I would like to send a great big shout out to one of the hardest working and most valuable group of players in the healthcare profession, our unlicensed assistive ...

There's no doubt nurses work long hours doing challenging work. And based on a recent survey, this scheduling is starting to take its toll on nurses, patients and the healthcare system. A new survey titled ''Nurse Staffing Strategy,'' commissioned by Kronos Inc. and conducted by HealthLeaders Media, revealed nurse fatigue is pervasive in ...

Editor's note: This blog was written by Elizabeth Rosto Sitko, managing editor of ADVANCE for Long-Term Care Management. Last week, Newsweek published its final print issue. As a magazine enthusiast (I subscribe to many, I've studied them, and I work for one), I was saddened to hear the news. I remember a time when finding one ...

As most everyone knows by now, nurses have for several years been ranked the ''Most Trusted Profession'' in an annual Gallup survey of Americans. But now a new study reveals nurses are also very good at assessing the quality of care delivered in the hospital units in which they work.  In short, it turns out nurses are not only trustworthy ...

Twelve-hour shifts have gotten some bad press. They've been linked to medical errors, nurse burnout and, now, higher rates of obesity in nurses. Researchers from the University of Maryland School of Nursing, Baltimore, surveyed 2,103 female nurses and revealed nurses with long work hours were significantly more likely to be obese compared with ...

As students in Salisbury, MD, head back to the days of homework and bus rides, the Wicomico County school district has decided to replace three registered nurses with certified nursing assistants, leaving some schools without an RN to care for children with medical needs that can't be handled by a CNA. ''We've had to be very strategic with ...

By Diane M. Goodman, MSN-C, APRN, CCRN, CNRN There is no quicker method to increase anxiety among a group of nurses than to inform them they are scheduled for mandatory meetings related to improving customer service. Mumbling, side conversations and uneasy looks rapidly replace the typical caffeine-driven eagerness to ''get on with their day'' ...

When nurses go on strike, it can be a thankless undertaking. They may be fighting for an ideal of better patient care, while at the same time walking away from the patients for whom they are caring. It's a ''damned if you do, damned if you don't'' situation. At Philadelphia's Temple University Hospital (TUH), that scenario is playing out as some ...