Those of you who’ve had long careers in acute care were probably the only members of the reading public who weren’t surprised by the Chicago Tribune’s report that 85 percent of hospital complaints were ignored by the state of Illinois last year. Grievances ranged from dirty needles, medication errors, sexual assault, and patient neglect. ...

Quality is the name of the game in healthcare, and nurses are consistently seen as playing a major role in improving hospital quality. As the demand and requirement from payers (both governmental and private) for high quality healthcare delivery grows, so will the pushback on nurses to find more and creative ways to up their game while cutting ...

My husband says we can't remember everything about a book or a movie or a vacation, so our minds fixate on the most vivid impression and that's what we remember. I just finished reading Nursing in the Storm: Voices from Hurricane Katrina by Denise Danna, DNS, RN, and Sandra E. Cordray, MA, MJ. I set the book down with strong impressions of ...

I'm anxious to see what nurses think of the May/June ADVANCE Online Book Club selection Josie's Story: A Mother's Inspiring Crusade to Make Medical Care Safe by Sorrel King. While the book is about the strength of human resolve - detailing how one family survived the death of their 18-month-old daughter due to a medical error - it is also about ...

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 ...

The tragedy that was Haiti a week ago has worsened this week. It has deepened to unfathomable proportions, unimaginable suffering. Innocent people beset by abject poverty, scant healthcare, few medical supplies, unsafe drinking water, raucous streets (there's really no workable police system there) are now also stripped of lean-to homes, meager ...

A recent WebMD article addressing the flu pandemic said, ''H1N1 swine flu is spreading faster and wider in the U.S. That's worrisome -- but more and more, health officials are fretting about what might happen the fall.'' In lieu of the growing concern around the potential for the mass outbreak of the H1N1 flu I am hearing that many facilities ...

Most of us probably know by now that no less than three primetime shows are featuring nurses in primary roles.  After decades of St. Elsewhere, Quincy, House Calls and most recently ER and Grey's Anatomy; it's about time a healthcare drama was put forward with a nurse's point to view.  That should be reason enough for nurses to stand ...

According to results of an online poll of nearly 2,000 infection preventionists, the economic recession is forcing many U.S. hospitals to reduce infection prevention staff and resources. Members of the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology (APIC) responded to an APIC survey from March 20-27, with 41 percent reporting ...