I've worked at three different hospitals over the past five years. Each one has had a different process of dealing with Medication Reconciliation, but I believe my current facility has created the best idea of all: A Medication Reconciliation Technician role.  Her primary responsibility is to interview patients to obtain the most ...

(Editor's note: This guest blog was written by Suzanne LeBeau, BSN, RN, CLNC.) We all know the scenario. You're getting report on your sixth patient and the nurse who is giving report is spent, burnt out and just wants to go home to her cozy bed. As you may imagine, the conversation may go like this: First nurse: ''In room 320 is Mr. Jones, a ...

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 ...

The National Vaccine Advisory Committee established a Health Care Personnel Influenza Vaccination Subgroup to help achieve the national goal of 90 percent influenza immunization among healthcare providers by the year 2020. And they want to hear from you about recommendations on how to achieve this goal. On the NPVO section of the Health and ...

Did you know March is National Women’s History Month?  Designated by joint resolutions of the House and Senate and proclamations by five American presidents, it is an opportunity to honor and celebrate women's achievements throughout history. Nursing is certainly filled with its share of historical female figures, beginning perhaps most ...

The City of New York has classified more than 300 jobs under the category ''physically taxing.'' Professions on this list include assistant locksmiths and gardeners, but not nurses or midwives, according to the New York State Nurses Association (NYSNA). Working in a position that is classified as ''physically taxing'' allows city employees to ...

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 ...

Some days we feel like we accomplished something if none of our patients fall or no one had a serious reaction to their immunization - in short, there were no adverse patient events on your shift. But since an infection may take a few days to develop, it's hard to tell if we as nurses make a difference whether our patients get an infection. There ...

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 ...