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'' ...

A hole in the forces of Magnetism? (Gulp.) Is it possible? Yes and yes, answers a study by the University of Maryland School of Nursing, Baltimore. Led by Alison Trinkoff, ScD, RN, FAAN, and Meg Johantgen PhD, RN, research revealed that Magnet hospitals do not necessarily provide better working conditions for nurses than non-Magnet ...

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 ...