Education Study Committee Sends Georgia Governor Recommendations To Increase Nurse to Student Ratio in Schools

Following up on a post from last week, a Georgia education committee, consisting of legislators and educators, made recommendations to improve school nurse programs. The article, written by Nancy Badertscher, of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, detailed the numerous recommendations made by the committee to improve public education in the state of Georgia. While the recommendations were not all related to school nurses, many of the suggestions addressed issues that have been burdening public school nations around the state. The committee recommended that the state become a 50-50 partner in school nurse costs, which a majority is currently being covered by local school districts. The committee also recommended to improve the student to nurse ratio from 1 nurse to 2,300 students, one of the worst ratios in the country, to 1:750 in elementary schools and 1:1,500 in middle and high schools.

Click here to read the full news article.

INQRI Study Examines Preventing Readmissions With Nurse Intervention

On Tuesday, INQRI alumni, Dr. Linda Costa and her team's INQRI supported study was featued on healthleadersmedia.com. The article, written by Rebecca Hendren, detailed how Dr. Costa's study sent nurses on home visits to discuss medications and solve problems that prevented patients from sticking to their regimens. This nurse-led intervention found that talking with patients and their families improved their understanding of their medication regimen and increased compliance.

Click here to read the full article.

Click here to read other blogposts relating to medication management.

Please Join The Future of Nursing First Year Progress Twitter Chat Next Wednesday, October 5th from 2-3pm EST

A week from today, TheFutureofNursing.org will be hosting a twitter chat reflecting on the first year of the progress of achieving the recommendations set forth by the IOM report, Future of Nursing: Leading Change, Advancing Health. This call will be led by Sue Hasmiller, Director of the Future of Nursing Campaign for Action, as well as staff from the Center to Champion Nursing in America. Many of the topics that will be discussed during this Twitter chat are addressed in the recent Future of Nursing Research Agenda.

Click here to find out more information about the Twitter chat.

INQRI Supported Study Underscores Importance of Encouraging Children to Evaluate Quality of Care During Hospitalization

Yesterday, INQRI Alumnus Drs. Nancy Ryan-Wenger and William Gardner's INQRI supported study was featured on HealthNewsDigest.com. The study, which revealed that soliciting children’s perspectives on the nursing care they received can be helpful in evaluating and identifying ways to improve that care, will be published in the January 2012 issue of the Journal of Nursing Care Quality and will also be available online before the issue is printed and distributed.

Click here to read the full press release that provides more in-depth details of the study.

Click here to learn more about this and similar studies INQRI has supported that focus on nurses' role in managing and treating pain.

Today is National Falls Prevention Awareness Day!

September 23rd is not only the first official day of Fall but also National Falls Prevention Awareness Day. INQRI has continued to support research studies examining ways in which to prevent falls.

Click here to access the National Council for Aging's National Falls Prevention Awareness Day website which includes numerous resources to learn more about falls and how to prevent them.

Click here to access a JAMA article published by an INQRI supported team comprised of Dr. Patricia Dykes, Dr. Blackford Middleton and colleagues, that examined fall prevention in acute care hospitals.

Click here to read more about Dr. Maria Titler & Dr. Gary Rosenthal's study investigating linkages between the level of professional nursing practice and adoption of evidence-base practices, fall prevalence and injury from falls.

Click here to read about Dr. Maria Titler's current INQRI project examining the implementation of a risk specific fall prevention bundle to reduce falls in hospitals.

School Nurse:Student Ratios Greatly Differ Around The United States

This week, Jacque Wilson, reporting for CNN.com, detailed the varying nurse to student ratio in the United States. With some school nurses being responsible for the health and safety of over 4,400 students in some school districts, it can be rather difficult for some nurses to handle the increased workload while providing sufficient care to students.

Click here to read the article.

WIHI Free Audio Event on Thursday, Sept. 22, Focuses on Medication Management

This upcoming Thursday, the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) hosts another WIHI free audio program that focuses on managing medication shortages during a crisis. This event will feature: Frank Federico from the IHI, Michael Cohen from the Institute for Safe Medication Practices, and Lynn Eschenbacher from WakeMed Health & Hospitals. These individuals are pharmacy-trained improvers who've tapped their medication safety expertise to help hospital staff effectively manage crisis situations.

Click here to register for the event.

Click here to read other blogposts relating to medication management.

Raising Care Standards Behind Bars

Last week, Heather Stringer, reporting for nurse.com, detailed efforts by nurses to provide specialized, sensitive treatment to the growing number of female inmates in the United States prison system. A recent study, conducted by Angelina Chambers, RN, PhD, CNM and colleagues, confirmed the belief that further efforts are necessary to develop more prison nursery programs that allow inmates to keep their babies for a finite period of time. By establishing these programs, prisons can reduce seperation anxiety and depression that many incarcerated mothers experience after giving birth.

Click here to read the full news article.

Call For Proposals: Evaluating Innovations in Nursing Education

Earlier this week, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's Human Capitol Portfolio announced their third Call for Proposals for the Evaluating Innovations in Nursing Education (EIN) research initiative. This current Call for Proposals is seeking applications for research projects studying nursing faculty issues that are critical to achieving the recommendations outlined in the 2010 Institute of Medicine report The Future of Nursing: Leading Change, Advancing Health.

Click here to find out more information about the EIN Call for Proposals.

Click here to find out more information about The Future of Nursing's Research Agenda, which is currently accepting proposals relating to the IOM Future of Nursing report..

Recommendations for Developing Safe Nurse Staffing Models on Inpatient Psychiatric Units Issued by American Psychiatric Nurses Association

This morning, The American Psychiatric Nurses Association (APNA) released a position statement on staffing inpatient psychiatric units that calls for the development of new staffing models to promote the optimal use of psychiatric mental health nurses in hospital settings. The position statement, which includes numerous policy recommendations, also suggested that a committee, which includes direct-care RNs and nursing administrators, should develop, implement, and evaluate a staffing plan that considers the multiple variables that affect staffing needs.

Click here to read the press release, via prweb.com.

Click here to read the position statement (PDF).

Click here to read about a recent INQRI funded study that found higher nurse staffing levels in hospitals can reduce rates of infection, improve outcomes for patients.

INQRI Grantee Announced as American Academy of Nursing 2011 Honorary Fellow

In late August, current INQRI grantee, Nancy Dunton, PhD, was announced as one of four honorary fellows of the American Academy of Nursing. Dr. Dunton has been recognized for her body of research as well as the contributions she has made to the nursing field as the Director of the National Database of Nursing Quality Indicators®. The four honorary fellows will be celebrated during the American Academy of Nursing's Annual Conference and Meeting on October 15th.

Click here to read the full AAN press release.

Click here to register for the AAN's 38th annual conference and meeting.

Click here to read more information about Dr. Dunton's current INQRI project.

Systematic Review Finds Advanced Practice Nurses Provide Comparable Care To Physicians

This month, the upcoming September/October edition of Nursing Economics will feature a systemic review conducted by current INQRI grantee, Robin Newhouse, PhD, RN, NEA-BC, and colleagues. The systemic review found that not only do APRNs provide effective and high-quality patient care but also the use of clinical nurse specialists in acute care settings can reduce length of stay and cost of care for hospitalized patients. The findings of this systemic review support the recommendations made in the IOM's Future of Nursing report. Additionally, these findings are related to the Future of Nursing's Campaign for Action research agenda.

Click here to access a PDF version of the article.

Click here to read other blogposts relating to the IOM's report.

Click here to find out more information abot the Future of Nursing's research agenda.

Nearly Half of Office-Based Physicians Work With NPs and PAs

Earlier this morning, Victoria Stagg Elliott, of amednews.com [the news arm of the AMA], reported that nearly 50% of all office-based physicians works in a practice that includes physician assistants, nurse practitioners and/or certified nurse midwives. This statistic, which was obtained from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's National Center for Health Statistics, was originally reported in a data brief released on August 17 and reflects the recent growth of higher educated nurses acting in coordination with physicians and other health care professionals. The utilization of advanced degree nurses aligns with recommendations made by the IOM's Future of Nursing report.

Click here to read the news article.

Click here to read blogposts relating to the IOM's report.

Click here to read about a new funding initiative specifically targeting recommendations made in the report.

August Issue of RWJF's Charting Nursing's Future Focuses on Education

Earlier this week, RWJF's monthly online publication, Charting Nursing's Future, focused on how to dramatically increase the formal education of America's nursing workforce by 2020. This issue is the first of a four-part miniseries on the IOM's Future of Nursing report and discussed the educational progression recommendations in the report and offer an early look at how key players are responding.

Click here to the August issue of Charting Nursing's Future.

Click here to read blogposts relating to the Future of Nursing report.

WIHI Free Audio Event Today

Later today, the Institute for Healthcare Improvement will be hosting one of their WIHI free audio events, "Always Events^®: Raising Expectations for Patient Experience​". This event will start promptly at 2pm EST and will feature the following presenters:

Lucile O. Hanscom, Executive Director, Picker Institute

Dale Shaller, MPA, Principal, Shaller Consulting Group

Martha Hayward, Lead for Public-Patient Engagement, Institute for Healthcare Improvementl;

Gaye Smith, Chief Patient Experience and Service Officer, Vanderbilt University Medical Center

Anthony M. DiGioia, MD, Founder, The Orthopaedic Program and Innovation Center, Magee-Womens Hospital of UPMC

Click here to register for the event.

Page Content

Temp ER Nurses a Safety Threat to Patients, Study Shows

According to new research from Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, temporary emergency room nurses who are unfamiliar with their surroundings may inadvertently be a threat to the patients they serve. As reported by John Commins, for HealthLeaders Media, the study found that the temporary help was twice as likely as permanent staff to be involved in medication errors in the hectic and fast-paced environs of the ER.

Click here to read the news article.

Click here to read additional blogposts related to nurse staffing.

Public Health Nurse Program Expands To Idaho

Last week, Alison Boggs, of The Spokesman-Review, highlighted the introduction of a program that has been proven to improve the lives of low-income, first-time mothers and their babies. The program, known as the Nurse-Family Partnership, puts public health nurses into the homes of pregnant, first-time mothers for weekly or biweekly visits until the baby is born. The nurses then continue regular visits until the child turns 2. With the program saving $5 for every $1 invested in families' care, the Nurse-Family Partnership not only increases the quality of care low-income mothers receive but cuts expenditures for the state and federal government.

Click here to read the news article.

Nurses study is vital boon to women's health

Earlier this week, Shari Rudavsky, of Indystar.com, discussed the continued success of the Nurses Health Study that has been run by Harvard University for the past 35 years. The study of 238,000 nurses across the nation is the largest, longest-running investigation of women's health ever. Ms. Rudavsky detailed the positive effects the study has had on not only patients, but countless health care professionals.

Click here to read the full news article.

Community Health Center Nurses Fill Needed Niche

Last week, Paul Restuccia, of the Boston Herald, discussed the continued success of neighborhood clinics and how these clinics have expanded to serve a growing demand among communities across Boston. Mr. Restuccia also pointed out that patients often like to come to neighborhood clinics because they feel more comfortable with the distinct cultures many clinics serve, whether it’s Chinese, Haitian, Hispanic or gay and lesbian.

Click here to read the full news article.