Online Communities Allow Memphis-Area Nursing Women To Share Milk Supply

New mothers living in the Memphis area now have an online resource to look for advice, share stories and even share breast milk. Lindsay Melvin, of The Commercial Appeal, detailed how online milk sharing is becoming a popular resource for mothers who are unable to provide their baby with enough breast milk. Ms. Melvin discussed the growing influence and use of websites such as Eats on Feets and Human Milk 4 Human Babies that connect mothers' with an abundant supply of breast milk to other mothers who are unable to produce enough for their newborn. This innovative, community based approach is available in many cities nationwide and we recommend that you forward these websites to any new mother you think may be interested in participating.

Click here to read the full article.

RWJF President and CEO Honored This Weekend

Congratulations to RWJF President and CEO Risa Lavizzo-Mourey, MD, MBA, who will accept APHA’s 2011 Presidential Citation Award for outstanding leadership in public health policy at the American Public Health Association Annual Meeting this weekend. If you are planning to attend, please stop by booth 2051 to learn more about RWJF. Follow along on Twitter #APHA11.

Social Media Partners

Thank you to Terri Schmitt for the kind words she shared about the commitment to social media shared by RWJF and INQRI in her recent interview on Nursing-School-Degrees.com.

Terri encourages her students to use social media to network with others and collaborate about ideas. You can follow her efforts on her blog, "Nurse Story" and you can catch her at the upcoming Sigma Theta Tau International Convention where she will present as part of a panel on use of social media in nursing education.

Local Philadelphia Hospital Working With School Nurses To Improve Care

Following up on two posts (here & here) from last month, Kristen Coppock, reporting for phillyburbs.com, detailed how a local hospital is providing educational resources to school nurses to better address health issues presented by students. Cooper University Hospital's, Cooper in Schools program, has been active for about three years. The multidisciplinary program pairs schools with Cooper professionals to address medical and social issues. The free service provides symposiums, literature and guest speakers while allowing school staff to accumulate professional development credits.

Click here to read the full article.

Florida Hospitals, Nursing Homes Team Up To Cut High Readmission Rates

On Monday, Letitia Stein, of the St. Petersburg Times, detailed how Florida hospitals are collaborating with local rehabilitation and nursing facilities to prevent costly readmissions. With readmissions estimated to cost the US health care system an extra $4 billion, around half of which are preventable, Florida care providers are establishing initiatives to prevent readmissions and lower health expenditures. This month, several hospitals and nursing homes in Tampa Bay are testing out a new tool, a discharge form that seeks to put all health care providers on the same page.

Click here to read the full article and find out more information about new initiatives being undertaken at Florida hospitals.

Click here to read previous blogposts relating to reducing readmissions.

Click here to read previous blogposts discussing improvement efforts for care coordination.

Nurses Can, and Should, Play a Larger Role in Meeting the Needs of Patients

This past weekend, Cathryne A. Welch and Robert O'Connell coauthored an op-ed piece in the Times Union, describing the numerous roles nurses can take on to reduce the primary care workforce shortage as well as other recommendations made in the IOM's Future of Nursing: Leading Change, Advancing Health report. The two authors, both of whom are leads of the Future of Nursing: New York State Action Coalition, clearly explained the recommendations made in the report and attempt to garner public support of these initiatives.

Click here to read the full op-ed piece.

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

Click here to learn more about research opportunities available to address the recommendations made in the IOM report.

Skilled Nursing and Post-Acute Care Has Improved in 9 of 10 Quality Areas

Last week, the Alliance for Quality Nursing Home Care and American Health Care Association, released their annual report that showed America's nursing facilities are continuing to build upon quality improvements reported in previous years, including measurable improvements in nine out of 10 quality measures since 2009. In the past year, nursing facilities have improved in all short-stay measures, which include patient delirium, pain and pressure ulcers, and a vast majority of long-stay measures including measureable improvements in activities of daily living (ADL), high-risk pressure ulcers, resident mobility and pain. It should also be noted that INQRI program leader, Mary D. Naylor, Ph.D., RN, FAAN, and her team at the University of Pennsylvania, greatly contributed to the findings in this report.

Click here to read the full press release.

Click here to access the full report (in e-book format).

Healthcare Jobs Drive Employment First Nine Months of Year

With the economic recession still greatly affecting many US citizens, individuals are looking for industries with significant job growth. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, hospital job growth in the first nine months of 2011 is four times what it was in all of 2010. Additionally, 42 percent of all new jobs in September were from the healthcare sector. This spike in job growth has been attributed to an emphasis on less invasive procedures, more outpatient care, and as a result, a higher utilization of visiting nurses. For example, leading travel nurse agency, American Traveler, announced in October a year-over-year increase of 56 percent in nurse job employment. With such a large growth in the nursing field, it is imperative that nurses continue professional development and obtain higher degrees in order to stand out and carve their own niche in the burgeoning industry.

Click here to read the full press release.

Click here to find out more about the IOM's recommendations in their report, Future of Nursing: Leading Change, Advancing Health.

Hospitals Utilize Visiting Nurse Practitioners To Lower 30-day Readmission Rates

Early this morning, Misty Williams, of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, detailed how Atlanta area health systems are utilizing visiting nurse practitioners to improve care coordination, lower readmission rates, and as a result, reduce costs for the patient and hospital. With Medicare cuts that will reduce payments to hospitals with excessively high readmission rates scheduled for next year, hospitals are turning to visiting nurse services to ensure that patients are adhering to their medication and treatment regimens, as well as bridging the communication gap between hospital and patient that often results in a patient's readmission within 30-days of their hospital discharge.

Click here to read the full news article.

Click here to read similar blogposts discussing the importance of reducing readmissions.

Morehead Hosts Live Webcast on Creating a High-Performing RN Workforce

Next Tuesday, Morehead Associates, Inc., will host a free, hour-long webcast on creating an efficient and effective RN workforce by attracting high-performing nurses from outside organizations or building an engaged workforce from within. The webinar is intended to identify the organizational factors associated with a high-performance environment, as well as give participants a better understanding of the impact a high-performance environment can have on nurse engagement and retention.

Click here to find out more information on the webinar.

Oregon Nurses Use "Lean" Technique To Cut Waste, Improve Care

This past weekend, Nick Budnick, reporting for The Oregonian, detailed a new technique Oregon nurses are implementing to curb patient falls. The technique, loosely based on lean manufacturing techniques made popular by Japanese carmakers, has already cut waste, improved efficiency and will save one nursing unit over 250 labor hours in the upcoming year. This technique has become so successful that it is now being developed for hospitals in Alaska, Canada, Washington, California and Colorado.

Click here to read the full news article.

HHS Awards $82 Million to Strengthen Nursing Workforce

Earlier this week, the Department of Health & Human Services Secretary, Kathleen Sebelius, announced $82 million in awards to bolster nursing scholarship and education loan repayment programs. The awards will provide financial support to nurses and nursing students in exchange for service at health care facilities with a shortage of nurses. These awards support the recommendations made in the IOM report, Future of Nursing: Leading Change, Advancing Health, which seek to strengthen nurse education and training.

Click here to read the full breakdown of the awards given by the HHS.

Click here to find out more information about other topics that can be addressed in the Future of Nursing's Research Agenda

New Nurses Can Be Breast-Cancer Patients' GPS

Earlier this week, Karen Garloch, of the Seattle Times, discussed the growth of nurses involvement in what is known as, "patient navigation". Hospitals across the United States are hiring nurses to help patients navigate their way through the medical system including, scheduling doctors' appointments; answering questions patients might have regarding their cancer; as well as counseling patients through this difficult time. With no additional payment required, nurse navigators can provide these complimentary services with no additional financial burdens for the patient.

Click here to read the full article.

Click here to read a previous blogpost discussing another article about nurse navigators that appeared in the Wall Street Journal.

Study Shows That Nursing Home Medicaid Recipients Have Higher Hospitalization Rates

In a recently published study in the journal, Medical Care Research and Review, Helena Temkin-Greener, PhD, MPH, and her colleagues found that nursing homes may be enticed to send Medicaid recipients to the hospital for care due to financial incentives. The study identified that Medicaid reimbursement for hospitalizations are almost half that of Medicare reimbursements and as a result, may motivate decisions when determining if a patient needs to be transferred to a higher level of care.

Click here to read the full news article.

Click here to access the study (subscription may be required).

When the Nurse Wants to Be Called ‘Doctor’

Last weekend, Gardiner Harris, reporting for the New York Times, detailed the growing role for nurses with doctoral degrees in the health care field. While the growth is high-level degrees in nursing is encouraging, Ms. Harris also points out that insurance companies have not altered their reimbursement schemes to reflect the more well trained nursing workforce. The rise in nurses obtaining their doctorates aligns with recommendations made in the IOM report, Future of Nursing: Leading Change, Advancing Health. Additionally, there is also much work that needs to be done to expand nurses' scope of practice and alter reimbursement schemes for Nurse Practitioners and Nurse Specialists, which can be addressed in research proposals submitted to the Future of Nursing's Research Agenda.

Click here to read the full article.

Click here to find out more information about other topics that can be addressed in the Future of Nursing's Research Agenda.

PCORI Funding Announcement: Pilot Projects Grants

It is with great excitement that we share with you a funding announcement from the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI), which was established with the passage of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA). The purpose of this call for proposals is to further develop and enhance national research priorities for patient-centered care, collect preliminary data that can be used to advance the field of patient-centered outcomes research, and identify methodologies that can be used to advance patient-centered outcomes research as well as identify gaps where methodological research needs further development.

We would also like to note that INQRI grantee, Dr. Robin Newhouse, is a member of the Methodology committee for PCORI.

Click here to read more about the Pilot Project Grants.

Click here to read the full funding announcement.

Join Us Today For A One Year Progress Report On The Future Of Nursing: Campaign For Action

At 2pm EST this afternoon, 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 chat 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.

Make sure to use #FutureRN in all your tweets and follow us at @INQRIProgram & @CFAResearch.

Patient-care Study Listens To The Kids

Following up on a post from last week, Misti Crane, of The Columbus Dispatch, reported on the results of an INQRI supported study that examined children's satisfaction with nursing care. The study, conducted by INQRI grantee, Dr. Nancy Ryan-Wenger, found that children were concerned about how often a nurse checked on them and explained instances when children might feel sad, scared or annoyed when nurses did things that hurt, or when they woke them up. This article also featured a snippet from Heather Kelley, INQRI Program Associate, in which she discussed the importance of measuring quality through patient satisfaction.

Click here to read the article.

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

INQRI Study: RN Staffing Linked To Safe Practices Adoption

Last week, nurse.com, reported that an INQRI supported study found more nurse-hours per patient and larger percentages of RNs on staff as factors in higher adoption levels of safe practices. The publication, co-authored by Dr. Jayani Jayawardhana and INQRI grantees Drs. Richard Lindrooth & John Welton, examined the higher likelihood of designated Magnet hospitals, when compared with non-Magnet hospitals, to adopt National Quality Forum Safe Practices.

Click here to read the article.

Click here to access the journal article published in the Journal of Nursing Administration (subscription required).