INQRI's Five Most Read Blogposts of 2011

On behalf of the INQRI program staff and leadership team, we would like to wish all of you a safe and happy holiday & New Year.

Below you will find the five most read blogposts from 2011.

Please feel free to comment and share your favorite post from this year!

Interdisciplinary Pilot Study Suggests Nurses Can Help Chronically Ill Patients Properly Manage Medication after Being Discharged from Hospital Nurses Bridged Gap Between Leaving Hospital with Prescriptions and First Visit with Primary Health Care Provider

New Study Shows Higher Nurse Staffing Levels in Hospitals Can Reduce Rates of Infection, Improve Outcomes for Patients

INQRI Project Featured in Health Services Research

Expanding Nurses' Scope-of-Practice in the News

The Future is Now for Nurse Practitioners

Please Thank Your Nurse This Holiday Season

Yesterday, Anthony Youn, M.D., wrote a heart warming blog piece about the importance giving thanks to nurses who provide quality care during the holiday season.

Click here to read the Op-Ed.

Nursing Claims Costs Rise Again After Falling

Yesterday, claimsjournals.com reported that the average total paid per claim in the nursing profession averaged over $200,000 in 2010. This is number is comparable to the all-time high experienced in 2008 and significantly higher than the average paid per claim in 2009, which was around $150,000. The article also detailed a study conducted by the CNA, which examined claim costs from 2006 to 2010 and addressed which nursing professions are more likely to see higher claims.

Click here to read the full article.

New Nursing Program Promises to Advance Patient Care Quality and Safety

Yesterday, the Johns Hopkins University School of Nursing announced the acceptance of a new grant, funded by The Helene Fuld Health Trust of New York, that will prepare 200 new clinical nurses over the next five years in quality improvement and patient safety that is firmly grounded in leadership development. This initiative will specifically focus on the vulnerable elderly population, who are the responsibile for a high percentage of redadmissions in hospitals nationwide. This education intiative aligns with recommendations to bolster the nursing workforce made in IOM's Future of Nursing: Leading Change, Advancing Health report.

Click here to read the news article.

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

Nurse Practitioners Fill a Gap in Rural Health Care

Over the weekend, Robert Joiner, a staff writer for the St. Louis Beacon, discussed how the demand for advanced practice RNs is expected to rise due to the projected growth of patients in need of primary care. The article also explained in concise detail the concern over advanced practice nurses' scope of practice restrictions, as well discussing how many of the reccomendations made in the IOM's Future of Nursing: Leading Change, Advancing Health report can improve care delivery.

Click here to read the article.

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

Hospitals Try To Control Readmissions, Even When It Hurts Profits

Yesterday, Fred Mogul, of WNYC, in collaboration with NPR and Kaiser Health News, reported how hospitals nationwide have implemented a variety of programs to curb costly readmissions. Starting in the fall of 2012, the Department of Health & Human Services is planning to begin penalizing hospitals for readmissions for patients discharged after experiencing heart attacks, heart failure or pneumonia. With one in five Medicare patients being readmitted to hospitals within 30 days of their initial discharge and research suggesting that 75% of these readmissions are preventable, hospitals have adopted care programs that aim to curb readmissions, improve transitional care from acute care facilities to the patient's home, and help the hospital avoid penalties from the HHS.

Click here to read the full news article.

Newly Licensed Registered Nurses' Geographic Immobility

The December issue of Health Affairs featured two articles highlighting surprising trends related to the nursing workforce. We have already posted about one of the studies that investigated the growth in the nursing workforce among young adults, which you can access here. The other research article, which we are sharing with you today, discussed the relative immobility of recently licensed Registered Nurses and the issues that may arise from the lack of new RNs unwilling to relocate for employment. The study found that 52.5 percent of newly licensed RNs work within forty miles of where they attended high school, which can potentially affect rural areas that may not have an adequately trained workforce in their local area.

Click here to read the article as it appears in Health Affairs.

Nursing homes: A Caring Staff Makes All The Difference

Earlier today, Robin Erb and Kristi Tanner, of the Detroit Free Press, published the final article of their three piece series focusing on the quality of care in nursing homes. The article gave a personalized view of how caring, compassionate staff can positively effect the quality of life experienced by nursing homes' residents.

Click here to read the article.

Click here to read the first article in the series.

Click here to read the second article in the series.

Publish Post

National Council of State Boards of Nursing Extends Electronic Licensure Exam to Canada

Last week, the National Council of State Boards of Nursing (NCSBN) announced that the NCLEX-RN® Examination, a RN licensure exam used in foreign countries for the purpose of domestic licensure in the United States, was chosen by ten provincial nurse regulatory bodies in Canada. The adoption of this electronic exam in Canada has the potential to drastically change the nursing workforce in both Canada and the United States, as nurses would technically be licensed to work as a RN in either country. In response, the Canadian Nurses Association (CNA) has expressed disappoint with the choice made by the provincial regulatory bodies as they fear that many qualified Canadian nurses may be lured by the promise of higher paying positions in the United States. Additionally, the CNA fears that licensure content specific to Canada may be excluded from the exam and thus, lower the quality of care in Canadian healthcare facilities.

Click here to read the NCSBN's press release.

Click here to read the CNA's response.

Nurse Midwives Empower Patients With Delivery Options

Yesterday, Linda Friedel, reporting for Kansas City Community News, detailed the strong bonds nurse midwives foster with patients. The article, which included personal reflections of different certified nurse midwives experiences, discussed the varying roles midwives play throughout their patients' pregnancy and how this role contributes to patient empowerment and autonomy.

Click here to read the full article.

Reflecting On Dr. Berwick's Tenure As CMS Administrator

In this month's edition of Health Affairs, Harris Meyer wrote a fascinating piece reflecting on Dr. Don Berwick's short tenure as the head of the Center for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). In the article, Ms. Meyer discussed the praise Dr. Berwick's body of work at the CMS received from numerous professional organizations and highly respected health leaders.

Click here to read the Health Affairs article (freely available to all).

Study Finds Surge In Young Nurses Over Past Decade

Yesterday, the USA TODAY reported the results of a recent study that found between 2002 & 2009, the number of full-time-equivalent registered nurses ages 23–26 increased by 62 percent. This research, which was recently published in the December issue of Health Affairs, shows that the nurse workforce is projected to grow faster during the next two decades than previously anticipated and in turn, help close the looming nursing shortage that many in the healthcare industry have been anticipating.

Click here to read the USA TODAY article.

Click here to read the manuscript as it appears in Health Affairs.

Nebraska Still Grappling With Nursing Shortage

Last week, Joanne Young, reporting for the Lincoln Journal Star, detailed Nebraska's efforts to reduce nursing shortages that are plaguing 73 of the 93 counties within the state. One of the most pressing issues for the state is the lack of available nurse educators to train and mentor nursing students. Many of the issues Nebraska is experiencing are addressed in the IOM's Future of Nursing: Leading Change, Advancing Health report, which is also cited in the news article.

Click here to read the full news article.

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

Study Finds Low Staffing and Poor Quality of Care at Nation’s For-Profit Nursing Homes

Yesterday, Elizabeth Fernandez, from the University of California, San Francisco, detailed a newly released study that analyzed the quality of care at nursing homes around the country. The study focused on the ten largest for-profit chains in the country, which control over 2,000 nursing homes, and this research is the first to study this specific group of for-profit nursing facilities. The research team found that these for-profit facilities kept labor costs low to increase profits, and with staffing levels being one of the strongest predictors of patient quality, the results may reflect the commitment to high-level patient care by these large institutions.

Click here the full news article with quotes from the study's authors.

Click here to directly access the article from Health Services Research (subscription required).