Upcoming Webinar: Doubling the Number of Nurses with Doctorates

Next Wednesday, we will be hosting our third webinar in our series focused on the Institute of Medicine (IOM) report The Future of Nursing: Leading Change, Advancing Health.

This session will focus on the fifth recommendation made in the IOM report, which addresses doubling the number of nurses with a doctorate by 2020: "Schools of nursing, with support from private and public funders, academic administrators and university trustees, and accrediting bodies, should double the number of nurses with a doctorate by 2020 to add to the cadre of nurse faculty and researchers, with attention to increasing diversity."

Please join us for this session and spread the word to interested colleagues!

Doubling the Number of Nurses with Doctorates: Mandates, Challenges and Opportunities
Presented by Marion E. Broome, Ph.D., R.N., FAAN, Dean and Distinguished Professor, Indiana University School of Nursing and Editor, Nursing Outlook, Official Journal of the American Academy of Nursing.
Wednesday, April 4, 2012
12pm - 1pm ET
Click here to register.

Recording Now Available of Our Most Recent Webinar in the Future of Nursing Series

Last week, we were thrilled to have Maja Djukic, PhD, RN, Assistant Professor at New York University's College of Nursing, lead a webinar addressing the fourth recomenndation made in the IOM's Future report: Future of Nursing: Leading Change, Advancing Health. The webinar, "Associate and Bachelor Degree Graduates: Differences in QI Participation", covered a range of topics addressing the differences in QI knowledge and participation among nurses with associate and bachelors degrees. The webinar was well received and we are now pleased to share it with all of you!

Click here to view the webinar.

Click here to view the first webinar in our Future of Nursing series.

Beyond the Bedside: The Changing Role of Today's Nurses

Earlier this morning, Charles Tiffin, provost of Capella University, wrote an Op-Ed piece for the HuffingtonPost detailing how the role of nurses has changed and will continue to change in the 21st century. Dr. Tiffin discussed the evolution of specialized skill sets in the nursing workforce as well as highlighting the growing role of advanced practice nurses in both clinical practice and leadership roles.

Click here to read the full article.

New Jersey Training Nurses as Educators of Future Nurses

Earlier today, Beth Fitzgerald, reporting for NJspotlight.com, detailed how New Jersey is making strides in meeting the challenges of a looming nursing shortage by providing incentives that are persuading some in the profession to turn to teaching the next generation of nurses. Ms. Fitzgerald discussed the growing influence of the New Jersey Nursing Initiative, a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation funded initiative that covers the cost of tuition for the two-year master’s and four-year doctorate programs, provide stipends for these scholars, and are funding several nurse education pilot programs.

Click here to read the article.

Representatives from the New Jersey Nursing Initiative, as well as other RWJF funded initiatives, will be attending our upcoming national conference in Washington DC on April 26-27th.

Click here to find out more information abut this meeting.

New York Times: More Men Trading Overalls for Nursing Scrubs

Last week, Tess Vigeland, reporting for the New York Times, detailed the transition many men [and women] are making into the nursing workforce from other sectors of the economy. Interestingly enough, Ms. Vigeland discussed issues plaguing the nursing workforce, such as the lack of doctorally prepared nurse faculty to meet the rising demand of nursing education.

Click here to read Ms. Vigeland's article.

Click here to read other blogposts regarding the nursing education.

Nursing Shortage Is Temporarily Over in U.S. Until 2020

A study recently published in the New England Journal of Medicine has found that the nursing shortage in the United States that led to a decade-long push for more nursing graduates is temporarily over. The study, which was led by Douglas Staiger, an economist at Dartmouth College, highlighted the fact that between 2005 & 2010, the increase in the nursing workforce was the largest of any five-year period during the last 40 years. However, the authors also warn that even larger shortages than previously experienced are projected for 2020 and beyond.

Nicole Ostrow, of Bloomberg News, wrote in great detail about this topic, including interviews with Dr. Staiger and other respected scholars in the nursing workforce field.

Click here to read Ms. Ostrow's article.

Click here to read Dr. Staiger & colleagues' article in NEJM (subscription required).

Click here to read other blogposts relating to nursing shortages.

Pennsylvania's Nursing Homes Are in Crisis

Last week, Jim Hook, senior writer for PublicOpinionOnline.com, discussed in great detail how proposed Medicaid cuts in Pennsylvania will create a financially unsustainable environment for nursing home facilities. The proposed $102 million statewide cut in Medicaid funding would drastically effect the way in which care is delivered both inside and outside of these facilities, potentially resulting in home visits by case coordinators being drastically cut back. Mr. Hook does a fantastic job of covering numerous issues with the latest Medicaid cuts and we strongly encourage you to read the full article.

Click here to read the article.

California Court Upholds Rules For Nurses Administering Anesthetics

Yesterday, Bob Egelko, writing for the San Francisco Chronicle, reported that last Thursday the First District Court of Appeals in San Francisco ruled in favor of nurses anesthetists being able to administer anesthesia without a doctor's supervision. This ruling has been heralded by nursing and patient advocacy organizations as a success for rural health where a physician's presence is often difficult to come by. Even though Federal law denies Medicare reimbursements to hospitals that allow nurses to give anesthesia without direct supervision, California is one of 16 states to opt out of this requirement after consulting with their state medical board. This court ruling aligns with recommendations made in the IOM's Initiative on the Future of Nursing committee's report: "The Future of Nursing: Leading Change, Advancing Health" by allowing nurse anesthetists to serve patients without physician oversight, California has improved rural access to numerous health services that require anesthesia, in addition to providing safe, cost-effective care by trained professionals.

Click here to read the article.

Bills in Missouri Legislature Would Aid Advanced Nurses

Last week, Blythe Bernhard, of stltoday.com, reported that two new bills have been introduced in the Missouri legislature aimed at giving advanced practice nurses more independence and the ability to practice to the full extent of their training. Similar to legislation recently passed in Ohio (and discussed on our blog here last week), the proposed law would give APNs the ability to prescribe controlled substances without a doctor's oversight in addition to allowing doctors to enter into 'supervisory' agreements with more than three APNs (the current limit). The effort to expand nurses scope of practice in Missouri is currently at an all time high with four difference pieces of legislation being debated to allow nurses to practice to the full extent of their training. These proposals align with reccomendations made in the IOM's Initiative on the Future of Nursing committee's report: "The Future of Nursing: Leading Change, Advancing Health."

Click here to read the full article.

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

Recording Now Available of Our Most Recent Webinar in the Future of Nursing Series

Two weeks ago, we hosted the first of our webinar series related to the recommendations made in the IOM's Initiative on the Future of Nursing committee's report: "The Future of Nursing: Leading Change, Advancing Health." The presentation, "Developing and Sustaining the Professional Nursing Organization Through New Graduate RN Transition-to-Practice", focused on the third recommendation made in the IOM's report that addresses the implementation of nurse residency programs. Charles Krozek, and his colleagues at Versant Holdings, LLC., presented a fascinating webinar detailing the experience of Versant in implementing nurse residency programs.

For all of those who were unable to attend, or for those of you that joined us and wish to view the webinar again, you may now access the recorded webinar here.

Please join us next week for our second webinar in this series that will be addressing the fourth reccomendation made by the IOM committee focused on increasing the proportion of nurses with a baccalaureate degree to 80 percent by 2020. The webinar will be led by Maja Djukic, PhD, RN, Assistant Professor at New York University's School of Nursing, and will discuss the differences in qualtiy improvement participation by Associate and Bachelor degree graduates.

Click here to register for this webinar, scheduled for Wednesday, March 21 from 12-1 PM EDT.

Meet Ezekiel Emanuel, Keynote Speaker at INQRI's Upcoming National Meeting

For those of you interested in learning more about the keynote speaker for INQRI's upcoming national conference, we have provided you with a short bio, in addition to some links to Dr. Emanuel's recent articles.

If you have not registered for our national conference, there is still time! Click here to find our further information and register for our upcoming national conference on April 26-27, 2012.

Ezekiel J. Emanuel is Vice Provost for Global Initiatives and chair of the Department of Medical Ethics and Health Policy at the University of Pennsylvania. From January 2009 to January 2011, he served as special advisor for health policy to the director of the White House Office of Management and Budget. Since 1997 he was chair of the Department of Bioethics at The Clinical Center of the National Institutes of Health and a breast oncologist. Dr. Emanuel received his M.D. from Harvard Medical School and his Ph.D. in political philosophy from Harvard University. After completing his internship and residency in internal medicine at Boston's Beth Israel Hospital and his oncology fellowship at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, he joined the faculty at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. He has since been a visiting professor at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, UCLA, the Brin Professor at Johns Hopkins Medical School, and the Kovitz Professor at Stanford Medical School and visiting professor at New York University Law School.

Dr. Emanuel has written and edited 9 books and over 200 scientific articles. He is currently a columnist for the New York Times.

Dr. Emanuel’s Recent Articles:

• “An Unsung Victory in Healthcare” – Reuters, March 6, 2012
• “Healthy Labels, Not Stealthy Labels” – New York Times, March 5, 2012
• Q&A With Dr. Emanuel – Penn Current, February 16, 2012

Advanced-Practice Nurses Get More Prescribing Authority in Ohio

At the end of February, we reported the introduction of legislation (SB-83) in the Ohio Senate that would expand Advanced-practice Nurses' power to prescribe Schedule II controlled substances. We are pleased to share with you that this bill was passed in the Ohio Senate and signed into law by Gov John Kasich last week. The law, which will become effective 90 days after it was signed into law, also requires APNs to complete an additional six hours of training before prescribing narcotic drugs. With Ohio expanding advanced-practice nurses scope of practice, there are now 34 states total that allow APNs to prescribe Schedule II drugs. This legislative action aligns with the first reccomendation made in the IOM's Initiative on the Future of Nursing committee's report: "The Future of Nursing: Leading Change, Advancing Health."

Click here to read more about the bill signed into law in Ohio.

Click here to read more blogposts relating to the IOM's Future of Nursing report.

Hospital Efforts To Keep Elderly Strong

Yesterday, Lindsey Tanner, reporting for the Huffington Post, described new initiatives being implemented by hospitals to encourage elderly patients to be more active and improve their quality of life. Ms. Tanner detailed how hospitals are utilizing nurses and volunteers to facilitate simple walking exercises that result in patients being just as healthy when discharged as they were on arrival.

Does this initiative sound familiar to you? It should!

Previous INQRI grantee Dr. Barbara Resnick focused her INQRI supported research efforts on Function Focused Care in assisted living communities that resulted in improved well-being for geriatric participants, in addition to improving the culture of safety for staff at the facilities that implemented the program.

Click here to read the HuffPost article.

Click here to read more about Dr. Resnick's work, including a video of a recent lecture she presented at the University of Pennsylvania's Institute of Aging.

Nursing Programs: Shortage of Qualified Faculty Burdens Eager Students

Over the weekend, Laurel Scott, of gosanangelo.com, discussed the ongoing issue of the lack of nurse faculty throughout the country. Ms. Scott reported on local issues within the state of Texas in regards to the lack of doctorally prepared instructors to train the next generation of nurses. With the baby boomer generation beginning to retire, it is imperative that a new breed of nurses be adequately trained and educated so that they may care for the growing elderly population in the United States.

Click here to read the full news article.

Nurse Practitioners Fight For More Independence, Doctors Resist

Earlier this week, Stephanie Bouchard, Associate Editor of healthcarefinancenews.com, detailed the unsuccesful attempt by nurse practitioner groups in Texas to expand scope of practice laws that would allow them to utilize the full extent of their training and expertise. Ms. Bouchard discussed how the Texas chapter of the American Academy of Family Physicians thwarted an attempt to expand nurse scope of practice laws by claiming NPs don’t have enough medical training to practice and prescribe independently. While NPs in Texas were unable to have this legislation voted into law, they have indicated that they will attempt to pass similar legislation again this year, this time utilizing the IOM's Future of Nursing: Leading Change, Advancing Health report.

Click here to read the full article.

The Future of Nursing Webinar Series: Upcoming Webinar Focuses on Increasing The Proportion Of Nurses With BSN's by 2020 (March 21, 12-1pm EST)

The Institute of Medicine (IOM) report The Future of Nursing: Leading Change, Advancing Health, offers a series of recommendations to improve health care by advancing nursing as a field. There is a great body of research that shows that when nurses take greater leadership roles in health care, not only does the quality of that care improve, but so do patient outcomes. This is the time to share and promote that research and to identify processes and practices that can be replicated.

To that end, INQRI is pleased to present a webinar series based on the recommendations made in this groundbreaking report.

The second webinar in this series will discuss the fourth recommendation made in the IOM report: "Academic nurse leaders across all schools of nursing should work together to increase the proportion of nurses with a baccalaureate degree from 50 to 80 percent by 2020. These leaders should partner with education accrediting bodies, private and public funders, and employers to ensure funding, monitor progress, and increase the diversity of students to create a workforce prepared to meet the demands of diverse populations across the lifespan."

Please join us for our upcoming presentation:
Associate and Bachelor Degree Graduates: Differences in QI Participation
Presented by Maja Djukic, PhD, RN, Assistant Professor at New York University's College of Nursing.

Wednesday, March 21, 2012
12pm - 1pm ET
Click here to register.

Pediatric Advance Care Discussions Difficult for Nurses and Physicians

Yesterday, Larry Hand, of medscape.com, detailed a newly published study in this month's Pediatrics that surveyed physicians and nurses at intensive care units (ICUs) and oncology wards at Children's Hospital Boston and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Massachusetts to identify barriers to advance care discussion and planning for children. The survey identified the top 3 barriers for ACD discussions regarding children: unrealistic parent expectations, differences between the way physicians and parents understand a prognosis, and lack of parent readiness to have the discussion.

Click here to read Mr. Hand's summary of the article.

Click here to read the study as it appears in Pediatrics.

Minimum Nurse Staffing Level Legislation Introduced In Minnesota

Last week, Renee Passal, of local ABC affiliate WDIO, reported that the Minnesota House and Senate has introduced legislation aiming to establish minimum nurse staffing levels at hospitals. The article also features a video snippet further detailing the proposed bills.

Click here to read the article and watch the video.

Click here to read other blogposts relating to nurse staffing.

Educating The Nursing Workforce

We are pleased to share with all of you two initiatives seeking to bolster nurses' education and training so that they may continue to provide evidence-based, high-value care.

Earlier this morning, Wolters Kluwer Health announced that they would be expanding Lippincott's Professional Development Programs for hospitals and other health care facilities. These bolstered educational tools are designed to optimize nursing performance, increase clinical knowledge, ensure staff competence, and improve patient outcomes.

Click here to read more about WKH's Professional Development Programs.

Similarly, the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN) has announced the extension of their Quality and Safety Education for Nurses (QESN) initiative, thanks to additional funding from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The QESN provides educational resources and training to enhance the ability of faculty in master's and doctoral nursing programs to teach quality and safety competencies.

Click here to read more about the AACN's extension of the QESN initiative.