The Future is Now for Nurse Practitioners

Laura Raines of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution has a new piece detailing the expanding role of nurse practitioners.  As she writes, "born out of the physician shortage of the 1960s, the nurse practitioner role seems to have come full circle with the recommendations of the Institute of Medicine and Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s 2010 report on the future of nursing... By continuously expanding their roles, proving their competency and pushing the barriers of acceptance and authority for more than 45 years, nurse practitioners have not only earned a place at the leadership table, they have found more ways to practice."

Click here to read the article in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Click here to read the report on the Future of Nursing.

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.

Georgia Perimeter College' Nursing Capstone Project Addresses Patient Diversity

With patient-centered care being a topic of interest in health care as of late, Georgia Perimeter College's School of Nursing has embraced this concept, and integrated patient-centered care into its curriculum. Yesterday, Laura Raines, of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, detailed the implementation of a senior capstone project to make nursing students more culturally aware of the multicultural population nurses work with on a daily basis.

Click here to read the full article.

Click here to read other blogposts with news stories from the AJC (they cover nursing issues on a consistent basis and are regularly featured on our blog).

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.

How Young Nurses Are Invigorating the Profession

Before we discuss our highlighted news story for today, we would like to thank all of you who attended INQRI's successful National Conference in Washington, DC last Thursday and Friday. We had the pleasure of hearing Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel discuss how the important role of nurses in improving the United States health care system post health reform and Dr. Sue Hasmiller highlight the growing influence of the Future of Nursing's: Call For Action in all 50 states. Stay tuned to the blog for further stories and videos from our highly engaging conference.

To that end, Laura Raine, of the Atlanta Journal Constitution, discussed the growing influence of young nurses in both clinical and academic settings. Ms. Raine highlights the story of three local nurses who embody the caring spirit that patients expect of nurses while also excelling at their professional duties.

Click here to read the full story.