Legislative Network for Nurses articles from February 2005

Legislative Network for Nurses archives from February 2005

And the award goes to ...(Slants & Trends)(Brief Article)
February 7, 2005... AND THE AWARD GOES TO... The Center for Nursing Advocacy recently presented its Golden Lamp Awards for the best and worst media portrayals of the nursing profession for 2004. The awards highlight portrayals--from television to the print...

Reporting for duty.(Slants & Trends)(Brief Article)
February 7, 2005... REPORTING FOR DUTY. While a blizzard paralyzed much of the northeast United States late last month, visiting nurses in Boston were not snowed in. Visiting Nurse Association (VNA) of Boston nurse Sandy Grant made a call for help early Jan....

RNs lukewarm on GOP health care reform plan.(Legislation)
February 7, 2005... The American Nurses Association (ANA) is not entirely sold on Senate Republicans' plan to reform the health care system. Sen. Mike Enzi (R-Wyo.), chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee, and Senate...

Harkin to introduce bill to restore overtime pay to RNs, other workers.(Brief Article)
February 7, 2005... Nurses denied access to overtime pay due to Department of Labor (DOL) regulations implemented last year would again have access to that pay, if Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) has his way. Harkin Jan. 24 announced that he will introduce the...

OHNs aim to address RN shortage by keeping nurses safe at work.
February 7, 2005... Nurses will be happier and safer if the American Association of Occupational Health Nurses (AAOHN) is successful in implementing its 2005 public policy platform, Jennifer McDuffee, director of external affairs at AAOHN, recently told LNN. ...

HHS announces electronic prescription plan for Medicare.(Brief Article)
February 7, 2005... Language in the Department of Health and Human Services' (HHS') new plan supporting electronic prescriptions for Medicare is a step in the right direction for nurse practitioners (NPs), a spokesperson for the American College of Nurse...

Study says ending 'culture of silence' is key to stopping medical mistakes.(Medical Errors)(Brief Article)
February 7, 2005... Nurses must learn to speak out when they witness other providers making mistakes, and hospitals must encourage that to happen, according to a recent study. In the study released by the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses (AACN),...

JCAHO enlists help of employers to reduce medication mistakes.(Brief Article)
February 7, 2005... Nurses and other health care providers may soon have the assistance of employers in the effort to help reduce medication errors. As part of the "Speak Up" program, which urges patients to take an active role in their own health care, the...

Older adults.(Brief Article)
February 7, 2005... * The American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN) has awarded grant money to 18 nursing schools across the country to increase the pool of nurses prepared as experts in providing health care to older adults. With funding from The John A....

NINR Deputy Director.(National Institute of Nursing Research )(Brief Article)
February 7, 2005... * The National Institute of Nursing Research (NINR) recently appointed Mary Kerr as the new NINR Deputy Director. The NINR, part of the National Institutes of Health, supports basic and clinical research to establish a scientific basis for the...

Chief of NINR's Office of Extramural Programs.(National Institute of Nursing Research )(Brief Article)
February 7, 2005... * The National Institute of Nursing Research (NINR) recently announced the appointment of Barbara Smothers as the Chief of NINR's Office of Extramural Programs. In her new position, Smothers will be responsible for developing and supporting...

Special health issue.(Brief Article)
February 7, 2005... * The Jan. 31 issue of U.S. News & World Report is a special health issue titled, "Who Needs Doctors? Your future physician might not be an M.D.--and you may be better off." From the cover photo of an oncology nurse to the story "Nurses Step to...

(HHS) Secretary.(Brief Article)
February 7, 2005... * The Senate on Jan. 26 confirmed President Bush's pick for Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary, former Utah Gov. Mike Leavitt. Leavitt replaces Tommy Thompson, who in December announced that he would resign after spending four years at...

Health IT.(Brief Article)
February 7, 2005... * Discussing the benefits of health information technology during a Jan. 27 visit to the Cleveland Clinic, President Bush announced that his fiscal year 2006 budget proposal will include $125 million for demonstration projects to test the...

"Take a Loved One to the Doctor Day".(Brief Article)
February 7, 2005... * Noting that Advanced Practice Registered Nurses (APRNs) deserve greater recognition, American Nurses Association (ANA) President Barbara Blakeney joined the Center for Nursing Advocacy in sending a letter to the Department of Health and Human...

National Nurses Week.(Brief Article)
February 7, 2005... * National Nurses Week is celebrated each year from May 6-12. The theme for National Nurses Week 2005 is "Nurses: Many Roles, One Profession." The American Nurses Association supports and encourages National Nurses Week celebrations through...

State of the Union address.(Brief Article)
February 7, 2005... * In a response to President Bush's Feb. 2 State of the Union address, AHA President Dick Davidson urged Congress to make the president's call for medical liability reform a reality. "No one knows the importance of [liability reform] better...

Florida.(State News)(Brief Article)
February 7, 2005... * Florida: The Florida Hospital Association recently reported that the state's nursing shortage, as measured by hospital vacancy rates, continued to decline in 2004. The average RN vacancy rate in February 2004 was 8.2 percent, down...

Illinois.(State News)(Brief Article)
February 7, 2005... * Illinois: During a Jan. 24 press conference Rep. Mark Kirk (R-Ill.) announced a "Keep Doctors in Illinois" wristband campaign calling attention to a doctor shortage that is impacting the state. Kirk's wristband campaign coincides with the...

Massachusetts.(State News)(Brief Article)
February 7, 2005... * Massachusetts: Massachusetts hospitals recently announced a collaborative effort to create practices and innovations aimed at advancing safe, high-quality patient care and informing the public about them. The Massachusetts Hospital...

Michigan.(State News)(Brief Article)
February 7, 2005... * Michigan: The Michigan Nurses Association (MNA) and United Auto Workers (UAW) have announced a new working partnership called the MNA-UAW HealthCare Workplace Alliance. "We are combining the unique strengths of two very effective labor...

Mississippi.(State News)(Brief Article)
February 7, 2005... * Mississippi: Biloxi Regional Medical Center and the University of Southern Mississippi have formed a partnership to offer nursing education courses on the hospital campus, according to The SunHerald. The hospital has donated $70,000 to fund a...

Missouri.(grants to partnerships of hospitals and nursing schools )(Brief Article)
February 7, 2005... * Missouri: The Missouri Hospital Association's Center for Education has awarded six grants to partnerships of hospitals and nursing schools to expand the number of registered nursing students who can be accepted into educational programs. The...

New York.(State News)(Brief Article)
February 7, 2005... * New York: Suffolk County Community College and Good Samaritan Hospital Medical Center in West Islip have announced a $1.7 million partnership to train new RNs. During the six-year partnership, Good Samaritan will pay faculty and staff costs...

Tennessee.(State News)(Brief Article)
February 7, 2005... * Tennessee: The Johnson City Downtown Clinic, which is operated by the East Tennessee State University's College of Nursing, is now one of only three nurse-managed community health centers in the country to earn the designation as a Federally...

Texas.(State News)(Brief Article)
February 7, 2005... * Texas: William Bester, a faculty member at the University of Texas at Austin School of Nursing, has been recruited by Project Hope to lead the nursing volunteers headed for the tsunami-affected region along the South Asia coastlines (LNN,...

Intramural programs at NINR.(Resources)(http://ninr.nih. gov/research)(Brief Article)
February 7, 2005... * The National Institute of Nursing Research (NINR) recently launched its newly streamlined Division of Intramural Research Web site. This updated resource contains information about the intramural programs at NINR, including research training...

Compensation data.(Resources)(Brief Article)
February 7, 2005... * The 2004-2005 Multi-Facility Corporate Compensation Report, recently published by the Hospital & Healthcare Compensation Service (HCS), compares compensation data for corporate positions of hospital, long-term care and home health...

Cardiovascular disease.(Resources)
February 7, 2005... * To assist nurses and other health care providers in reducing their patients' risk for cardiovascular disease, the Association of Women's Health, Obstetric and Neonatal Nurses (AWHONN) has developed several professional education resources,...

The End-of-Life Nursing Education Consortium.(Opportunities)
February 7, 2005... * The End-of-Life Nursing Education Consortium (ELNEC) is seeking applicants for the next training session for faculty in graduate nursing programs. Training is available to full- or part-time graduate faculty interested in end-of-life care and...

The American Association of Critical-Care Nurses.(Opportunities)
February 7, 2005... * The American Association of Critical-Care Nurses is now accepting applications for BSN Completion and Graduate Completion Educational Advancement Scholarships for the 2005-2006 academic years. Each recipient will receive $1,500 for the...

Abuse scandal and nurses.(Slants & Trends)(Brief Article)
February 21, 2005... ABUSE SCANDAL AND NURSES. The American Nurses Association (ANA) sent a letter earlier this month to Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld supporting further investigation into possible actions of health care professionals in the abuse of...

Bush proposes FY06 budget; nurse group reaction mixed.(2006 Budget)(Fiscal Year 2006 )
February 21, 2005... Nursing education programs would receive a funding decrease of less than $1 million as part of the proposed Fiscal Year 2006 (FY06) federal budget announced on Feb. 6 by President Bush--a proposal that is receiving mixed reactions from nurse...

Hospitals praise Medicare increase in Bush's FY06 budget proposal.
February 21, 2005... Hospitals would be better able to care for older Americans if President Bush's proposed FY06 budget is approved by Congress, the American Hospital Association said. Under the administration's proposal, Medicare funding would increase by 17...

Nurses hail bill limiting mandatory overtime; hospitals opposed to bill.
February 21, 2005... Nurses would be better protected from having to work mandatory overtime if a bill recently introduced in the House becomes law, a spokesperson for the American Nurses Association (ANA) recently told LNN. While the ANA is pleased with the bill's...

JCAHO advocates expanding medical liability reform beyond damage caps.(Medical Liability Reform)(Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations)
February 21, 2005... Congress must expand current plans to reform the country's medical liability system beyond capping non-economic damage awards, the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO) recently said in a white paper entitled...

Senate Republicans introduce liability reform; nurses divided on approach.
February 21, 2005... Non-economic damages in health care lawsuits would be capped at $250,000 under a bill introduced recently by Sens. Judd Gregg (R-N.H.) and John Ensign (R-Nev.)--a plan that has nurse groups divided on the issue. The Help Efficient,...

2005 advocacy agenda.(American Heart Association)(Brief Article)
February 21, 2005... * The AHA has unveiled its 2005 advocacy agenda that includes as its top priorities protecting the health care "safety net," increasing affordability of care, improving the quality of health care and expanding health care coverage to help more...

Cross Country Staffing.(Brief Article)
February 21, 2005... * Cross Country Healthcare Inc. has announced that its Cross Country Staffing travel staffing business has received certification from the Health Care Staffing Services Certification Program of the Joint Commission on Accreditation of...

Bankruptcies.(Brief Article)
February 21, 2005... * In 2001, 1.458 million American families filed for bankruptcy. Medical problems contributed to about half of all bankruptcies, involving 700,000 households in 2001, according to a study published by the journal Health Affairs. Families with...

Arizona.(State News)(Brief Article)
February 21, 2005... * Arizona: State Senator Carolyn Allen (R-Scottsdale) is sponsoring a bill to provide $20 million over the next five years to alleviate the state's nursing shortage by adding more capacity to the state's nursing schools. The goal of her...

Maryland.(State News)(Brief Article)
February 21, 2005... * Maryland: The Johns Hopkins University School of Nursing has announced that it has received a $1 million endowment gift from Baltimore community patrons Clair Zamoiski and Thomas Segal. Beginning this year, the couple will also fund a $30,000...

Michigan.(State News)(Brief Article)
February 21, 2005... * Michigan: The Henry Ford Health System in Detroit has been awarded the 2004 Foster G. McGaw Prize for excellence in community service for its health care initiatives that serve southeast Michigan's minorities and disadvantaged residents. The...

South Carolina.(State News)(Brief Article)
February 21, 2005... * South Carolina: A new initiative entitled the "LPN to Professor" program, announced by South Carolina-based AnMed Health, Canon Memorial Hospital, Oconee Memorial Hospital and Palmetto Baptist Medical Center Easley, will provide new funding...

Washington.(State News)(Brief Article)
February 21, 2005... * Washington: The Washington State Board for Community and Technical Colleges has given authority for two-year colleges to pursue piloting baccalaureate degrees. The board also directed the two-year college system to pursue more partnerships...

Wisconsin.(State News)(Brief Article)
February 21, 2005... * Wisconsin: According to a recent report from the Wisconsin Hospital Association, the state's hospitals could see major workforce shortages within the next decade, especially in keeping positions filled that provide support services to patient...

Cardiac surgery.(Resources)(Brief Article)
February 21, 2005... * The National Quality Forum has announced the publication of a new set of national consensus standards, "National Voluntary Consensus Standards for Cardiac Surgery," which provides a standardized set of measures and a framework for improving...

Disaster readiness.(Resources)(Brief Article)
February 21, 2005... * The American Hospital Association has issued a Disaster Readiness Advisory in response to the recent release of information from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration that is designed to help hospitals safeguard their own...

The Institute for Diversity in Health Management.(Funding Opportunities)(Brief Article)
February 21, 2005... * The Institute for Diversity in Health Management, the Health Research & Educational Trust, the National Center for Healthcare Leadership, and the American Hospital Association's Health Forum have joined together to launch the Cultural...

The American Assembly for Men in Nursing.(Funding Opportunities)(Brief Article)
February 21, 2005... * The American Assembly for Men in Nursing (AAMN) Foundation and Johnson & Johnson's Campaign for Nursing's Future have partnered to offer a new $1,000 scholarship program for male students pursuing professional nursing education programs....

Autism susceptibility genes.(Funding Opportunities)(Brief Article)
February 21, 2005... * The National Institutes of Health, Southwest Autism Research & Resource Center, Cure Autism Now, National Alliance for Autism Research, and other organizations offer funding to identify autism susceptibility genes. Deadline is March 19....

NHLBI: supplemental stem cell research.(Funding Opportunities)(The National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute)(Brief Article)
February 21, 2005... * NHLBI: Supplemental stem cell research. The National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute has $900,000 to give people with little or no experience working with stem cells a chance to conduct research that complements or "supplements" an existing...

NIH: sleep disorders.(Funding Opportunities)
February 21, 2005... * NIH: Sleep disorders. The National Institutes of Health is soliciting applications for research on sleep disorders. The number and size of awards will depend on the quality of applications received. Contact people at various NIH component...