Nurses Station invites you to participate in a survey about scrubs. This questionnaire will only take a few moments of your time, and will help us provide you with the scrubs you are looking for.

Should you take this survey, we will not sell the data collected and we will not contact you.

Thanks for your help! Click here to take the survey.

I came across a nursing video on YouTube and thought it was something that our readers would enjoy. The clip is called Angels on Earth, Part 1. It’s a short clip but the message is powerful. It demonstrates the incredible role nurses play in providing help, hope and miracles to the tiniest patients and their families.

Nurses Station says “caps off and heartfelt thanks to all NICU nurses.”

Nurses Station is looking for guest bloggers. Are you a nurse with stories to share, opinions and ideas on the nursing and the health care profession and a desire to be heard? If you are interested in becoming a voice for Nurses Station or a regular contributing member to our blog posts, please submit inquiries by using our Contact Us form.

Please include the following information:

• How many years have you been a nurse?
• What degree in nursing do you hold?

We look forward to hearing from you.

The Presidential Election is fast approaching. Every politician has the ability to impact your career and the state of health care in this country. Have you chosen a candidate? Do you know your candidates views on nursing legislation or health care issues? The AMA-PAC (American Nurses Association – Political Action Committee), working hard to ensure the quality of nurse’s professional lives and patient care, issued a questionnaire to all Presidential candidates about policy issues that impact nursing and health care.

Click here to see which candidates have responded to the ANA, and how the 2008 Presidential candidates health care plans compare to ANA policy.

I saw a blog post today from a fashion designer. His daughter is bulimic. He has come to the realization that he, and the industry he represents, is a major contributing factor not only to his daughter’s illness, but to eating disorders of women around the world. He reviewed his own history and that of other designers and saw that each year he and others in the fashion industry have trended towards thinner and thinner models, so now their clothing is displayed on women that resemble hangers more than human beings. I realize that this is not an “issue” about nursing, however I think that all woman can relate to struggles with body image and appearance, and I am sure that most healthcare professionals have seen the devastating effects that anorexia and bulimia have had on patients and their families.

How sad is it that we can not embrace the women we are, whatever our size or shape, and feel it necessary to strive for someone else’s ideals for “perfection”? How many people, friends, family members or patients, have died or come to the brink of death when their struggle to be the “ideal size” took over their lives?

My message for the day: Love yourself.

Tomorrow’s subject – The Presidential candidates and nursing.

Hello and happy St. Patrick’s Day!

May the luck of the Irish be with you today.

Our Nurses Station Blog has been re-designed and updated to include more features. Check for new posts weekly!

Guest Post by Laura Gasparis Vonfrolio RN, PhD

greatnurses.com

Let me begin by saying that there is no shortage of nurses. There are over 2.8 million of us. Interesting to note, only 66% are working and 44% are employed full time with 10% of working nurses being “very satisfied” with their jobs. A recent survey found that an astounding 75% of RN’s feel that the quality of nursing care at their facility has declined, with over 68% citing staffing levels as a major contributing factor to this problem.

The statement made by hospitals and administration that there is a nursing shortage, are patently false and evade the real issues of why nurses leave nursing thus contributing to the lack of a sufficient number of nurses at the bedside to meet patient care needs. The term “nursing shortage” becomes a pat excuse for every vacancy that can’t be filled. It is the ultimate answer that absolves the people who are responsible for creating problem – shortage of nurses at the bedside.

There is an annual turnover of approximately 200,000 nurses, which cost the hospital industry a total of nearly 10 billion dollars per year. This staggering cost is the result of the hospitals industry’s failure to retain nurses. If the funds now spent fighting a losing battle to replace disheartened nurses with travel and agency nurses, were instead devoted to improving job conditions, the nursing “shortage” could be largely solved. The Harvard School of Public Health conducted the most comprehensive study linking staffing levels to patient outcomes. The researchers found a strong and consistent relationship between nurse staffing and the outcomes in patients. Higher nurse staffing ratios result in shorter lengths of hospital stay and thus reduce both direct hospital costs of treatment.

Other studies include:

August 2005 – Medical Care
“Improving Nurse to Patient Staffing Ratios as a Cost Effective Safety Intervention”
Research showed that when nurse staffing is improved, lives are saved in a cost efficient manner.

February 2004 – Medical Care
“Nurse Burnout and Satisfaction”
Patients were more likely to report high satisfaction with their care and nurses reported less burnout when nurses worked in conditions with adequate staff.

March 2004 – The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality released its report entitled “Hospital Nurse Staffing And Quality of Care.”
Hospitals with low nurse staffing levels tend to have higher rates of poor patient outcomes such as pneumonia, shock, urinary tract infections and cardiac arrest.

January 2003 – Medical Care
“Fewer Licensed Nurses Leads To A Greater Number Of Adverse Events”

August 2002 – JCAHO issued a report “Nursing Shortage poses Serious Health Care Risk.”
Focuses on the severity of the current and future nursing shortage and its detrimental effects on patients.

May 2002 – New England Journal of Medicine
“Nurse Short Staffing Leads To Deadly Complications”
Jack Needleman and Peter Buerhaus found that nurses short staffing leads to deadly consequences for patients. Attention nursing administrators – focus on retaining your nurses – improve the staffing levels at the bedside!

A Nurse With a Heart

Laura Gasparis Vonfrolio, RN PhD is one of the most dynamic and entertaining speakers you will have the opportunity to experience. Laura has held CCRN certifications for over 15 years and CEN certifications for 13 years. Laura has helped thousands of nurses over the last sixteen years to prepare for the CCRN and the CEN examinations. She has held positions as staff nurse, Staff Development Instructor and Professor of Nursing.

Dr. Vonfrolio is the proprietor of Education Enterprises and the former publisher of REVOLUTION – The Journal of Nurse Empowerment. Laura has authored numerous articles in Nursing, RN, AJN and co-authored/edited eleven books such as NURSE ABUSE: Impact and Resolution, Critical Care Examination Review and 12 Lead EKG STAT! In addition to being series editor of a six volume State Board Review, Nursetest. Dr. Vonfrolio was the organizer of the Nurses March on Washington DC, March 1995 and May 10, 1996 and has appeared on Good Morning America and Nightline with Ted Koppel (May 1996). You can contact Laura at afeduprn@aol.com.

Nurses week is May 6th-12th.

A Brief History

Although proposals had been sent to President Eisenhower in 1953, and submitted to the US Congress in 1955, it was January of 1974 when the International Council of Nurses proclaimed that May 12th, Florence Nightingale’s Birthday, would be “International Nurse Day.”

In February of 1974, the White House designated that there would be a National Nurse Week and President Nixon signed a proclamation.

In 1978, New Jersey Governor Brendon Byrne declared May 6th as “Nurses Day” and New Jersey resident Edward Scanlon took up the cause to perpetuate the recognition of nurses in his state.

There were other triumphs along the way, and in 1982 the ANA Board of Directors formally acknowledged May 6th 1982 as National Nurses Day. This action affirmed a joint resolution of the US Congress that designated May 6th as “National Recognition Day for Nurses.”

President Reagan signed that proclamation.In 1991 The ANA Board of Directors chose to expand the recognition of nurses to a week-long celebration. In 1993 they designated May 6th-12 as the permanent dates that National Nurses Week would be observed each year.

May 6th - National RN Recognition Day
May 8th - National Student Nurses Day

Click here for exclusive Nurses Week 2008 gifts.

Was there a nursing professional or some other person who most influenced your decision to become a nurse? Or was there an event that influenced you? What was the reason that you entered the nursing profession. Everyone’s story is different and we want to hear them all. Please tell us… what was it that made you decide to become a nurse?