MHA's Organization of Nurse Executives

IOM, RWJF launch ‘Future of Nursing’ initiative

The Institute of Medicine and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation on July 14 launched a two-year initiative to identify nursing care and education models that improve health care quality and access while reducing costs. Donna Shalala, president of the University of Miami and former Health and Human Services secretary, will chair the IOM committee, and Linda Burnes Bolton, vice president for nursing, chief nursing officer and director of nursing research at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, will serve as vice-chair.

The committee will hold three town hall meetings to gather information from witnesses, including the AHA’s American Organization of Nurse Executives subsidiary. "Nurses' close, extensive interaction with patients makes them ideally qualified to help contribute to solutions that result in better care at lower cost,” said Burnes Bolton, who received the AONE’s 2007 Lifetime Achievement Award.

Free: 375,000 Nurses

A lot of energy goes into documenting the fact that there are more nursing jobs out there than there are licensed nurses who want them. The Bureau of Labor Statistics announced in January that 233,000 new nursing jobs will be created this year, compared with about 200,000 new nurses. (See A. Zieger, "Nurse Shortage Expected to Extend over Next Seven Years," www.FierceHealthcare.com, Jan. 7, 2009.) A 2007 study by the American Hospital Association, "The 2007 State of America's Hospitals: Taking the Pulse," found U.S. hospitals had 116,000 vacant RN positions. Advocacy groups such as the newly minted Champion Nursing Coalition keep the idea at the forefront of discussion.

Experts predict the situation will only get worse. A 2006 report from the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), "What Is Behind HRSA's Projected Supply, Demand, and Shortage of Registered Nurses?" predicted the shortage will grow to more than 1 million nurses by 2020. A 2007 Bureau of Labor Statistics study moved that milestone up to 2016. (See A. Dohm and L. Shniper, "Occupational employment projections to 2016," Monthly Labor Review [Nov. 2007]: 86-125, www.bls.gov.)

Much attention has been focused on the supply of new nurses. In 2008, the Council on Physician and Nurse Supply called for 30,000 additional nurses to be graduated annually. (See American Association of Colleges of Nursing, Nursing Shortage Fact Sheet [Sept. 2008], www.aacn.nche.edu.) The 2006 HRSA report called for a 90 percent increase in RN graduates. It's a major focus of the Champion Nursing Coalition, too.

The bigger problem, though, is not the constricted flow of future nurses into the bucket, but the gaping holes in the bucket that waste precious nursing resources now.

Nursing shortage eases under recession

A new study published June 12 in Health Affairs finds that the decade-long nurse shortage is easing, or even ending, partly as a result of the continuing recession. Study author Peter Buerhaus of the Vanderbilt University School of Nursing and colleagues found that older nurses are delaying retirement or returning to the workforce and part-time nurses are becoming full time in response to the employment insecurity of their spouses.

In 2007 and 2008, the number of full-time-equivalent (FTE) registered nurses grew by nearly a quarter of a million, an increase of 18% over the two-year period. A recent article in the Wall Street Journal noted that this surge was “particularly remarkable at a time when the U.S. economy has shed more than six million jobs, helping solidify the profession’s “recession-proof” image.”

A Wall Street Journal blog, Real Time Economics, notes, “The irony is that few are eager to draw attention to this temporary resolution, for fear it will draw policymakers’ — and the public’s — attention away from the long-term shortage that’s still likely to develop.” Indeed, Buerhaus and colleagues report that the relief will be temporary as a new RN shortage looms in the next decade as baby boomers retire from the nursing workforce.

The Buerhaus study is one of six papers on the nursing workforce published online June 12 by Health Affairs [2-week free access]. Other papers in the package look at patient satisfaction and describe innovative models of care developed and implemented by nurses that promote the goals of health reform: expanding access, improving quality and safety, and reducing costs. The papers also document current obstacles and solutions to increasing the supply of nurses and offers proposals for education of nurses. Publication of the papers by Health Affairs was supported by a grant from the Center to Champion Nursing in America, a joint initiative of AARP, the AARP Foundation, and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

[ via Health Affairs blog ]

Skepticism and Some Optimism Surround New Nursing Dramas

Depictions may help and hurt the Florence Nightingale standard. Nurses aren't just lackeys to doctors, but perform essential, life-saving functions.

Learn more here.

National Health Service Corps program gets additional funding

Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius on June 5 announced the availability of nearly $200 million in additional funding to help repay the student loans of clinicians who agree to serve two years in the National Health Service Corps. The number of Corps clinicians is expected to double with the funding from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act; 3,300 additional awards of up to $50,000 each will be given to medical, dental and mental health clinicians that serve in a high-need health professional shortage area.

For more information, visit http://nhsc.hrsa.gov/.

MHA's 9th Annual Societies Conference

 

The MHA 9th Annual Societies Conference on the Mississippi Gulf Coast was a tremendous success with all of our societies represented and 13 sponsors participating. Our speakers included Liz Jazwiec, a nationally recognized speaker on customer service and employee satisfaction, Paul Mellor who improved all our members’ memories and Barbara Prichard who shared what to expect from Joint Commission in 2009. Our first ever “speed dating” with sponsors was a hit with members and sponsors and included prizes galore!

Mark your calendars for next year’s societies conference: April 28 & 29, 2010 at the Embassy Suites in Ridgeland, MS! (See all of the pictures from this year's conference here. See all of the pictures from the Maggie Awards Dinner here.)

2009 MHA One-Hour Roundly Initiative

Linda Todd, president of the MHA Organization of Nurse Executives, and the MHA Organization of Nurse Executives are sponsoring a national Hourly Rounding initiative designed to take Mississippi hospitals to the next level in patient care, patient safety, and quality. You are invited to participate in the initiative. (Email Diane Clift at dclift@mhanet.org to put your name on the contact list if you have not already done so.)

On April 21, 2009, MHA held a kick-off education session for the initiative. During that session, Julie Kennedy of the StuderGroup outlined the 12 month program.

A DVD was mailed on May 19, 2009, to nurse managers that attended the kick off session. MHA will facilitate monthly conference calls with everyone involved in the initiative to guide you through the process. The first conference call was on May 18, 2009.

The next conference call will be on June 18, 2009, at 3 p.m. To join conference calls dial (888) 640-7748 and enter participant code 7232328 (#). We will present our findings at the ONE annual meeting on September 24, 2009.

If you would like a copy of the DVD or are interested in obtaining more information on this initiative, please contact Judith Forshee at 601.368.3216, jforshee@mhanet.org, or Diane Clift 601.368.3217, dclift@mhanet.org.

Learn more about the Studer Group’s findings here.

Proposed 2010 fiscal year budget increases nursing incentives

President Barack Obama’s proposed health care workforce development funding for fiscal year 2010 could bring incentives to nurses in the field and in the classroom.

Of the $1 billion in the budget devoted to strengthening healthcare professions, $125 million is allocated to the Nursing Education Loan Repayment Program (NELPN)—an $88 million increase from the 2009 budget. The program contracts RNs with the federal government to work full-time in a healthcare facility with a nursing shortage in return for repayment of qualifying educational loans.

Funds for the Nurse Faculty Loan Program (NFLP) would also increase by 40%, which support eligible schools of nursing offering advanced education programs to prepare graduates to serve as nursing faculty.

In addition, the budget may increase diversity in the workforce, due to funds allotted to Title VII and VIII of the Public Health Service Act health professions training, which are federal programs geared toward training healthcare providers in interdisciplinary settings to care for underserved patient populations, as well as increasing minorities in the profession.

Source: U.S. Department of Human Health and Services and National League for Nursing

[ via Nurse Manager Weekly ]

AONE seeks applicants for TCAB initiative

The American Organization of Nurse Executives, an American Hospital Association subsidiary, seeks hospitals to participate in the next phase of Transforming Care at the Bedside, a program to improve patient care in medical and surgical units. Applications are due by June 15.

Participants will learn the TCAB process, which empowers nurses and other staff to develop innovations to enhance patient safety, reduce nurse turnover, and engage patients and families in their care. Nurse-led teams identify where change is needed on their unit, suggest and test potential solutions, and decide whether and how to implement them.

For more information or an application, visit www.aone.org.

Join the celebration: National Nurses Week

 

The American Nurses Association (ANA) announced the National Nurses Week theme for 2009 - Nurses: Building a Healthy America. Observed annually, National Nurses Week (May 6-12) serves to recognize the commitment and invaluable contributions that nurses make every day to improve health care.

For suggestions on how to celebrate National Nurses Week 2009, visit www.nursingworld.org.