So, How Are We Doing in Diversifying the HSR Workforce?
"How'm I doin?" Ed Koch, longtime mayor of New York City, would ask his constituency. "Am I doin’ all right?" Koch understood the importance of taking stock, assessing progress, and changing directions if need be.
Linda Aiken, UPI, Nurse Burnout
The Case for Baccalaureate-Prepared Nurses
The nursing workforce plays a central role in our present health care system, and will likely have an even greater role in the future. Nurses already provide the vast majority of care to patients in hospitals, and so it should come as no surprise that the quality of nursing care affects patient outcomes.
Scott Halpern, Medscape, ICU Night Staff
Effects of Conflict-of-Interest Policies in Psychiatry Residency on Antidepressant Prescribing
This Issue Brief examines how COI policies affect the prescribing patterns of antidepressants, one of the most heavily promoted drug classes in the past decade. As such, it provides the first empirical evidence of the effects of COI policies in residency on the subsequent prescribing patterns of practicing physicians.
Joan Gluch, Penn News, Dental Disparities
Lee Fleisher, MSNBC, Dental Anesthesia Issues
A Pilot Study To Determine Whether Health Care Professionals Perceive Stigma In Heterozygote Carrier Identification And Disclosure Decisions
Alexander Moffett, Lainie Friedman Ross
Abstract [from journal]
We conducted an empirical pilot study to assess the attitudes of health care professionals (HCPs) to the personal identification of heterozygote carrier status for two autosomal recessive conditions (cystic fibrosis and a hemoglobinopathy) and for an X‐linked disorder (Duchenne muscular dystrophy) using the Health Orientation Scale (HOS) and a modified HIV Stigma Scale. Attitudes towards carrier identification of children were also assessed. Three hundred and ten of 742 (42%) eligible HCPs fully or partly completed the survey. As measured with the HOS
...Treating Viral Respiratory Tract Infections with Antibiotics in Hospitals: No Longer a Case of Mistaken Identity
This Issue Brief investigates antibiotic use in hospitalized adults with a confirmed viral infection, a group of patients that may not benefit from such therapy. Understanding the factors that lead to inappropriate antibiotic use may help change clinical practice and limit antibiotic resistance.
The California Nurse Staffing Mandate: Implications for Other States
In 2004, California became the first state to implement minimum nurse-to-patient staffing requirements inacute care hospitals. It remains the only state to enact such requirements, although at least 18 states have introduced nurse staffing legislation. The goals of the legislation were to reduce nurse workloads, improve recruitment and retention of nurses, and improve quality of care. This Issue Brief summarizes the first comprehensive evaluation of the California mandate in achieving these goals.