Editor's Note A study published March 8 in the journal Health Policy finds that nurses’ intention to leave the profession has a significant association with patient mortality.   Researchers looked at data from approximately 37,000 patients aged 50 and older admitted to 15 public hospitals in Italy in 2015 for…

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Editor's Note Healthcare employment in the US rose by 90,700 from February to March, according to the latest report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, released on March 8. That is compared to an overall monthly gain of 275,000 in February. In February, healthcare employment trended up also in: ambulatory…

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Editor’s Note ECRI and the Institute for Safe Medication Practices (ISMP) every year compiles and unveils a list of the top 10 patient safety concerns affecting the healthcare industry. The report highlights issues what healthcare leaders should focus on within their own organizations and opportunities to address preventable harm. The…

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Editor's Note Quality of care drops when hospitals move from public to private ownership, according to review published in the March issue of the Lancet Public Health. The meta-analysis uses evidence from 13 longitudinal studies across the United States, Canada, Croatia, England, Germany, Italy, South Korea, and Sweden. Researchers evaluated…

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Editor's Note Addressing pressure on margins, inconsistent processes, and staffing issues are top priorities for healthcare supply chain leaders recently surveyed by symplr, a provider of enterprise healthcare operations software. Published February 27, the State of Healthcare Supply Chain Survey offers insight from nearly 100 VPs of Supply Chain, Chief…

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Editor's Note Although few strategies for reducing readmission rates leverage nurse input, nurses are well-placed to identify patients most at risk, according to a study published in the March issue of the journal Medical Care. The authors note that older Medicare beneficiaries with multiple chronic conditions (MCCs) continue to experience…

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Takeaways Research shows that there are high nurse burnout rates from systemic workplace issues, including unmanageable case-loads, poor communication, excessive administrative burdens and an overall lack of care. Nurse wellness programs—including resilience training, peer-to-peer counseling, and meditation—are critical, because of high exposure to trauma and suffering, but these efforts need…

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Takeaways The COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated staffing problems, and although some parameters have improved, challenges remain. Surgical volume took a sharp drop during the pandemic but is now rebounding. Over the years, the gap in difficulty between recruiting RNs and recruiting STs has narrowed. Last month, OR Manager looked back on…

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Editor's Note A week after a walkout of junior doctors in South Korea halted about a third of surgeries at large hospitals in Seoul, the government is threatening prosecution and the revocation of medical licenses if the walkout doesn’t end by February 29. As reported by the Associated Press February…

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Editor's Note Although RN employment dropped significantly during the past few years, updated workforce forecasts with numbers similar to those projected prior to the pandemic indicate that the decline was likely temporary. Jama Health Forum published the data February 16. For the study, researchers pulled data on registered nurses aged…

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