In the News

Redefining Leadership and Medical Teams - The June issue of the AMA Journal of Ethics takes a look at the ethical impact of team-based care in clinical practice, medical education and administrative leadership. Read the editor's overview here.In clinical practice, responsibility for patient care is shifting from individual physicians to groups comprising different specialists who, together, are accountable for “episodes” of care.The “team” challenge, so to speak, is that doctors, nurses, pharmacists, and others, e.g., physical therapists, working as a clinical team must provide integrated, coordinated patient-centered care, despite the specific competencies that each possesses and spheres of practice that each represents.TO READ MORE CLICK HERE



Medical Schools Not Graduating Enough Primary Care Docs - According to Physicians News Digest on June 13th, 2013: The nation’s medical education system — and the graduate medical education funding that supports it — are failing to produce the primary care physician workforce needed by Americans, particularly those who live in rural areas. The percentage of graduates going into primary care overall was less than 25 percent. Fewer than 5 percent practiced in rural areas.Primary care physician production of 25.2 percent and rural physician production of 4.8 percent will not sustain the current workforce, solve problems of maldistribution or address acknowledged shortages.TO READ MORE CLICK HERE



Adequate and Stable Nurse Staffing Is Key to Improving Care for Heart Failure Patients - According to the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation on May 1st, 2013: A new study, funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) Interdisciplinary Nursing Quality Research Initiative (INQRI), in the current issue of Medical Care found that rural hospitals with lower nurse turnover are more likely to implement all four measures that are central to optimal care for heart failure patients. The four measures are providing smoking cessation counseling; providing adequate instructions to patients being discharged from the hospital; assessing how well the heart pumps; and making sure the patient receives medication to help blood vessels relax. The results of this study really speak to the central role nurses play in almost any quality improvement effort.TO READ MORE CLICK HERE

In the News

What Can Be Done to Encourage More Interprofessional Collaboration in Health Care? - According to the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation in the September 2011, our health care system today is fraught with errors. Both the human and financial costs are enormous. In 2011, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services reported that, at any given time, about one in every 20 patients has an infection related to their hospital care. Most health care providers today were educated in silos with only those from their own profession. Few were trained to work as part of integrated teams. Research has long suggested that collaboration improves coordination, communication and, ultimately, the quality and safety of patient care.TO READ MORE CLICK HERE



How can nurses help improve access to primary care? - According to Robert Wood Johnson Foundation in the September 2011 issue, the Accountable Care Act will bring some 30 million uninsured Americans into a health care system already grappling with an acute need for primary care providers and an aging population with more complex, chronic health problems. The nation's 3.1 million nurses—who comprise the largest health care profession—play an integral role. Given the demands on the system for primary care and for health care in underserved communities, advanced practical registered nurses (APRNs) are especially critical.TO READ MORE CLICK HERE



Lower Nurse Turnover Linked to Higher Quality Care in Rural Hospitals - According to NurseZone.com on May 8, 2013 - They found that the rural hospitals with low nursing turnover were more likely to implement four core measures for the care of heart failure patients: (1) providing adequate discharge instructions; (2) providing smoking cessation counseling; (3) assessing how well the heart pumps; and (4) ensuring the patient receives medication to relax blood vessels. What nurses do makes a difference,” said Newhouse, chair and professor of organizational systems and adult health at the University of Maryland School of Nursing.TO READ MORE CLICK HERE