Recently, I have had so many issues with the Indiana Professional Licensing Agency and the State Nursing Board that it got to the point where I could not sleep at night.  I decided it was up to me to go out and make change. I really had no idea how to do it.  I am a great advocate one-on-one for my clients, but I have never had the experience of making change for the collective (outside of the hospital). However, I used what I know about making change such as approaching things from a … [Read more...]

Alexandra Robbins is the author of “The Nurses: A Year of Secrets, Drama and Miracles with the Heroes of the Hospital.” She recently wrote an article for the New York Times titled “Skip the Fancy Towels and Hire More Nurses,” which discusses how hospitals are going about providing more concierge-type services.  Flat screen TVs, monogrammed towels, gazebo patios for patient smoke breaks, fancy gyms, pool and even expresso machines. None of these luxuries are for use by hospital … [Read more...]

I recently read an article on a study from The Journal of the American Medical Association concluding that hospitals make more money by administering poor care. This shocked me.  The study analyzed the per incidence contribution margin relative to cases in which patients suffered from surgical errors. As a result of these complications, patients needed additional treatment and additional time in the hospital. Rather than draining hospital resources, the study indicated that hospitals actually … [Read more...]

As health care continues to progress, more and more new technologies are adopted in the hopes of improving the industry. However, not everyone benefits from technological changes. One topical technological addition to the healthcare industry is the use of tele-ICUs, a branch of telemedicine defined by the American Association of Critical Care Nurses as, “networks of audiovisual communication and computer systems that link critical care physicians…and nurses to intensive care units (ICUs) in … [Read more...]