What do YOU think President Obama should know about nursing and health care reform?

[depaul09]

What do YOU want President Obama to know about the role of nursing in health care?

This is your chance to tell him what you think. With the ongoing discussion and debate about his proposed health care reform, there is no better time than now!

DePaul graduate nursing students are conducting a research project seeking nurses' opinions on what President Obama needs to know about nursing and how nurses can be used effectively in health care reform.

All responses are anonymous and will be analyzed and results sent to President Obama and his health care team in Washington D.C.

We encourage you to share your ideas and hope that our voice together may make a difference!

Please continue to the link posted below to share your thoughts. For any questions, please contact the researchers at depaulrn09@gmail.com.

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?s...UeCIqaXg_3d_3d

[Teeituptom]

I think he first needs to end this dreadful war that the idiot Bush got us into, then he can concentrate on health care. One promise at a time. He can also go after Bush and Cheney for war crimes and crimes against humanity.

I am not a Republican

[OldSquidNewNurse]

The American College of Physicians (ACP) published a white paper Controlling Health Care Costs While Promoting the Best Possible Health Outcomeswhich needs to be looked at by reformers.

Also according to a white paper by Robert Kelley, vice president of healthcare analytics at Thomson Reuters . Over $700 billion is wasted in healthcare annually. Biggest waste groups:

Unnecessary care (40 percent of healthcare waste, or $250 billion to $325 billion).
Fraud (19 percent of healthcare waste, or $125 billion to $175 billion).
Administrative inefficiency (17 percent of healthcare waste, or $100 billion to $150 billion).
Healthcare provider errors (12 percent of healthcare waste, or $75 billion to $100 billion).
Preventable conditions (6 percent of healthcare waste, or $25 billion to $50 billion).
Lack of care coordination (6 percent of healthcare waste, or $25 billion to $50 billion).

Perhaps looking at ways to decrease this waste should be highlighted before implementing other areas of reform.

[kimmiejs]

Allow RNs to spend more time providing patient care. For most RNs at least 50% of their time is spent charting/ paperwork. It is almost if a nurse's ability to provide quality patient care is judged by one's ability to document the care you wish you had time to give. Because of requirements deemed necessary by JACHO nurses are spending less time providing patient care and more time with charting. I don't know about you but I did not go to nursing school to spend my shift staring at a computer screen.

[Kdog]

Healthcare does need reform. It is a fundamental right to be able to get care..Then maybe the ER's won't have to continue to be clinics.
As far a nursing and charting and less pt. care, not sure that will change due to jacho. Admissions take at least 45 min. if not longer to document on computer and discharges are so complicated and time consuming that the patients complain. And there ain't much we can do about it. And each year more required documentation is added to the assessment.

[OldSquidNewNurse]

Interesting article at Medscape.com (you have to join, which is free and they don't spam you. Have free CEU's too).

www.medscape.com/viewarticle/711116

"In 2007, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) commissioned the Minnesota Evidence Based Practice Center to conduct a meta-analysis of available nurse staffing research.[5] Investigators analyzed data from 94 studies that explored the association between nurse staffing ratios or staffing strategies and variables such as patient mortality and complications. Pooling the results from many smaller studies allowed these researchers to produce a comprehensive evidence-based report on the state of the science regarding nurse staffing and patient outcomes.

This meta-analysis concluded that higher registered nurse (RN) staffing was associated with lower rates of hospital-related mortality, mortality following a complication (failure to rescue), cardiac arrest, hospital-acquired pneumonia, and other adverse events.[5] The effect of increased RN staffing on patient safety was strong and consistent in intensive care and surgical patients. The more RN hours spent on direct patient care, the lower the risk for hospital-related death and the shorter the lengths of stay. As the number of nurse overtime hours increased, so did hospital-related mortality, healthcare-associated infections, bloodstream infections, and shock.[5]

According to the evidence report, there was a consistent and significant reduction in death rate by almost 2% for every additional nurse hour per patient. In surgical patients, every additional nurse hour per patient was significantly and consistently associated with lower rates of sepsis, failure to rescue, urinary tract infection, healthcare-associated pneumonia, surgical wound infection, pressure ulcers, shock, pulmonary failure, and deep vein thrombosis. In medical patients, an additional nurse hour per patient day was associated with reduced failure to rescue, urinary tract infection, healthcare-associated pneumonia, shock, and deep vein thrombosis. Viewed another way, Aiken and colleagues found that the risk for patient mortality and failure to rescue increased by 7% for each additional patient added to the average RN patient workload.[6]

Most current evidence suggests that a higher RN-to-patient ratio and more RN hours per patient day are associated with reduced hospital-related mortality and fewer negative patient outcomes. These observational studies do not demonstrate causality, nor are their findings sufficient to support any specific nurse-to-patient ratios.[7] Nevertheless, these findings could be used to restructure current policies related to RN numbers or skill mix in hospitals. Although studies to date largely support higher nurse-to-patient ratios, hospitals must also consider patient types, patient acuity, nurse education, care delivery models, available technology, and other factors that influence nursing workload. The authors of the evidence report also emphasize that staffing policies implemented on different patient care units must be regularly evaluated for their effectiveness.[5]"

[BiggerAl]

Originally Posted by Teeituptom

I think he first needs to end this dreadful war that the idiot Bush got us into, then he can concentrate on health care. One promise at a time. He can also go after Bush and Cheney for war crimes and crimes against humanity.

I am not a Republican

Actually the war may turn out to be a blessing in disguise. Any distraction to keep Obama and Pelosi from shoving their ridiculous reform plan down our throats is good.

Any health reform that does not address malpractice lawsuits, insurance reform and subsidizing drugs for other nations is a complete waste of time.

And crooks, er, I mean politicians on both sides of the aisle are ignoring the 600 pound gorilla in the middle of the room. Get the lawyers out of health care! If you want to protect patients from incompetent doctors, put criminal sanctions in place for legitimate negligence. The cost of health care is too high because of defensive medical practices and the billions of dollars lawyers make and take out of our health care system.

[arkansasfan]

Quit and led a qualified person make the decision.


In fact, that applies to everything he decides to do, lol.

[cougarnurse]

Originally Posted by arkansasfan

Quit and led a qualified person make the decision.


In fact, that applies to everything he decides to do, lol.

Hate to tell ya, he didn't do a whole lot for the state of IL.
I shall leave it at that.

[cougarnurse]

Originally Posted by BiggerAl

Actually the war may turn out to be a blessing in disguise. Any distraction to keep Obama and Pelosi from shoving their ridiculous reform plan down our throats is good.

Any health reform that does not address malpractice lawsuits, insurance reform and subsidizing drugs for other nations is a complete waste of time.

And crooks, er, I mean politicians on both sides of the aisle are ignoring the 600 pound gorilla in the middle of the room. Get the lawyers out of health care! If you want to protect patients from incompetent doctors, put criminal sanctions in place for legitimate negligence. The cost of health care is too high because of defensive medical practices and the billions of dollars lawyers make and take out of our health care system.

I agree with you here, too. Lawyers outnumber MD's here, which gets scary. The TV commercials seem to always pitch the 'If your kid has CP, or your loved one has fallen....call a lawyer!' line.