Why Should Nurses Care About the Supreme Court?

Many cases have direct and indirect bearing on health care policy and public health.

Massachusetts Voters Reject Nurse Staffing Standards.

Nurses, too, were split on the vote.

Claims to the benefits of clinical supervision: A critique of the policy development process and outcomes in New South Wales, Australia.

The historical development of clinical supervision has been variously interpreted in the international literature. Creditable evidence has accumulated, particularly over the past two decades, to show that clinical supervision has a positive demonstrable effect on supervisees. However, comparatively little research evidence has entered the public domain on any effect that clinical supervision might have on other nominated outcomes. In Australia, developments in clinical supervision were recently prompted by initiatives at national and state levels. Since 2010, lead agencies for these have sought feedback from professional bodies and organizations on a number of inter-related draft policy documents. The present article tracked changes over time between the draft and final versions of these documents in New South Wales, and reviewed the original sources of literature cited within them. The strength of evidence upon which the final published versions were reportedly predicated was scrutinized. Upon examination, claims to the wider benefits of clinical supervision were found to be unconvincingly supported, not least because the examples selected by the agencies from the international literature and cited in their respective documents were either silent, parsimonious, or contradictory. Many claims remain at the level of folklore/hypothetical propositions, therefore, and stay worthy of rigorous empirical testing and faithful public reporting. Such investigations have been acknowledged as notoriously difficult to conduct. The present article identified noteworthy examples in the contemporary literature that signpost robust ways forward for empirical outcomes-orientated research, the findings from which might strengthen the evidence base of future policy documents.

[Should nurses be managed by doctors or nurses?]. / La separazione tra clinica e assistenza o tra medici e infermieri?

A recent verdict of the administrative court of Lazio Region abrogated a Decree that originally stated that nurse managers (and not the head of the medical department) should be responsible for the management of the nursing personnel, and that had set up the premises for the Nursing Departments. The verdict contrasts with a previous pronouncement of the same court (same members, same president) that supported the wards organized by intensity of care and run by nurses. The organization should be flexible and be shaped not by power struggles but by patients needs: while patients in acute care require mostly medical interventions, chronic patients require more educational and nursing interventions. The verdict is the occasion for reflections on the never ending contrasts between doctors and nurse, that often move to the background patients' priorities and care.

Nurses recovering from substance use disorders: a review of policies and position statements.

The authors review policy initiatives and professional organization position statements that hospital and nursing administrators should be familiar with to respond effectively to public and policy-maker concerns about substance use in healthcare settings. Detecting and addressing substance use disorders proactively and systematically are essential for 2 reasons: to protect patient safety and to enable healthcare professionals to recognize problems early and intervene swiftly. The authors identify key points and gaps in existing policy statements.

Estudo de não conformidades no trabalho de enfermagem: evidências que interferem na qualidade de hospitais em Minas Gerais / Study of non conformities in the work of nursing: evidences that interfere in the quality of hospitals in Minas Gerais

A Secretaria de Estado de Saúde de Minas Gerais (SES-MG) identificou a necessidade de avaliar a qualidade dos hospitais do Programa de Fortalecimento e Melhoria da Qualidade dos Hospitais do Sistema Único de Saúde de Minas Gerais (Pro-Hosp). Neste sentido, viabilizou,a partir de 2009, a realização de Diagnósticos Organizacionais da Organização Nacional de Acreditação (DO-ONA). Este estudo tem por objetivo analisar as não conformidades (NC) relativas ao trabalho de enfermagem apresentadas nos relatórios de DO-ONA dos hospitaisPro-Hosp avaliados em 2009. As NC no trabalho de enfermagem são situações que não atendem aos padrões estabelecidos pela Organização Nacional de Acreditação (ONA), interferindo na qualidade e na segurança hospitalar. Trata-se de uma pesquisa descritiva,documental e retrospectiva, contemplando uma amostra de 37 (82,22%) dos hospitais avaliados em 2009. Os dados foram coletados de fontes secundárias, isto é, os DO-ONA, os sistemas de informação do Ministério da Saúde e as resoluções da SES-MG, e organizados emquadros com distribuição de frequência. As NC foram classificadas em três grupos: não conformidades relacionadas ao processo de trabalho de enfermagem Cuidar/Assistir; não conformidades relacionadas ao processo Administrar/Gerenciar e não conformidades relacionadas ao processo Educar/Pesquisar. Os resultados mostram que no primeiro grupo as NC mais frequentes foram: “ausência de plano seguro multiprofissional de aplicação medicamentosa”, “ausência de metodologia para o planejamento da assistência de enfermagem com base no risco evidenciado. Implantação da Sistematização da Assistência de Enfermagem (SAE)” e “ausência de método para a estratificação de risco da totalidade dos pacientes admitidos na instituição”. As NC mais frequentes no segundo grupo foram: “não evidenciamos a política de gerenciamento de riscos”, “ausência de fluxo de atendimento às emergências nas diversas áreas assistenciais, contemplando profissionais...

The State Department of Health in Minas Gerais has identified the need to assess the qualityof hospitals in the Improvement and Strengthening Program of Hospitals in Minas Gerais(Pro-Hosp). In this sense has made, since 2009, the implementation of OrganizationalDiagnostics National Accreditation Organization (DO-ONA). This study aims to analyze thenon-conformities (NC) related to the nursing work presented in the DO-ONA's reports fromPro-Hosp's hospitals evaluated in 2009. The NC in nursing work are situations that do notmeet the standards set by National Accreditation Organization (ONA), interfering in hospitalquality and safety. It is a descriptive, documentary and retrospective research, contemplating asample of 37 (82.22%) of hospitals evaluated in 2009. Data were collected from a secondarysource, that is, from DO-ONA and the information systems from the Ministry of Health, andorganized in tables, with frequency distribution. The NC were classified into three groups:non-conformities related to the process of nursing work Care/Aid; non-conformities related tothe process Administer/Manage; and non-conformities related to the processEducation/Research. The results show that the NC in the first group were the most frequent:"no safe multi-drug application plan", "lack of methodology for the planning of nursing carebased on demonstrated risk, implementation of SAE" and "lack of method for riskstratification of all patients admitted to the institution". The NC more frequent in the secondgroup were "found no policy of risk management", "lack of flow of emergency response invarious assistance areas, comprising professionals, equipment and drugs" and "policy forguarantee and improvement of filling documents and identification of professionals andpatients in the medical records should be strengthened". In the third group the NC thatappeared most were "lack of definition of the training program for employees with...

Delegation-better safe than sorry.

Occupational health nurses, like other registered nurses, often must decide whether to delegate. They must be familiar with the laws and standards governing delegation of nursing tasks. Many different resources exist for obtaining this information (e.g., jurisdictional nurse practice acts, position papers from boards of nursing, and publications from professional and regulatory organizations). Registered nurses who delegate must know which tasks may be delegated, how to determine the competence of delegates, and the level of supervision necessary.

Nurses ready to right back. Ruling that full-time charge nurses can't belong to unions has labor leaders determined to work for ways around it.

Nurse labor leaders are fighting mad over last week's ruling that full-time charge nurses aren't eligible for union membership. Labor and healthcare insiders say the decision leaves gray areas that will have to be settled at the negotiating table. Barbara Medvec, left, an executive at the system that brought the case before the NLRB, says she finds the "silence" on part-time charge nurses puzzling.