Practice nursing: the pitfalls and the potential.

A survey by the Queen's Nursing Institute has confirmed that practice nursing is facing major pressures, with one third of practice nurses due to retire by 2020, patchy access to training and widespread discrepancies in pay. But there is also cause for optimism, as new initiatives aim to ensure practice nurses are better supported and rewarded.

Enfermería desde la perspectiva del Trabajo Decente / Nursing from the perspective of Decent Work

Introducción: La Organización Internacional del Trabajo es un organismo que realiza propuestas y recomendaciones enfocadas a mejorar la calidad de vida de las y los trabajadores, evidenciando las condiciones deficientes de trabajo y enfatiza sobre la importancia de que todo ser humano tenga acceso a un Trabajo Decente, el cual es un concepto con profundos marcos éticos que busca la justicia social. Objetivo: Reflexionar sobre las implicancias del trabajo de Enfermería en relación al Concepto de Trabajo Decente. Desarrollo: El término Trabajo Decente surge como respuesta a la situación de creciente desprotección de los trabajadores(as), principalmente de los jóvenes, las mujeres y los más pobres. La Enfermería como profesión conformada en su mayoría por mujeres, se enfrenta a múltiples riesgos laborales, que la convierten en la profesión sanitaria con mayores riesgos a la salud, pero no en la mejor remunerada, ni en la más reconocida socialmente alrededor del mundo. Consideraciones finales: El Trabajo Decente implica salarios competitivos, seguridad social, globalización equitativa, formación, equidad de género, libre de riesgos, con derechos laborales e igualdad. Los profesionales de Enfermería, las Instituciones de Salud y los Gobiernos, deben reconsiderar las condiciones de trabajo y los múltiples riesgos adicionados a la labor de las Enfermeras, para hacer que la Enfermería cumpla con todas las características de un trabajo decente, fomentando la prevención de riesgos laborales e incentivando con mejores salarios y condiciones de trabajo en general, para mejorar la calidad de vida laboral de las Enfermeras y Enfermeros (AU)

Introduction: The International Labor Organization encourages improvement in the quality of life for workers, highlighting poor working conditions and promoting Decent Work for all. Objective: To reflect on the implications of the work of nursing in relation to the concept of Decent Work. Development: Decent Work responds to the increasing vulnerability of workers, mainly young people, women and the poor. Nursing as a profession is made up mostly of women, faces multiple occupational hazards, including psychosocial risk factors, biological, physical, chemical and ergonomic, which means that this health care profession has higher health risks, is not the best paid job, nor is well recognized socially around the world. Conclusion: Decent Work involves competitive salaries, social security, fair globalization, education, gender equality, low risk, with labor rights and fairness. Nursing professionals, health institutions and governments should reconsider attending to the multiple risks that are faced in any hospital to make nursing work comply with all the features of Decent Work, promoting the reduction of occupational hazards and providing better salaries and working conditions in general to all nurses and improving the quality of their working life (AU)

Hospital nurse productivity enhancement.

Nurse staffing patterns have come under increased scrutiny as hospital managers attempt to control costs without harming service quality or staff morale. This study presents production function results from a study of nurse output from 2002 to 2005. The results suggest that productivity varies widely among the 39 hospitals as a function of staffing patterns, methods of organization, and the degree of reliance on nurse extender technicians. Nurse extenders can enhance the marginal value product of the most educated nurses as the RNs concentrate their workday around patient care activities. The results suggest that nurse extenders free RNs from the burden of nonnursing tasks. Incentive pay for nurses based on productivity gains is associated with enhanced productivity. One should get the greatest output for the least input effort, better balancing all factors of service delivery to achieve the most with the smallest resource effort.

Nursing professionals' views on the workplace. Survey results.

This article reports on a survey done among registered, enrolled and auxiliary nurses registered with the South African Nursing Council. The survey was carried out in the period from the end of December 1997 to the beginning of 1998. The purpose of the survey was to obtain the views of female nurses on various aspects of the workplace. The important findings were the fact that nurses liked working as part of a team and that this contributed the most to their job satisfaction. The item that contributed least to job satisfaction was pay. The most important problems were that they felt that they were not paid enough and that they need better benefits. The majority of nurses were however positive about their jobs and the items the highest on the list of career expectations were job satisfaction, followed by a need for recognition.

The effects of All-RN and RN-EN staffing on the quality and cost of patient care.

This paper presents empirical evidence from a study that compared the quality and costs of patient care provided by two staffing regimes in an acute medical and an acute surgical ward in one hospital. As assessed by patient outcomes, there were few significant differences in either ward in the quality of care provided by all registered nursing staff and staff that was comprised of 80% registered nurses and 20% enrolled nurses. In the acute medical ward the all-registered nursing staff was more expensive per day and per hour for patient care adjusted for patient dependency; in the acute surgical ward the registered-enrolled nurse staff mix was more costly. The study found that nurses in both wards were confronted by continuously high workloads. Registered nurses reported that working with enrolled nurses (who were inexperienced in acute medical and surgical nursing) exacerbated their workload and, to a lesser extent, made their work more stressful. Large scale, long term studies are necessary to clarify the issues of cost effectiveness of RN-EN mix and workloads.

Caught in the middle. A profile of licensed practical nurses in home care.

Licensed practical nurses are the smallest major segment of the home care industry, providing services with registered nurses and home care aides. Although they report high job satisfaction, LPNs are caught at a middle stage in the health care system. With new demographics, labor market considerations, and recruitment experiences, this report points out the discrepancy between the stalled LPN status and their industry growth.