On the rise: Team-based care coordination model takes off

(Nurse.com) While the patient-centered medical home concept is not new, passage of the Affordable Care Act has elevated the idea of a whole-person orientation to care that’s delivered in a more coordinated way to engaged patients.

“It’s a team-based approach to management of our patients,” said Felice Lewaine, RN, medical home care coordinator at two primary care offices with Hunterdon Healthcare in Flemington, N.J. “I’m making sure all of the care is coordinated to help patients manage their health.”  [Read more...]

Americans accepting of physician assistants, nurse practitioners

(Town Talk) About half of U.S. consumers prefer physicians for primary health care, but patients are willing to see physician assistants and nurse practitioners to secure timely access to care, a study by the Association of American Medical Colleges says.

About 60 percent of study respondents preferred seeing a physician assistant or nurse practitioner to address a worsening cough if they could be seen the same day. Twenty-five percent preferred an extra day’s wait to see a physician, according to the study in the June edition of the journal Health Affairs. [Read more...]

Intervention reduces postoperative complications

(Nurse.com)A standardized postoperative care program that emphasizes patient education, early mobilization and pulmonary interventions is associated with reduced risk of postoperative pneumonia and unplanned intubation, according to a study. [Read more...]

With nurses at risk of compassion fatigue, hospitals try to ease their stress

(Washington Post) Jan Powers, a clinical nurse manager in the pediatric oncology unit at the Georgetown Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center, remembers how hard it was for her team after the death of a child. They met with an art therapist, who brought clay.

“There was a lot of pounding and kneading, and while we made our pots and whatever, people started to talk,” she said of the session last summer. “When your hands are occupied and you’re not in the spotlight, it’s easier to say things like ‘I feel really bad’ or ‘This child touched my heart and I’m grieving.’ It gives staff a chance to create out of something that is hurtful and painful.” [Read more...]

Doctors block bids to expand nurse, dentist roles in Ill.

(Pantagraph.com) Nurses, dentists and psychologists asked the Illinois Legislature this spring for more authority to make medical decisions with demand expected to surge under the federal health care law, but each time lawmakers sided with doctors and turned them down.

It was a resounding victory in Springfield for the Illinois State Medical Society, which has represented doctors in a longstanding turf battle over how to address a growing shortage of medical services in rural and low-income urban neighborhoods across the state. [Read more...]

All nurses should know how to help when disaster strikes

(Nurse.com) On April 15, two bombs were detonated at the Boston Marathon. On April 17, an explosion at a fertilizer plant rocked the small town of West, Texas. A month later, on May 15, tornadoes wreaked havoc across towns in north Texas. Twisters again caused enormous damage when they blew threw the Oklahoma City area May 19, destroying entire neighborhoods, including an elementary school and a hospital. [Read more...]

Why be a nurse?

(Wilkes-Barre Times Leader) In six brief words, Justin McIntyre summed up the basic, vital aspect of his calling.

“We save people’s lives every day,” said McIntyre, a registered nurse who lives in Danville and works in the emergency room of the Geisinger Medical Center. [Read more...]

Checkup: Is it Really a Doctor You’re Seeing?

(FOX) You’re sitting in the doctor’s office or maybe a local clinic that’s part of your health insurance network, and in walks a white-coat-clad professional. Your impulse may be to say, “Good morning, doctor” — but it’s becoming more likely that the person who’s ready to attend to your medical needs is no doctor, but a nurse practitioner or physician assistant. [Read more...]

Nurse Practitioners Playing Doctor More Often

(Daily Beast) When I was 36 weeks pregnant, my nurse practitioner told me I had a urinary tract infection and prescribed an antibiotic. I didn’t have symptoms, so I didn’t believe her. But it was Friday at 4:30 and I got the feeling that she was in a hurry. “You increase your risk of miscarriage if you don’t treat,” she said as she dashed off a prescription. [Read more...]

Researcher searches for global views of nurses’ end-of-life care for patients

(Medical Express) The April issue of the International Nursing Review reported the findings about the end-of-life preferences of 1,089 nurses in the first multinational and cross-cultural view of nurses’ end-of-life care choices.

Two factors influenced the care of people dying: lack of knowledge about the patient’s wishes and the call of duty, according to Joyce Fitzpatrick, PhD, RN, FAAN, from the Frances Payne Bolton School of Nursing at Case Western Reserve University and a lead investigator on the study. [Read more...]