Four American Red Cross volunteer nurses have been selected by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) to receive the Florence Nightingale Medal, nursing’s highest international honor.

Those honored with the 43rd Florence Nightingale Medal are Cheryl Schmidt of Benton, Arkansas; Debra Williams of Edmond, Oklahoma; Janice Lufkin of Abington, Pennsylvania; and John Mark Burton of Covington, Georgia.

“These Red Cross nurse volunteers have helped bring food, shelter, comfort and hope during countless large and small disasters,” said Vivian Littlefield, American Red Cross National Chair of Nursing. “They have worked tirelessly to teach people what they should do before, during and after an emergency, and have formally trained scores of nurses and nursing students in basic disaster response.”

All four medal recipients serve as American Red Cross disaster health services volunteers. Together they have responded to some of the most catastrophic disasters the nation has faced, as well as countless community emergencies ranging from house fires to airline crashes to ice storms.

Medal recipients’ volunteer service goes beyond disasters. Debra Williams, for example, brings Red Cross services to members of the military and their families. Cheryl Schmidt has served as a CPR instructor, and on Bloodmobiles. Janice Lufkin spends weekends at community events, telling people about the Red Cross.

The 2011 Florence Nightingale Medal recipients are leaders. College professor Cheryl Schmidt is changing the education of student nurses to include disaster training. Janice Lufkin leads the largest Red Cross Disaster Action Team in Greater Philadelphia. John Mark Burton served on his local Red Cross chapter Board of Directors. Debra Williams heads the American Red Cross State Nurse Liaison Network, with its 43 members spread from Maine to Hawaii.

The International Committee of the Red Cross awarded 39 medals this year, to nurses and nursing aides from 18 nations. Medal recipients were active in public health, conflict situations, disaster situations and nursing education.

Around the globe, this elite cadre exhibited courage and active compassion, and conducted practical activities on behalf of injured, sick or otherwise vulnerable people.

U. S. recipients of the prestigious 2011 Florence Nightingale Medal will receive the engraved silver and enamel medal during a ceremony at American Red Cross national headquarters.

Medal Recipient Service Sketches

- Debra Williams
- Cheryl Schmidt
- Janice Lufkin
- John Mark Burton

Source:
American Red Cross

Red Cross Volunteer Nurses Selected For Florence Nightingale Medal, Nursing Resource Admin

RN, PhD, FAAN, Lillian & Dudley Aldous Professor of Nursing Science, School of Nursing, University of California San Francisco will receive the AACN-GE Healthcare Pioneering Spirit Award.

The award, from the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses (AACN) and supported by GE Healthcare, will be given at the 2011 National Teaching Institute & Critical Care Exposition, Chicago, April 30-May 5. This AACN Visionary Leadership Award recognizes significant contributions that influence high acuity and critical care nursing and relate to the association’s mission, vision and values.

Consistently funded by the National Institutes of Health, her studies helped to shape the development of commercial cardiac monitors and effect positive patient care in hospital and pre-hospital settings. Drew’s research has focused on improving electrocardiographic (ECG) monitoring techniques and clinical practices in hospital and pre-hospital settings for more accurate diagnosis of cardiac arrhythmias, myocardial ischemia and drug-induced prolonged QT syndrome.

Her leadership in developing guidelines to improve ECG monitoring has culminated in a five-year project funded by the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute to implement in hospitals the AHA standards for ECG monitoring.

Drew established that patients with acute coronary syndrome who experience transient ischemia, and usually demonstrate no symptoms, require continuous ECG monitoring to identify heart muscle injury. Based on Drew’s data, the American Heart Association (AHA) Practice Standards for ECG Monitoring in Hospital Settings recommend ST segment monitoring for all patients admitted to the hospital with acute coronary syndrome.

Drew is a fellow of the American Academy of Nursing and the American Heart Association’s Council on Cardiovascular Nursing. In 2005, she became the first woman and first nurse to be elected president of the International Society of Computerized Electrocardiology.

Source: American Association of Critical-Care Nurses

UCSF Nursing Professor Receives Pioneering Spirit Award From AACN For Her Work To Improve Cardiac Monitoring, Nursing Resource Admin

Being a nurse is possible through three courses. First, you have the ADN or associate degree in nursing which will allow you to finish your education within two years, Diploma in Nursing coming from a university which can be completed in three years and the BSN Nursing Programs. These programs are the courses that will give people the best knowledge about nursing even if they don’t have any backgrounds for it. This will prepare them for all the things they need when it comes to taking care of people and operating different medical equipments and these information can be used in preparation for their RN exam. In fact, hospitals who with supervisory RNs are those who are able to complete their BSN courses before so they’re currently in their positions. BSN graduates can also be given the chance to get them trained for future careers so they will have better careers in the future.

There are some freshmen who actually don’t have any knowledge when it comes to nursing but they can learn lots about them by taking BSN Nursing Programs. Within the span of four years, they will be able to know a lot about this field of study and use it for the future. The first half of this four-year course would focus on general knowledge like liberal arts and sciences with introductory nursing courses. The last four years will get these BSN students worked up with their major nursing courses to be prepared with their future. Students also need to complete the clinical part of the course to help them be more familiar with the health care systems.

For RNs who would take BSN Nursing Programs for their studies, they can get courses that are more focused on administration or nursing management. These administration and management jobs will be helpful for RNs to help them in doing management for nurse offices and stations. Courses for nursing administration would not only focus on the medical aspects but also on the legal aspect of management so they would know how to settle different issues properly. These courses are now offered by lots of hospitals and colleges so everyone can take part of it.

Full Nursing Course, farah

The American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN) applauds the Institute of Medicine (IOM) and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation for their visionary report on the Future of the Nursing: Leading Change, Advancing Health, which includes among its recommendations removing regulatory barriers to nursing practice, raising the education level of the nursing workforce, enhancing nursing’s leadership role in healthcare redesign, and strengthening data collection efforts. The IOM is calling for policymakers, educators, and leaders across the profession to take collective action to reform education, strengthen nursing roles, and amplify nursing’s voice in transforming the healthcare system.

“The IOM’s focus on the future of nursing comes at a time when healthcare reform presents new challenges and opportunities for the nursing workforce,” said AACN President Kathleen Potempa. “AACN stands ready to work with the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and other stakeholders to ensure the report’s recommendations are implemented to enhance patient safety and the quality of care available to our nation’s diverse patient population.”

The four key messages that structure the recommendations in the Future of Nursing report include:

- Nurses should practice to the full extent of their education and training.

- Nurses should achieve higher levels of education and training through an improved education system that promotes seamless academic progression.

- Nurses should be full partners, with physicians and other healthcare professionals, in redesigning healthcare in the United States.

- Effective workforce planning and policy making require better data collection and an improved information infrastructure.

Specific action steps requiring a collaborative response include:

- Increasing the number of nurses with baccalaureate degrees from 50% to 80% by 2020 and encouraging nurses with associate degrees and diplomas to enter baccalaureate programs within five years of graduation.

- Doubling the number of nurses with a doctorate by 2020.

- Addressing the faculty shortage by creating salary and benefits packages that are market competitive.

- Moving to have at least 10% of baccalaureate program graduates enter master’s or doctoral degree programs within five years of graduation.

- Removing scope of practice barriers that inhibit Advanced Practice Registered Nurses (APRNs) from practicing to the full extent of their education and training and serving in primary care roles.

- Enhancing new nurse retention by implementing transition-into-practice nurse residency programs.

- Embedding leadership development into nursing education programs and increasing the emphasis on interdisciplinary education.

- Ensuring that nurses engage in lifelong learning to gain the competencies needed to provide care for diverse populations across the lifespan.

“Implementing these recommendations will propel the nursing profession forward and better position nurses to become full partners in reforming our healthcare delivery system,” added Dr. Potempa. “AACN is committed to leveraging our influence, data resources, and extensive network of nurse educators to advance these recommendations to better meet the health needs of the nation.”

The new report is the product of a study convened under the auspices of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Initiative on the Future of Nursing, at the Institute of Medicine, and is the result of the committee’s review of scientific literature on the nursing profession and a series of public forums to gather insights and evidence from a range of experts. The expert committee leading this work was chaired by Dr. Donna Shalala, president of the University of Miami, and included among its members Dr. Michael Bleich, dean of the Oregon Health & Science University School of Nursing. AACN was pleased to provide testimony, consultation, and assistance with data requests to the IOM Committee while the report was in development.

Source:
American Association of Colleges of Nursing

AACN Applauds The New Institute Of Medicine Report Calling For Transformational Change In Nursing Education And Practice, Nursing Resource Admin

The American Association of Critical-Care Nurses (AACN) offers for the second year scholarships for the Nurse in Washington Internship (NIWI) program – Sunday, March 13, to Tuesday, March 15, 2011, Washington, D.C.

Sponsored by the Nursing Organizations Alliance, a coalition to create a strong voice for nurses, the highly regarded three-day internship gives clinicians a chance to learn how to advance healthcare agendas on a local, state and national level through the legislative process. NIWI provides advocacy and public policy training, role-playing exercises and opportunities to meet with Capitol Hill representatives.

Michelle Legg – RN, BSN, CCRN, coronary care nurse, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond – received a 2010 NIWI scholarship. She encourages nurses to apply for this year’s program saying, “Political activism is an avenue to help you help your patients. This is a great educational opportunity to learn how to extend that advocacy.”

AACN offered 21 NIWI scholarships in 2010. Applicants must be AACN members and submit a plan that shows how the program will help their professional development. They must assess gaps in their health policy knowledge and skills; identify what they want to learn; and explain how they will evaluate their learning.

The application deadline for NIWI scholarships is Nov. 1. Applicants must be accepted by the NIWI program, a process that requires a separate registration. Visit www.nursing-alliance.org for NIWI information and www.aacn.org/scholarships for information about the expanded AACN scholarship program, which provides qualified learning opportunities to members year-round.

Source:
American Association of Critical-Care Nurses

Scholarships Available For Nurse In Washington Internship Three-Day Program, Nursing Resource Admin

Registered nurses from Children’s Hospital Oakland, voted overwhelmingly this week to authorize their nurse negotiators to call a three-day strike if necessary to protest ongoing management efforts to sharply reduce healthcare coverage for nurses and their families.

No date has been set for a strike, and additional contract talks are scheduled over the next two weeks.

The nurses say the unwarranted changes would leave Children’s RNs far below community standards offered by other Bay Area hospitals, seriously undermining the ability of the hospital to retain experienced RNs and recruit new nurses needed for children served by the hospital.

Further, the nurses, who are represented by the California Nurses Association, charge that Children’s management is trying to push the costs of its bad management practices on to the backs of nurses and other employees with sharp reductions in healthcare coverage. Last month, more than 200 RNs and other hospital employees, who the hospital also wants to penalize with healthcare cuts, picketed the hospital.

“Generations of nurses worked hard to win the standards we have today, especially here at Children’s Hospital,” said emergency room RN Anna Smith, one of the nurse negotiators. “My generation is not going to lead the way turning the clock back. Hands off our healthcare.”

“Cutting health benefits for nurses, other hospital workers, and our families is an unfair and unnecessary way for the Hospital to make up for years of bad management,” said Martha Kuhl, CNA treasurer and a hematology-oncology RN at Children’s.

Children’s concession demands are proposed in bargaining for a new collective bargaining agreement. The hospital wants to dramatically increase costs for the existing health plans in an effort to steer everyone into a single plan and out of the plan most RNs are in, disrupting long-standing relationships with medical providers, the nurses say.

The hospital spent $8.9 million on compensation in 2008 for the 26 top administrators, including social club memberships and $560,000 in severance pay for two short-term executives, yet would “save” less than $2 million a year from its punitive healthcare takeaways, an indication of distorted priorities and poor management practices, says CNA.

Source:
California Nurses Foundation

Children’s Hospital Oakland RNs Authorize Strike, Cite Management Demands To Slash Healthcare Benefits, Nursing Resource Admin

Nurse-Family Partnership®, a leading non-profit organization addressing the needs of low income, first-time parents and their children, has received a $210,000 grant from the WellPoint Foundation. The WellPoint Foundation, a private, non-profit organization wholly funded by WellPoint, Inc., promotes WellPoint’s inherent commitment to enhance the health and well-being of individuals and families in communities that WellPoint’s affiliate health plans serve. The grant will be used to help augment Nurse-Family Partnership (NFP) nurse home visitors’ ongoing educational and monitoring efforts to reduce the rate of low birth-weight newborns among women enrolled in the NFP program.

The grant is specific to NFP sites in California, Colorado, Kentucky, Missouri, Nevada, New York, Ohio, and Wisconsin. More than 400 NFP nurses and close to 5,000 NFP clients stand to benefit from this funding.

“We are grateful to the WellPoint Foundation for their generous support of NFP’s efforts to help more women deliver healthy babies,” said Thomas R. Jenkins, Jr., President and CEO, Nurse-Family Partnership.

“While NFP has strong evidence of helping to reduce pre-term deliveries which are associated with low birth weight there is much to be done, especially with more than 600,000 first-time mothers eligible for NFP every year,” Jenkins added. “This grant will help our educational outreach efforts considerably.”

“The WellPoint Foundation is proud to support Nurse-Family Partnership in their efforts to increase the number of healthy pregnancies in these communities,” said Lance Chrisman, Executive Director, WellPoint Foundation. “We have high hopes that this grant will reap measurable benefits for families.”

Today, Nurse-Family Partnership serves more than 22,000 families in 32 U.S. states in a program of ongoing nurse home visitation.

Source: Nurse-Family Partnership

Nurse-Family Partnership Receives $210,000 Grant From WellPoint Foundation, Nursing Resource Admin

American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN) is pleased to announce that five new Minority Nurse Faculty Scholars have been selected through a national scholarship program funded by the Johnson & Johnson Campaign for Nursing’s Future. Launched to address the faculty shortage and enhance diversity among nurse educators, this AACN-administered program provides generous financial support, mentoring, and leadership development to graduate students from minority backgrounds with aspirations to teach in our nation’s schools of nursing.

Joining the 38 scholars previously selected for this prestigious honor (and a similar program offered by AACN and The California Endowment) are the following students who are all enrolled in doctoral nursing programs:

- Willie Mae Abel, PhD candidate, University of North Carolina at Greensboro

- Lisa Carter-Harris, PhD candidate, University of Louisville

- Carolyn Hickman, PhD candidate, Arizona State University

- Jimmy Andres Reyes, DNP and PhD candidate, University of Iowa

- Beverly Waller, PhD candidate, University of Michigan

“AACN extends a hearty ‘congratulations’ to this year’s faculty scholars whose impressive academic and professional backgrounds will make them excellent nursing leaders and inspirational role models for the next generation of nurses,” said AACN President Kathleen Potempa. “We are grateful to the Johnson & Johnson Campaign for joining with AACN and taking decisive action to help diversify the nurse faculty population.”

The Johnson & Johnson Campaign for Nursing’s Future – AACN Minority Nurse Faculty Scholars Program was launched in September 2007 to support full-time minority students with an interest in teaching. This program invites applications from students in doctoral and master’s programs who will serve as nurse faculty after completing their degree programs. Scholarship recipients were selected by an application review committee, and awards in the amount of $18,000 each will be disbursed this fall. All scholarship recipients are expected to attend an annual faculty development program and meet regularly with an identified mentor who will assist in preparing Scholars to assume leadership roles in academia.

Leading Efforts to Diversify Nursing Education

As a central component of AACN’s core values and strategic plan, enhancing diversity in nursing faculty and student populations has been at the forefront of the organization’s advocacy work and programming for more than 10 years. AACN has effectively leveraged its resources to address this national priority given the strong connection between a diverse healthcare workforce and the ability to offer quality, culturally competent patient care. By providing scholarships and leadership development opportunities to minority students pursuing graduate degrees, AACN is creating a cadre of future nurse educators and leaders of the profession. The organization’s work to embed new standards related to cultural competency in the Baccalaureate and Master’s Essentials will help to better equip future nurses to care for an increasingly diverse patient population. Additionally, AACN’s work as program administrator for The Robert Wood Johnson New Careers in Nursing Scholarship Program has opened the door for nearly 2,000 new nurses to enter the profession, all of whom come from ethnically diverse and/or disadvantaged backgrounds.

“AACN’s work to change the face of nursing is having a real impact, and we are proud that our collaborative efforts and strategic partnerships have resulted in more than $20 million in scholarship funding for minority nursing students since 2006,” added Dr. Potempa. “As the recognized voice for professional nursing education, AACN will continue to use its national platform to advocate for more programs and federal resources to assist schools of nursing with their efforts to remove financial barriers to nursing education and faculty careers for all populations in need.”

Source:
American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN)

AACN Selects New Minority Nurse Faculty Scholars Through Joint Program With The Johnson & Johnson Campaign For Nursing’s Future, Nursing Resource Admin

The American Nurses Association (ANA) applauds the introduction of federal legislation that empowers registered nurses (RNs) to drive staffing decisions in hospitals and, as a result, protect patients and improve the quality of care.

On the heels of the introduction of the Registered Nurse Safe Staffing Act of 2010 (S. 3491/H.R. 5527), hundreds of registered nurses from across the country flocked to Capitol Hill last month to meet with their congressional representatives, emphasizing that insufficient nurse staffing can be a life-or-death issue for patients and that federal legislation is needed to ensure that hospitals don’t limit resources in a way that harms patient outcomes.

The RN Safe Staffing Act, crafted with input from ANA, has sponsors from both political parties – Sen. Daniel Inouye (D-HI) and Reps. Steven LaTourette (R-OH) and Lois Capps (D-CA), a nurse.

“We know that nurses across the country are deeply concerned about unsafe staffing because it puts patients at risk, as well as puts nurses’ careers on the line,” said ANA President Karen Daley, PhD, MPH, RN, FAAN. “Nurses observe all the time how insufficient nurse staffing diminishes the quality of care for patients. We won’t stop advocating on this issue until federal legislation is enacted to increase protections for patients and ensure fair working conditions for nurses.”

Research has shown that higher staffing levels by experienced RNs are linked to lower rates of patient falls, infections, medication errors, and even death. And when unanticipated events happen in a hospital resulting in patient death, injury or permanent loss of function, inadequate nurse staffing often is cited as a contributing factor.

The bill would require hospitals to establish committees that would create unit-by-unit nurse staffing plans based on multiple factors, such as the number of patients on the unit, severity of the patients’ conditions, experience and skill level of the RNs, availability of support staff and technological resources.

ANA backed a similar staffing bill in the last Congress. This version includes new requirements that a hospital’s staffing committee be comprised of at least 55 percent direct care nurses or their representatives, and that the staffing plans must establish adjustable minimum numbers of RNs per unit.

ANA has a long track record of advocating for safe staffing conditions for the nation’s registered nurses, through development of ANA’s Principles for Nurse Staffing in 1999, work with legislators and implementation of a national nursing quality database program that correlates staffing to patient outcomes. In 2007, the association launched its “Safe Staffing Saves Lives” grass-roots campaign, calling on nurses to become advocates. Nearly 1,000 RNs have sent their personal stories to ANA, describing how insufficient staffing on their units has put their patients in jeopardy, overwhelmed them with unmanageable patient loads, and, in some cases, driven them from their jobs.

The safe staffing bill would require hospitals that participate in Medicare to publicly report nurse staffing plans for each unit. It would place limits on the practice of “floating” nurses by ensuring that RNs are not forced to work on units if they lack the education and experience in that specialty. It also would hold hospitals accountable for safe nurse staffing by requiring the development of procedures for receiving and investigating complaints; allowing imposition of civil monetary penalties for knowing violations; and providing whistle-blower protections for those who file a complaint about staffing.

To date, seven states have passed nurse safe staffing legislation that closely resembles ANA’s national approach to ensure safe staffing. Those states are Connecticut, Illinois, Nevada, Ohio, Oregon, Texas and Washington.

Source:
American Nurses Association

Registered Nurse Safe Staffing Bill Introduced In Congress, Nursing Resource Admin

These are important nursing resource links related to working abroad or overseas. They span from government agencies, consultancy firms, information sites, and more.

Note: Nursing-Resource.com is not affiliated to these sites. They are third-party websites, and we cannot 100% assure their significance. If you suspect that a site listed here is a scam, please inform us promptly.

Canadian Citizenship and Immigration Resource Sites

Citizenship and Immigration Canada
Website: http://www.cic.gc.ca/
Description: This is the Canadian government’s Citizenship and Immigration website. If you plan to work on Canada, this is the site to go to.

Nursing Work Aboad, Nursing Resource Admin