Category: Empowered Nurses

Florence Rigney, who goes by “SeeSee”, started her career as a nurse in the same era that penicillin was being developed. Graduating from nursing school in 1946, if you do the math, you’ll realize that she has been a nurse for 75 years, three-fourths of a century! And all but those first 5 years were at MultiCare Tacoma General in […]

  The American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN) conducted a survey that found that 80,407 qualified applicants were denied spots in the nation’s nursing schools.  The reason?  The survey cited that it is due to difficulty in obtaining qualified faculty members.  Faculty salaries are much lower than those in clinical nursing practice and, therefore, many nursing schools are just unable to attract qualified faculty.  The faculty shortage greatly contributes to the shortage of nurses for the simple […]

Can you believe that mandatory minimum staffing in nursing homes is now a law in New York?  Interestingly, last year Governor Cuomo was exposed for requiring nursing homes to accept COVID-19 positive patients when New York hospitals were overflowing and then not being truthful about the number of deaths of nursing home residents.  However, New York recently passed laws and Governor Cuomo […]

  I am pleased and proud that nurses in my San Diego community have banded together and have taken their passions and advocacies to the streets and were recognized by the American Nurses Association of California with their 2021 President’s award. So, what is inspiring about these nurses? In May 2020, a group of registered nurses volunteered to treat people […]

  Not too long ago I wrote about a nurse, Cliff Willmeng, R.N., who was terminated from his emergency room position for refusing to wear his own personal scrubs while working. Instead, he insisted on wearing hospital issued scrubs which he could leave at the facility to disinfect and clean rather than risking his family’s health by bringing home possibly […]

For Nurses Week, Kaiser Permanente Antioch Medical Center in California gave its nurses a ROCK! Can you imagine what the heck may be going on if you received from your employer the gift of a rock for this special occasion? The rock was blank but came with a message saying, “Encouragement Stone … please take one.  Take a moment to […]

A recent Ohio University study revealed a correlation between stress and medical errors.  Even before the pandemic, in a study of critical care nurses nationwide, 40% reported depressive symptoms, more than 50% experienced anxiety and over 60% rated their physical health as low. This is so sad that we have such a number of depressed, anxious, and unhealthy nurses in […]

According to a recent new article spotlighting a Washington Post-Kaiser Family Foundation poll, about one-third of health care workers are considering quitting because of burn-out from the demands on them during this pandemic.  Actually, the statistic was 3 in 10. Can you imagine what would happen if 3 in 10 nurses leave the profession?  The nursing field is already short-staffed! […]

With Nurses Week and Nurses Month coming up, what in the world do we get our nurse friends, colleagues and family members to commemorate the occasion? According to Gary Chapman in his book 5 Love Languages, there are 5 love languages: words of affirmation, acts of service, quality time, gifts and physical touch.  Nurses can be any of these love […]

There is a plethora of articles throughout the country discussing the fact that nurses are leaving the profession due to the pandemic. Many nurses are frustrated due to the stress and the lack of support.  Many are being forced to reuse PPE, to cancel PTO and to work mandatory overtime.  Overall, most are flat out exhausted if not completely burned […]