Category: Empowered Nurses

I really don’t like writing politically charged newsletters however many nurses have reached out to me about this topic, and I am all about serving you, the readers, that I felt that it is important. But first, as a brief report, a single hospital in Lowville, New York, the Lewis County Health System, has closed its maternity unit because several […]

Delaware recently became the 24th state to adopt full practice authority legislation which means that nurse practitioners can practice independently without physician oversight. With the growing physician shortage, nurse practitioners are taking the places of physicians in primary care, particularly in rural areas hit hardest by the physician shortage.  This provides people in these areas with access to care. It […]

Some hospitals will fire a nurse who has a business outside the facility. I believe that the hospital does not own you and a nurse should be allowed to do what they want in their free time without any interference from the facility.  However, if you are a nurse who has a job outside the hospital and are doing something […]

What was known as the American Association of Nurse Anesthetists has changed its name to the American Association of Nurse Anesthesiology (AANA) because the new designation will more accurately convey the profession. Anesthetists sometimes can relate to a trade or a technician.  It’s interesting that the AANA name came about after it was revealed that Nurse Anesthetists in New Hampshire […]

Last month, all 10 hospitals in Indianapolis were on “diversion” which meant that their emergency rooms were not taking patients. One person was transported from Franklin, Indiana to Ball Memorial Hospital in Muncie, a trip of over 80 miles, because none of the Indianapolis area hospitals could care for any new patient. Can you imagine the closest hospital being 80 […]

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 […]