Category: Workplace Issues

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 […]

  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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

There are several different degrees in which one can become a registered nurse.  They can have a diploma, associates or a bachelors.  There also are several master’s degrees.  When I attended nursing school, I became a MN, a Master of Nursing.  But now, the prevailing degree is an MSN., Master of Science in Nursing. With a doctor’s education, one can […]

Lorie Brown, Nurse Attorney, of Brown Law Office, P.C., discusses the Exclusion List from the Office of the Inspector General (OIG). This list excludes nurses and other health care providers from treating Medicare or Medicaid patients. Lorie discusses how you get on the list, either mandatory or permissive, and possible jobs you can do if you are on the Exclusion […]

With 23 states along with D.C., Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands having full practice authority (independent practice without physician oversight), it would seem that nurse practitioners (NPs) in those places should be reimbursed at the same rates provided to physicians (MDs). However, these NPs are paid 85% of what physicians are paid for the same services. Although there are […]

It’s interesting that Hawaii nurses get the best annual pay of all nurses in the country: $104,060.00 per year.  Story.  At the same time, California nurses get the highest pay per hour at $54.44 per hour.  Nurses in those 2 states are mostly unionized. If you want to go to the Aloha state for your nursing practice, you will have […]

The number of nurses in acute care is dropping as they are leaving the profession in droves. It is scary to think that we’ve had a nurse shortage even before the CV-19 pandemic erupted but we now are seeing nurses walking away from their careers in even larger numbers.  Today’s nurses have never faced such devastation, disease, and death in […]

  A group of healthcare workers and their union filed an action against Riverside Community Hospital, an HCA owned facility in southern California.  [Story]  The Plaintiffs are 4 healthcare professionals that state claims they were not provided adequate protective equipment and that they were pressured to sacrifice safety precautions to meet quotas. Additionally, the hospital failed to alert staff to […]