1/31/03
Starting in 2003, National School Nurse Day will be celebrated on the Wednesday within National Nurses Week (May 6-12) each year. Previously, the fourth Wednesday in January had been set aside for the recognition of school nurses by the National Association of School Nurses (NASN).

School Nurse Day was established to foster a better understanding of the role of school nurses in the educational setting. This year's celebration, which commemorates the 100th Anniversary of School Nursing in America, will recognize the vital role that school nurses have played in improving the health and well being of our nation's children for the past 100 years.

1/31/03
ANA Chief Programs Officer attended a meeting at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, January 12-14 entitled "Managing Risks of Therapeutic Products". Sixty representatives of government, industry, consumers, health care practitioners, and academia met to:

1. explore methods of managing the risks associated with FDA approved therapeutic products to ensure maximum benefit and safety for patients, and
2. develop a research agenda to monitor the effectiveness of these risk management approaches and their aggregate effects on patients and the healthcare system.

The workshop was hosted by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), the Center for Drug Evaluation and Research of the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the Center for Education and Research on Therapeutics (CERTs), and the Pharmaceutical Research Manufacturers of American (PhRma)

1/30/03
A recent report revealed that more than half of female heart patients who took part in a survey were unhappy with some aspect of their health care.

The results of the survey, which included telephone interviews with 204 women heart patients, are published in the January/February edition of Women's Health Issues. The biggest complaint patients have is the way that doctors talk to them. The women surveyed felt they didn't have enough information or support to make decisions.

1/28/03
A four-year study known as Alas has been developed by researchers at the University of North Carolina (Chapel Hill) to help low-income N.C. Hispanic mothers cope better with postpartum depression. The program is funded by an $800,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Administration for Children and Families.

UNC researchers led by Dr. Linda S. Beeber, a professor at the School of Nursing, will partner with Early Head Start Program staff and Hispanic families and community members in Buncombe, McDowell and Orange counties to create and conduct the tailored intervention for Hispanic mothers in their homes.

1/27/03
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is offering two satellite broadcast programs related to the smallpox vaccination on January 29th and February 4th.

The first training, "Smallpox and Vaccinia Laboratory Testing: A National Training Initiative", will be broadcast live on Wednesday, Jan 29th from 1-3 pm EST. For program information, go to www.phppo.cdc.gov/PHTN/smallpox0129.asp.

1/27/03
The University of Iowa will host the 5th annual Institute on Nursing Informatics and Classification in Iowa City Iowa on June 9-12, 2003. Registration is limited to 50 individuals. The purpose of the Institute is to discuss cutting edge issues in informatics and to learn of current state of development and use of NIC and NOC. This year's conference will feature the forthcoming new editions.

Content for the Institute will include lectures by distinguished national speakers, such as, Melinda Costin, Vice-President, Healthlink; Daniel Pesut, Professor and Chairperson, Environments for Health, Indiana University; and Roy Simpson, Executive Director, Cerner Corporation, as well as field site visits to agencies that use nursing standardized language.

1/23/03
A survey, conducted by the National Network for Immunization Information (NNii) -- of which ANA is a partner -- reveals that nurses lack knowledge about the smallpox vaccination. As a result, NNii recommends implementing an immediate education plan.

1/23/03
The nation's leading advocates for quality in health care, the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO) and the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA), announced the formation of the Partnership for Human Research Protection, Inc., (PHRP) to offer a new accreditation program that will seek to protect the safety and rights of participants in clinical trials and research programs in public and private hospitals, academic medical centers, and other research facilities in the United States and abroad.

1/22/03
The ANA/ANF OSHA Susan Harwood Training Grant, Caring for Those Who Care: Protecting Nurses from Bloodborne Pathogen Hazards in the Workplace, will be holding a train the trainer workshop on March 6-7, 2003, in New Orleans Louisiana. This two-day workshop will be addressing the recognition and avoidance of bloodborne pathogen hazards in their work environments. Successful nurse-trainers will return to their communities to educate nurses throughout the OSHA regions of the US about bloodborne pathogen hazards in their workplaces.

The program offers training/materials, accommodations, some meals and continuing education hours to participants at no charge. Travel arrangements, however, are the responsibility of the participant.

1/21/03
The American Nurses Association (ANA) has asked President Bush to delay plans to begin immunization of nurses and other front-line health care workers until key concerns are addressed about the health and welfare of those who are immunized. Press release | Letter to Bush administration.

Additional educational information for nurses, including a decision-making tree and a smallpox vaccination checklist, may be found under NursingWorld's smallpox Web page. The vaccination checklist is designed to help registered nurses think through what information and questions they should consider prior to making a decision on whether to receive the smallpox vaccine. The decision-making tree is also designed to help registered nurses in making this decision.

Download PDF files:
Decision-making tree | Smallpox vaccination checklist.

1/15/03
ANA President Barbara A. Blakeney, MS, APRN,BC, ANP, delivered the keynote address at a two-day national conference on recruiting and retaining registered nurses held in Orlando, Florida, Jan. 15 and 16, 2003. Her speech, "Reinvesting in Nursing's Future: Combating Today's Patient Care Delivery Crisis," documented the current crisis in nurse staffing with data from several recent studies on the nursing shortage and its impact on quality patient care. She also discussed potential solutions for addressing the nursing shortage, including creating facilities with Magnet characteristics and implementing Nursing's Agenda for the Future.

1/14/03
The Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) is currently accepting applications. The deadline is March 31, 2003.The Nursing Education Loan Repayment Program (NELRP) offers registered nurses substantial assistance to repay educational loans in exchange for service in eligible facilities located in areas experiencing a shortage of nurses.

1/13/03
The proportion of patients seen by nonphysicians increased to 36.1% in 1997 from 30.6% in 1987, a trend fueled by the emergence of managed care and state legislation to expand the scope of practice for such clinicians according to report, "Trends in Care by Nonphysician Clinicians in the United States", posted in the January issue of New England Journal of Medicine.

At least part of the increase was due to a jump in the number of patients who visited both a physician and a nonphysician clinician, the study said. It also noted an increase in the proportion of patients obtaining preventive services from nonphysician clinicians and a decline in the proportion receiving acute-care services from such clinicians.

1/09/03
The UMDNJ-New Jersey Department of Radiology, UMDNJ-Center for Continuing and Outreach Education and Atlantic Quality Institute will be sponsoring a two-day conference, "The Imperative for Healthcare Leadership in Improving Patient Safety", at the Venetian Resort, Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada on March 7-8, 2003.

1/08/03
The CDC Program "Smallpox Preparedness: Considerations for Response Team Volunteers", originally broadcast on December 20, 2002, will be rebroadcast from 1 pm to 2 pm EST on January 9, 2003. The presenter is Julie Gerberding, MD, MPH, Director, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

1/06/03
Before the end of 2002, President Bush unveiled a plan to begin vaccinating thousands of Americans against smallpox, beginning with registered nurses and other health care professionals who would be called upon to respond to an outbreak. In response the ANA issued a press statement outlining a series of issues that need to be addressed in advance of widespread inoculations (www.nursingworld.org/pressrel/2002/pr1213.htm). Many of these issues are discussed in the ANA's "Health and Safety" column of the January 2003 issue of the American Journal of Nursing, which looks at concerns related to the smallpox vaccination.

This month's AJN also discusses the left ventricular assist devices (LVADs) that can be used temporarily or permanently by patients at home in place of the artificial hearts that were used previously by patients waiting for heart transplants. The article looks specifically at what nurses, families, and communities need to know when a patient is living with a LVAD.