Editor’s Corner, September 2007

Hi everyone!

I hope you all had a great and relaxing summer. Having said that, I also have to admit -- "having fun" is not always easy, correct? All that planning, arranging the tickets, hotel reservations, flying and arriving and checking in and checking out, delays and glitches at the airports (not speaking of lost luggage)... in short, I don't know about you folks, but I sure am GLAD to be back home.

Schools have opened, a familiar but cyclical event for those with school-age kids. And the other day I saw a commercial reminding to get a flu shot for the winter and the flu season... ALREADY? My my, how time flies by... Soon it'll be Thanksgiving, and the Holiday Season will be upon us.

In this issue we are again bringing you the best of the short news items from the world of nursing and a Featured Article about the way ethnicity introduces a new dimension to public health. I hope you'll find the information useful. And if there is any one particular topic that you'd like me to address in a future Newsletter please drop me a line at writer111@gmail.com and I'll try to address that. I'm at your service.

May I also take this opportunity to remind you that if you or someone you know still have not registered with one of our fantastic sponsoring employers you have a few more days left to take advantage of our GETAWAY FOR TWO program. You still have until September 28th for that all-expenses-paid dream vacation. Please visit http://www.nurse-recruiter.com/index_escapefortwo.html for details.

Hope to see you next month! Take good care.

Ugur Akinci, Ph.D.

Editor

Headline Nursing News

Two Nurses Sing Praises of Travel Nursing

Matthew Yorty and Mona Marshall are travel nurses and they're happy. They both agree that travel nursing is a wonderful career alternative for a lot of professional nurses. It's a great way to acquire new skills, meet new people and see different parts of the country and make good money while doing so. It's especially an attractive career alternative for single nurses or those without any children.

Lebanon Daily News of Pennsylvania has highlighted the exciting careers of these two nurses in a news story. Here are the highlights:

Yorty, 32, is happy that for the last seven years he had the chance to live in Hawaii and California (where he also met his travel nurse wife), pretty much all expenses paid, thanks to travel nursing. He is an ICU nurse which requires additional technical knowledge of the hi-tech monitors and equipment used in an ICU unit. He says to see a very sick patient recover and get well is an especially rewarding experience for him.

Marshall, 47, who has has an associate’s degree and a bachelor’s degree in nursing, and a master’s degree in Healthcare Clinical Systems Management and Informatics, follows a different approach to travel nursing since she has a family and children in southern New York.

Marshall accepted an operating room circulating nurse position in Lebanon, PA with 12-hour shifts five or six days a week because she wanted to make more money and could go see her family easily after a 3 hour drive back home.

"I love this area," she said to explain why she decided to extend her contract by another 6 months. "I love the people I work with. They have a fantastic work ethic."

Whether you'd like to crisscross the country and live in some of the most beautiful (and sometimes most expensive) cities of the nation like Yorty, or stay close to home and save money quick for your children's future like Marshall, travel nursing might be the change you need. Call us today Toll Free at 877-562-7966 to discover what we can do for you.

Health Care and Nursing Issues Aired in Knox County, Ohio

In a recent meeting with U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown, the community and business leaders of Mount Vernon, OH had the chance to air various concerns and county issues, including nursing and health care. One of the issues brought up by Bruce White, CEO of Knox Community Hospital, concerned the "changing nature of health care, particularly the reduction in the reimbursement from Medicare to hospitals and physicians." Reduced payments created a competition among the physicians which ultimately hurts the quality of services provided to the patients, White said.

Bill Levering, president of Levering Management, addressed the high cost of prescription drugs and the continuing nursing shortage in the Knox County. He said the part-time school of practical nursing at the Career Center aims to help those students who cannot afford to attend a full-time nursing school. He also said a new Central Ohio Technical College program will also help alleviate the need for Registered Nurses with its program that allows LPNs to study and receive RN diplomas.

Kaplan Launches New Online Nursing Master's Program

Kaplan University, a division of the Washington Post Co., has launched new master's degree program in nursing covering two areas of specialization: nurse administrator and nurse educator.

Kaplan has a Bachelor of Science in Nursing program as well. The program is regionally accredited by NCA and has interim approval from the Iowa Board of Nursing.

"Kaplan University's degree program offers an accredited, online R.N. to B.S.N. degree completion program that centers around health promotion, risk reduction, disease prevention, information and health care technologies, ethics, human diversity, management theory, and health care system and policies. A defining feature of the curriculum is its increased focus on leadership. The program features a capstone course, a requisite clinical course, and a professional development plan that includes career planning," according to the university's web site.

The program is designed for "registered nurses who want to complete their four-year degree to prepare for health care leadership positions and gain the educational foundation needed for the pursuit of graduate studies in nursing. The typical student may have prior work experience or course credits that can be transferred toward their degree."

Visit http://www.kaplanuniversityonline.com/ for more information.

Indiana Nurse Shares Her Likes and Dislikes

Tyra Watson, 38, is a Northern Indiana Registered Nurse working as a Clinical Manager of medical, surgical and pediatric services at the Parkview North Hospital. She is a 14-year veteran of the industry and this is how she summarized the pros and cons of her high-in-demand job, as published in Journal Gazette of Fort Wayne, IN.

LIKES:

Great satisfaction in the fact that "you actually help somebody get better physically, emotionally or spiritually."

As a clinical manager, helping other nurses develop their skills. Making sure the patients receive good care from well-trained nurses.

Variety on the tasks assigned. Lack of boredom. "Everyday is different," Watson says.

DISLIKES:

Those situations in which one realizes that one cannot help a patient.

Facing the possibility of death as a part of the job.

Fast pace of technical and regulatory changes in health care. "Sometimes change is really quick, and you feel as though it’s difficult to keep up with."

Nursing tops "Hoosier Hot 50 Jobs" list in Indiana

Nursing is the hottest job of the future in Northern Indiana, according to the Indiana Department of Workforce Development.

Nursing, which ranked #1 on the Department's "Hoosier Hot 50 Jobs" list, is expected to be one of the best paying and fastest growing jobs in the Hoosier state.

Registered nurses in Indiana made a median average of $48,159 in 2006. Back in 2004, Indiana had 5,720 nurses. Reportedly there is a need for 1,490 more nurses.

84 yr old Former Nurse "Raging Granny" Fights for Social Change

Joan Wilderman, 84, of San Jose is not your "typical" granny. She is a "Raging Granny," that is, a member of The Raging Grannies, an international organization of elderly women striving to make a positive change in their communities and raising their voices on social issues of concern.

Wilderman, born in 1923, is an active social campaigner demanding the government spend less on military and more on children and social services.

She started her career by studying nursing at the prestigious Johns Hopkins University and then joining the U.S. government's Cadet Nurses Corps program. Helping the wounded WW2 veterans at a West Virginia hospital lest its indelible mark on Wilderman's social conscience.

"I saw horrible things," Wilderman is quoted saying by San Jose Mercury News, "people who were terribly burned and permanently injured, along with those plagued by nightmares and simply traumatized by war. And even though, in my opinion, World War II was a just war, the images of those men and what they went through never left me."

Her anti-war activism has led her friends and some relatives to quip that at her advanced age the former nurse has gone "kooky" or "California." Wilderman doesn't mind such comments and actually welcomes them.

"I think the whole country needs to 'go California,' " Wilderman is quoted saying. "Maybe then, war will end."

SOURCE: http://www.mercurynews.com

Featured Article : Ethnicity and Health Care in America

09/07/2007

Ugur Akinci, Ph.D., Nurse-Recruiter.com

NR – Featured Article for September 2007 Newsletter

Ethnicity and Health Care in America

Different ethnic groups sometimes have different health care and delivery issues that require different approaches. Here is a survey of the latest developments in that regard.

Native Indians

One of the most significant developments of the month has been a new light of hope for the Native Indians in terms of gaining access to a valuable new scholarship program designed to graduate more Native Indian nurses. The University of Minnesota's School of Nursing led the way by announcing an innovative masters-level scholarship program for American Indian/Alaska Native nurses to specifically bring a higher quality health care to the American Indians.

The students will be able to attend most of the classes online, with some on-campus attendance requirement. But the scholarship even meets the expenses of such trips to the University. The scholarship covers The scholarship covers tuition, a monthly stipend, books and various fees as well.

The only obligation for the graduating master's degree holders is to serve between two to four years in reservation hospitals assigned to them by the Indian Health Service (IHS) of U.S. Health and Human Service Department.

The official IHS figures leave no doubt as to how badly these nurses are needed on the Indian reservations:

There are 36 doctors per 100,000 American Indians and Alaska Natives residing on reservations. Contrast this to 768 doctors per 100,000 in District of Columbia, 443 doctors in Massachusetts and 170 doctors in Idaho which, by the way, ranked dead last among the 50 U.S. states.

An average of $2,158 in federal appropriations was spent in 2006 per IHS patient, compared with $5,921 spent per person per year for the total U.S. population.

Hispanics

A study by The National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) revealed a clear trend in strokes among Hispanics: 85 percent of the strokes are caused by blood vessel blockages.

According to the American Stroke Association, stroke is the fourth leading cause of death among Hispanics.

Given the seriousness of the threat, NINDS started to distribute Spanish-language videos among the Hispanics to inform them about the danger and the measures they can take to prevent it.

Dr. Jose Merino of the Institute listed the following as those factors increasing the risk of a stroke among the Hispanics: diabetes, hypertension, a fat-rich diet without enough fresh fruits and vegetables, and lack of physical exercise. Dr. Jim Brand, of the DeTar Hospital Navarro emergency department, said obesity and extra weight was another factor also contributing to the likelihood of a stroke. Physicians involved with the study recommended taking immediate action at the first signs of a stroke (like a sudden numbness in the arms and legs, or a slur in speech, etc.). The patient is recommended to be driven immediately to the nearest emergency so that anti-clotting medication can be administered in time.

African-Americans & HIV/AIDS

Ministers and church leaders continue to play an important role in some African-American communities in the fight against serious public health threats like HIV/AIDS. Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta reported that the African Americans count for about 50% of all AIDS cases although they represent only 12% of the U.S. population. Over 2% of African Americans are HIV positive; a percentage higher than the similar figure for every other racial and ethnic group living in the United States.

Rev. Brenda Adkins, pastor of Everlasting Word Ministries on Kimberly Avenue in New Haven, CT is one such minister doing her best to bolster her community against the ravages of HIV/AIDS. She made the news in Connecticut with her innovative "Seven Foot Soldiers" program in which she walked the streets at night with 15 parishioners twice a week dispensing HIV/AIDS literature and condoms.

Now, Adkins has a new program in her sights. She wants a patron with a heart of gold donate a huge wide-screen TV set and also a space for people to come together for free hotdogs, soda and chips. The idea is to show that the same instructional DVD that impressed Adkins so much the first time she watched it. She is certain the HIV/AIDS information contained in the DVD will change a lot of lives for the better.

If you think you can give Rev. Adkins a hand don't hesitate to give her a call at (203) 787-6656.

African-Americans & Kidneys

The National Kidney Disease Education Program (NKDEP), sponsored by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), has released a new educational brochure about the risk of kidney disease within the African American population.

The brochure titled " Kidney Disease: What African Americans Need to Know" addresses "the connection between diabetes, high blood pressure, and kidney disease, and encourages those at risk to talk to their health care providers about getting tested."

NKDEP Director, Dr. Andrew Narva stressed the importance of early detection since kidney disease usually shows no symptoms until it is too late.

Dr. Griffin P. Rodgers, director of the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK), said African Americans as a group are at higher risk than the other groups due to their higher exposure to diabetes and high blood pressure, both of which lead to kidney disease.

"Diabetes and high blood pressure are all too common among African Americans, yet many are unaware of their risk factors and the importance of getting tested," said Rodgers said in an NKDEP press release. "NKDEP recognizes the importance of promoting key messages about kidney disease risk factors to this audience."

You can obtain a copy of the brochure by visiting www.nkdep.nih.gov or calling 1-866-4 KIDNEY (1-866-454-3639).

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