Staff members at Bascom Palmer Eye Institute, Miami, FL, identified a need to update the existing 30-year-old transport system/surgical table. This update would maintain efficiency while improving patient and employee safety. After an investigation of many different stretchers and chairs, the nurse managers selected a chair that could be used throughout all phases of the procedures, which would...

From 25 August to 28 September 1994, 7 cardiovascular surgery (CVS) patients at a California hospital acquired postoperative Serratia marcescens infections, and 1 died. To identify the outbreak source, a cohort study was done of all 55 adults who underwent CVS at the hospital during the outbreak. Specimens from the hospital environment and from hands of selected staff were cultured. S. marcesce...

BACKGROUND Amid a national nurse shortage, there is growing concern that high levels of nurse burnout could adversely affect patient outcomes. OBJECTIVES This study examines the effect of the nurse work environment on nurse burnout, and the effects of the nurse work environment and nurse burnout on patients' satisfaction with their nursing care. RESEARCH DESIGN/SUBJECTS: We conducted cross-se...

OBJECTIVES To determine whether nurse staffing in California hospitals, where state-mandated minimum nurse-to-patient ratios are in effect, differs from two states without legislation and whether those differences are associated with nurse and patient outcomes. DATA SOURCES Primary survey data from 22,336 hospital staff nurses in California, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey in 2006 and state hosp...

The purpose of this study was to survey staff nurses on their perceived and actual level of knowledge of diabetes mellitus. A convenience sample of 184 professional staff nurses from both inpatient and outpatient settings of a large research-teaching hospital was surveyed. The Diabetes Self-Report Tool (Cronbach's alpha = .91) was used to assess staff nurses' perceptions of knowledge of diabete...

BACKGROUND Staff nurse work environments must be improved. To do so, their quality must be measured. The Essential of Magnetism (EOM) tool measures eight characteristics of a productive and satisfying work environment identified by staff nurses in magnet hospitals as essential to quality patient care. The EOM items are based on grounded theory and are used to measure attributes of the work envi...

BACKGROUND Nursing aides provide most of the labor-intensive activities of daily living (ADL) care to nursing home (NH) residents. Currently, most NHs do not determine nurse aide staffing requirements based on the time to provide ADL care for their unique resident population. The lack of an objective method to determine nurse aide staffing requirements suggests that many NHs could be understaff...

Dr. Sour is a 50-year physician who practices in a busy multispecialty group practice in a large metropolitan community. In years past he was passionate, energetic and proud of his role as a health care provider. He enjoyed participating in a number of different hospital committees and clinical projects and was happy to help out when and wherever needed. Recently he has been noted by staff to b...

OBJECTIVES To investigate the factors considered by staff, and the practicalities involved in the decision making process regarding the withdrawal or withholding of potential life-sustaining treatment in a children's hospital. To compare our current practice with that recommended by the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health (RCPCH) guidelines, published in 1997. DESIGN A prospective, ...

INTRODUCTION Clinical education is an indispensible part of the nursing education. Clinical nurses play an important role in this teaching learning process. The quality and quantity of student-nurse interactions in the clinical area can either facilitate or hamper students' learning. The rationale of this research was to probe into staff nurses' attitudes toward nursing students within the cont...