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Donna Kelly Williams on Patient Ratios | National Nurses United Sponsored Segement | February 4-5, 2012 | Show 435

Nurse Talk — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 15:52:00 +0000

Nurses keep up the fight for RN to patient ratios…we should all be very glad they do! We thought we’d check in with our friends in Massachusetts who are working on legislation—so Casey and Dan visit with RN and president of Massachusetts Nurses Association, Donna Kelly Williams. Donna brings us up to speed on current issues—with a central focus on staffing ratios. Read more...

Ratio Fight in Vegas, Volunteerism, Main Street and More

Pattie Lockard — Thu, 28 Jul 2011 12:20:56 +0000

Coming up on the Show…What happens in Vegas doesn’t necessarily stay in Vegas...A volunteer extraordinaire visits the studio… What’s happening to our Main Streets?…An anonymous email question leads the nurses to believe they may have a celebrity on the other end of the cyber-line.

Casey and Dan talk with RN Lisa Myers from St. Rose Hospital in Las Vegas. Lisa and thousands of fellow nurses have gone through a protracted negotiation process with their hospitals since the nurses voted unanimously to join National Nurse United over 15 months ago. Although Lisa’s hospital has settled their new contract some of the others have not. At issue? Safe nurse-to-patient ratios. Studies prove that having fewer patients during shifts saves lives. Listen to our discussion…One of those patients may one day be you!

RN, BSN Susan Dean

And Kaiser RN, BSN Susan Dean joins us in the studio. Susan is not only an amazing nurse but she is an extraordinary volunteer. For the past seven years she’s gone to Guatemala with a team of doctors and nurses from around the U.S. with the organization Faith in Practice (http://faithinpractice.org). During a week’s time the team performed over 80 lifesaving medical procedures. Susan is also a volunteer with Operation Access, an organization that provides medical care to the uninsured right here at home in the San Francisco Bay Area (http://www.operationaccess.org).

And stick around for an anonymous email question from someone who doesn’t like the show but has nowhere else to turn for medical advice!

You can listen in the Boston area on station WWZN 1510AM every Saturday at 11 am EST or live stream at www.revolutionboston.com and in the San Francisco Bay area Sundays at 2PM PST on Green 960AM or live stream at www.green960.com. You can also download and listen to any show anytime here at NurseTalkSite.com or on iTunes. Like us on Facebook, and you can listen there too. Remember “laughter is the best medicine!”

Lisa Myers on Nurse-to-Patient Ratios in Nevada | National Nurses United Sponsored Segment | July 30-31, 2011 | Show 417

Nurse Talk — Thu, 28 Jul 2011 12:06:55 +0000

What happens in Vegas doesn’t necessarily stay in Vegas...Casey and Dan talk with RN Lisa Myers from St. Rose Hospital in Las Vegas. Lisa and thousands of fellow nurses have gone through a protracted negotiation process with their hospitals since the nurses voted unanimously to join National Nurse United over 15 months ago. Although Lisa’s hospital has settled their new contract some of the others have not. At issue? Safe nurse-to-patient ratios. Studies prove that having fewer patients during shifts saves lives. Listen to our discussion…One of those patients may one day be you! Read more...

RN Lisa Myers on Safe Ratios in Vegas and RN Susan Dean on Volunteering with Faith In Practice | July 30-31, 2011 | Show 417

Nurse Talk — Tue, 26 Jul 2011 05:23:47 +0000

Casey and Dan talk with RN Lisa Myers from St. Rose Hospital in Las Vegas. Lisa and thousands of fellow nurses have gone through a protracted negotiation process with their hospitals since the nurses voted unanimously to join National Nurse United over 15 months ago. At issue? Safe nurse-to-patient ratios.

And Kaiser RN, BSN Susan Dean joins us in the studio. For the past seven years she’s gone to Guatemala with a team of doctors and nurses from around the U.S. with the organization Faith in Practice (http://faithinpractice.org). During a week’s time the team performed over 80 lifesaving medical procedures. Susan is also a volunteer with Operation Access, an organization that provides medical care to the uninsured right here at home in the San Francisco Bay Area (http://www.operationaccess.org).

Best of Nurse Talk | Gwen Collins on Nurse-to-Patient Ratios and Susan Shapiro Barash, Best-Selling Author | Show 312

Pattie Lockard — Thu, 14 Jul 2011 10:25:22 +0000

While the nurses are burning steaks on the barbie…enjoy a rewind! All new series of shows coming soon…stay healthy!

Sexy 1994 Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme S Coupe’s significance becomes clear on the show this week.

Florida RN Gwen Collins checks in with us to talk about her efforts to protect her patients and how she is educating her community on the importance of RN-to-patient ratios. It’s not just a nursing issue. It is an issue that has an impact on all of us.

Author Susan Shapiro Barash with Her Daughters, Jennie and Elizabeth

Join us for all the fun.

Gwen Collins on Nurse-to-Patient Ratios and Susan Shapiro Barash, Best-Selling Author | Show 312

Pattie Lockard — Thu, 06 Jan 2011 13:44:11 +0000

Happy New Year to all and to all a good night? Well that doesn’t make too much sense now does it?

Sexy 1994 Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme S Coupe’s significance becomes clear on the show this week.

What happened to Casey’s poor aunt Sylvia? Listen and find out. An old friend of Nurse Talk calls to check in…oh boy she never disappoints…who could it be?Casey and Dan chat about 2010 and Casey shares that if she could pick a song that reflects last year it would be “Bridge Over Troubled Water.” Hmmm? Great show this week.Florida RN Gwen Collins checks in with us to talk about her efforts to protect her patients and how she is educating her community on the importance of RN-to-patient ratios. It’s not just a nursing issue. It is an issue that has an impact on all of us.

Author Susan Shapiro Barash with Her Daughters, Jennie and Elizabeth

And later, we talk with author Susan Shapiro Barash. Susan is the author of the best seller, Toxic Friends: The Antidote for Women Stuck in Complicated Friendships. She has written a new book called, You’re Grounded Forever…But First, Let’s Go Shopping: The Challenges Mothers Face with Their Daughters and Ten Timely Solutions. Are we raising monsters? Why do mothers feel like they need to be friends with their daughters? Get the answers and check out Susan’s book at www.nursetalksite.com.Join us for all the fun.You can listen in the Boston area on station WWZN 1510AM every Saturday at 11 am EST or live stream at www.revolutionboston.com and in the San Francisco Bay area Sundays at 2PM PST on Green 960AM or live stream at www.green960.com. You can also download and listen anytime at NurseTalkSite.com and TheRadioFactory.com or on iTunes. Like us on Facebook, and you can listen there too. Health care is a right not a privilege. 2011 Uninsured Death Toll in CA: 63 | in US: 533. Remember “laughter is the best medicine!”

Nursing Ratios Save Lives | Beth Kean Segment | Show 240

Nurse Talk — Sun, 20 Jun 2010 18:46:54 +0000

Guest: Beth Kean

Casey and Dan visit with the California Nurses Association’s Beth Kean about the recent ruling by a Superior Court judge that stopped the walk-out of over 12,000 UC Medical Center RNs. The RNs have been trying to call attention to the fact that UC Medical Centers (most notably U.C. Davis in Sacramento) have not been complying with the California RN-to-Patient Ratio law. Read more...

New York Times Op Ed Trumpets Need for Safe Patient Limits for Nurses

Pattie Lockard — Fri, 18 Jun 2010 10:59:53 +0000

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/19/opinion/19brown.html?ref=globalNEW YORK TIMESJune 18, 2010Is There a Nurse in the House?By THERESA BROWNPittsburghPICK any of the hospital dramas that have run for decades on American TV, and chances are the heroes are the doctors, running to a patient’s bedside to save a life whenever an alarm goes off.Doctors can indeed be heroes. But when a patient takes a sudden turn for the worse, it’s the nurses who are usually the first to respond. Each patient has a specific nurse assigned to watch over him, and it is that nurse’s responsibility to react immediately in the event of an emergency.That’s getting harder to do, though. Cost-cutting at hospitals often means fewer nurses, so the number of patients each nurse must care for increases, leading to countless unnecessary deaths. Unless Congress mandates a federal standard for nurse-patient ratios, those deaths will continue.A few states already have minimum ratio requirements, most notably California, which in 2004 instituted a one-to-five ratio for surgery patients — as well as a one-to-four ratio in pediatrics and a one-to-two ratio in intensive care — after a decade-long fight led by the California Nurses Association.Laws like these could make a huge difference nationally. A recent study led by Linda Aiken, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing, found that New Jersey hospitals would have 14 percent fewer surgical deaths if they matched California’s ratio, while Pennsylvania would have 11 percent fewer. Professor Aiken looked at surgical units only, but it’s reasonable to assume that the percentages would apply on any hospital floor.The reason is simple. The fewer patients each nurse oversees, the easier it is to respond when a patient has an emergency, like a sudden, severe decline in oxygen saturation, a precipitous drop or rise in blood pressure or a heart rate that suddenly skyrockets. A nurse juggling the needs of too many patients might not have the time to notice, let alone respond.Nevertheless, hospitals have resisted mandated ratios. While higher personnel costs are most likely at the core of their opposition, they also argue that hospitals that already have good ratios will use the standards to justify cutting the number of nurses on each floor.This is a reasonable concern, but one that rarely if ever proves true. In more than a decade of research, Professor Aiken reports never seeing such reductions in the wake of mandated ratios. Moreover, if hospitals were so callous, why do many — including my own — often meet or exceed California’s standards?Moreover, it’s not as if such low ratios are a luxury; there’s a reason why minimum ratios are also called “safe staffing levels.” Say a nurse can’t come in because of a family emergency. Then another nurse becomes ill and has to go home. The charge nurse will call around to other staff members, trying to find last-minute replacements. But sometimes there’s no one to come in and no nurses available at the last minute to “float” to the understaffed unit. The lower the ratio, the more likely the nursing staff will be able to cover if and when personnel suddenly become unavailable.The real issue, of course, is cost. There’s no denying that hiring more nurses is more expensive in the short term. But having too few nurses leads to burnout, not only because it’s too much work, but because good nurses quit from the stress of knowing they can’t keep their patients safe. Mandated ratios could ultimately save money, because they would reduce both staff turnover and the number of patients who become critically ill due to insufficient care.And it’s true that, as some argue, the nurse-patient ratio is not the only factor in improving the quality of care. But the data provided by Professor Aiken and others clearly shows that hospitals with the best staffing ratios have the best outcomes overall.The benefits of mandating nurse-to-patient ratios are so compelling that last year Senator Barbara Boxer, Democrat of California, introduced a bill to set national standards, while Representative Jan Schakowsky, Democrat of Illinois, offered similar legislation in the House. Yet both bills have languished in committee.On television the doctors and nurses always arrive in time to help a struggling patient. In real life, when nurses are overworked, a patient in distress may be overlooked.To be the nurse in such situations feels horrible. But for the patient it can be far worse.Theresa Brown, an oncology nurse, is a contributor to The Times’s “Well” blog and the author of “Critical Care: A New Nurse Faces Death, Life and Everything In Between.”

Arizona, Baby Whisperer and Trande Phillips | Show 235

Pattie Lockard — Tue, 04 May 2010 19:44:26 +0000

Trande Phillips, RN

COMING UP on the show this week…Casey talks about her recent skirmish at an Arizona checkpoint, Dan’s “thing” is now green and Marsha Podd, aka The Baby Whisperer—ROCKS! Also—listen to what RN Trande Phillips has to say about a new study that proves RN+Patient/Ratios save lives.

JUST BECAUSE summer is upon us doesn’t mean you shouldn’t take the time to listen to Nurse Talk. Coming up is a very candid conversation about Prostate Cancer with Dr. Arthur L. Burnett II and Norman S. Morris who have written a new book that offers new options, treatments and advice. This is a do not miss.

Nurse Talk is off to Washington D.C. for Nurses Week where we will be interviewing politicians that we can catch if they don’t reach a run—and presenting a conversation about workplace violence. Patient-on-nurse violence is escalating but several RN organizations such as the Massachusetts Nurses Association, Minnesota Nurses Association and California Nurses Association are doing some great things to deal with and prevent it.

You can listen to Nurse Talk every Sunday at 2PM PST on Green 960AM or live stream at www.green960.com. You can also download and listen anytime on iTunes, or stream at www.NurseTalkSite.com, www.EnergyTalkRadio.com and www.TheRadioFactory.com.

Until next time remember “laughter is the best medicine!”