Nursing in America: A Portrait of a Profession in Critical Condition

Exhausted by heavy work, mandatory overtime and the stress of looking after hospital patients who are sicker, frailer and in need of ever more high-tech intervention, nurses are leaving the bedside faster than they can be replaced.

The situation is so bad, Ms. Gordon writes in this gloomy assessment of American nursing, that even nursing educators, the people we rely on to train the next generation of nurses, are leaving the field, so nursing schools cannot accommodate declining numbers of would-be students.

By CORNELIA DEAN
New York Times
Published: May 17, 2005

Nursing Against the Odds: How Health Care Cost Cutting, Media Stereotypes and Medical Hubris Undermine Nurses and Patient Care by Suzanne Gordon

In the United States and throughout the industrialized world, just as the population of older and sicker patients is about to explode, we have a major shortage of nurses. Why are so many RNs dropping out of health care’s largest profession? How will the lack of skilled, experienced caregivers affect patients?

These are some of the questions addressed by Suzanne Gordon’s definitive account of the world’s nursing crisis. In Nursing against the Odds, one of North America’s leading health care journalists draws on in-depth interviews, research studies, and extensive firsthand reporting to help readers better understand the myriad causes of and possible solutions to the current crisis. Gordon examines how health care cost cutting and hospital restructuring undermine the working conditions necessary for quality care.

She shows how the historically troubled workplace relationships between RNs and physicians become even more dysfunctional in modern hospitals. In Gordon’s view, the public image of nurses continues to suffer from negative media stereotyping in medical shows on television and from shoddy press coverage of the important role RNs play in the delivery of health care.

Are Your Parents Driving You Crazy? How to Resolve the Most Common Dilemmas with Aging Parents

Are Your Parents Driving You Crazy? How to Resolve the Most Common Dilemmas with Aging Parents
by Joseph A. Ilardo, PhD. and Carole R. Rothman

Do you have an aging parent who…

* refuses to stop driving?
* skimps unnecessarily on expenses?
* refuses to see a doctor?
* wants to move in with you?
* ignores the doctor?
* antagonizes the home health aide?
* avoids discussing end-of-life issues?

Do you have a family member who…

* never offers to help?
* resents the time you spend caring for your parent?
* actually discourages your involvement?
* steals from your parents?

These dilemmas and more are resolved in this practical and helpful book written — with you in mind — by two family-focused therapists. The authors prescribe a simple problem-solving model that proves useful for any dilemma you may encounter as the child of aging parents. Read the introductory chapters on how to talk with your parents so that you and they can communicate productively. Find out how to break an impasse and how to S.U.R.V.I.V.E. the process of making things better for everyone, including yourself.

Cedar Hill Continuing Care Community

Cedar Hill Continuing Care Community offers a continuum of care from independent and assisted living to skilled nursing and rehabilitation care to comfortable and dignified end-of-life care. It is all here on the same campus with the same loving family of caregivers.

Cedar Hill is built around four distinct residence and lifestyle choices, all on one campus:

* Independent Apartments
* Assisted Living
* Full Nursing Home Care
* and a secured Special Care Center for residents with Alzheimer’s or related illnesses.

Residents may enjoy their new home and lifestyle worry-free, knowing our caring staff is available day and night for them. And they may continue to live at Cedar Hill even as their care needs change. Each level provides independence to the fullest extent possible.

Visit Cedar Hill today

Cedar Hill Continuing Care Community
92 Cedar Hill Drive
Windsor, VT 05089
Main Number: 802.674,6609
The Village: 802.674.2254

Nursing Home Shut After Violations Found

More than 40 residents of a Cleveland County nursing home are being relocated after numerous violations prompted regulators to shut down the facility.

Among the violations at the Noble Residential Care Home were rodent droppings, urine on kitchen plates and bowls and cockroaches “too numerous to count” crawling on a resident’s clothes and beds.

The Oklahoman
AP
May 3, 2005

The Green House Project

The Green House is a small intentional community for a group of elders and staff, it is intended to be a vessel for the enactment of the most positive elderhood possible. It is a place that focuses on life, and its heart is found in the relationships that flourish there. A radical departure from traditional skilled nursing homes and assisted living facilities, Green House alters facility size, interior design, staffing patterns, and methods of delivering skilled professional services.

The New Nursing Home, Emphasis on Home

The Green House Project, comprising 10 new suburban houses here, is an experiment in reinventing the nursing home. Its creators hope it will herald a new age for old age, although its advantages to residents are yet unproved in health care studies.

Read more…
By WILLIAM L. HAMILTON
New York Times, April 23, 2005

Healthgrades’ mission is to improve the quality of health care nationwide. Healthgrades offers:

–Hospital Report Cards
–Physician Quality Reports
–Nursing Home Quality Reports

Click here to visit Healthgrades