The Handoff - Issue #17

Hello fellow Nurse, this is your weekly handoff. Some quick and dirty nursing news that’s worth sharing. Enjoy!

Something to talk about next shift

Something I had never thought of is the fact that nurses are the only healthcare workers who are not allowed to bill for their services? We fit into the hospital bill right next to the supplies. This has been the model since the 1930s. This new group- the Commission for Nursing Reimbursement- is setting out to change the way healthcare industry reimburses nurses. The goal of this is to improve the way the nursing profession is viewed. One of the founders, Sharon Pearce, states in an interview: “The current financial model is nearly 100 years old! Every other healthcare profession is a line item with a value assigned to it. Nursing has been devalued for years and seen as a cost center resulting in cute when budgets need to be trimmed”. It makes sense to me. Get billed as a supply, means treated as a supply.

Something to warm your heart

Chamberlain University in New Orleans is attempting to tackle the nursing shortage by offering not only an accelerated program, but are actually making school free to students who agree to work for one of their hospitals for three years. Offering online classes mixed with in person, it is an ideal course for adults wanting to go back to school. Criste Parker, a mother of three, enrolled for this reason. However, when she become sick, the program helped her in a way that she could finish school while in treatment for Cancer. She was able to continue through school- doing online courses while receiving chemo. Now, she is not only on track to graduate in December, but also in remission.

Something to make you uneasy

A modern day Nurse Rached? This story definitely will make you uneasy seeing just how a nurse almost got away with murder. Nurse Heather Pressdee was just charged with two counts of criminal homicide and one count of attempted murder by delivering lethal doses of insulin to three residents at a nursing home. The third victim survived and thus Pressdee was caught in her crime. When it happens more than once it’s hard to argue a Radonda Vaught scenerio… especially when two of the victims were not even diabetic. Besides being clearly crazy, what would motivate someone to kill nursing home residents?? Having spent time traveling to many hospitals, I have worked at locations that it is mandated that insulin be double checked by two nurses. Yet, other hospitals I can titrate an insulin drip entirely by myself. Now that this is yet another case of murder by insulin (referencing the Good Nurse movie), should insulin be treated more seriously and monitored more closely in every healthcare setting?

If you liked this newsletter please share with your friends. Which bullet is your favorite? What do you want more or less of? Other suggestions? Email me and let me know.