allnurses.com suggestions from users

Nurses General Nursing

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Hi everyone,

We are in the process of planning a site redesign and adding a few new features to the site. We value your input and I would love to hear some some suggestions of things that you would like to see on allnurses.com.

Please reply with your suggestions. Thanks

What about an area where nurses can register as mentors, tutors or aids within their specialty (listed beside their name) and that way it's a quick reference for the students and I don't have to rifle through all the nursing student posts for those that ask questions.:cool:

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2-4-02

Hi, Brian,

In response to your request for suggestions on what is needed in the http://www.allnurses.com Nursing Bulletin Board:

We need "Back Injured Nurses" to be a separate topic.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics now classifies health care patients as a direct cause of on-the-job injury. Nursing remains one of the highest risks for injury with a back injury occurring every 30 minutes among health care workers in America. Eighty-seven per cent of nurses report low back pain. Thirty-eight per cent suffer back pain or injuries severe enough to require time off work at some point in their career with 44% of the injured unable to return to their nursing positions.

During the nursing shortage, it is important to address all issues impacting retainment of valuable experienced nurses and all factors contributing to the shortage. Unnecessary loss of nurses from preventable disabling back injuries is often overlooked in discussions about the nursing shortage.

I'm forwarding below the response to a recent online article. Would you consider posting it?

Thank you,

Anne Hudson, RN, BSN, BIN

"B.I.N. There" - Back Injured Nurse

[email protected]

http://www.phil-e-slide.com/nursing/BIN_There.htm

Response to online article follows:

http://dailydose.messagecontent.com/20020130ts1.htm

Modern Healthcare's "Daily Dose"

January 30, 2002

Keeping track of the industry's movers and shakers...

Labor shortage isn't letting up: survey

By Jeff Tieman

A "severe shortage of healthcare workers" is getting worse, and already more than one in seven hospitals say they don't have enough registered nurses, according to a report released today by several industry trade groups, including the American Hospital Association and the Federation of American Hospitals...

...Indicative of a tight labor market for nurses, 60% of 1,092 hospitals surveyed said recruiting nurses had become more difficult over the past two years. To address the problem, 89% of hospitals said they have paid "higher or much higher" salaries to retain nurses, 56% have used agency or traveling nurses to fill vacant positions and 41% have paid signing bonuses...

1-31-02

To the editors:

Thank you for this article highlighting the nursing shortage and problems with recruiting and retaining RNs.

Though a significant contributor to the nursing shortage, preventable back injuries are being overlooked by many of those commenting on the shortage. For instance, the 15-page July 2001 Nursing Workforce report to the U.S. General Accounting Office by Janet Heinrich, Director, Health Care--Public Health Issues, "Emerging Nurse Shortages Due to Multiple Factors" contains not one word about losing nurses to back injuries though 38% of nurses will suffer back pain/injury requiring time away from work during their career with many nurses unable to return or forced out of nursing.

The United States continues to lose nurses to preventable disabling back injuries caused by out-dated manual patient handling practices. America is behind Canada, England, Denmark, and other European countries where laws prohibit physically lifting hospital patients because of the recognized danger to both patients and nurses. For example, English nurses can be disciplined by their employers if they manually lift patients while American nurses are required to manually lift patients that many times weigh as much or more than the nurses themselves.

Abundant research has shown that manual patient handling practices, such as pulling patients up in bed, lifting patients to their feet, and transferring patients from stretcher to bed, exert compressive forces to the lumbar spine which exceed the 3,400 Newton tolerance limit set by NIOSH, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, research arm of OSHA.

Research has also shown that use of friction-reducing products and mechanical lifting and transfer devices greatly decreases physical effort and back injuries associated with lifting and moving patients.

For a partial listing of available research:

http://www.phil-e-slide.com/nursing/nursingsectionArticlesIndex.htm

Though many types of safe, gentle, patient-moving equipment are available, many health care facilities neither provide nor require use of this equipment. Rather, nurses and other health care workers are required to physically lift and move patients, leading to many preventable disabling back injuries.

In addition to the unnecessary pain and suffering associated with preventable injuries, back-disabled nurses are not necessarily welcomed back by their employers if they can no longer physically lift and haul heavy patients.

Throughout the nation are many back-injured health care workers, in pain and out of work after suffering preventable injuries. An analogy would be withholding forklifts while requiring stevedores to lift heavy loads and then terminating them for getting hurt.

Though the outlook is bleak for the backs of nurses who are presently being required to lift loads which exceed tolerance limits of their spinal structures, safe patient handling is being addressed in a few progressive areas. The Washington State Ergonomics Rule is leading the way to Zero Manual Lifting in Washington health care facilities.

See: http://www.phil-e-slide.com/research/WAStateErgoStand.html

& http://www.phil-e-slide.com/research/WAZeroLift.html

Also, from:

http://www.patientsafetycenter.com/overview.htm, "The Department of Veteran's Affairs, funded the James A. Haley Veterans Hospital, Tampa to establish a VISN 8 Patient Safety Center of Inquiry...Two goals...(1) To promote personal freedom and safety for frail elderly and persons with disabilities, across the continuum of care and (2) To build a "culture of safety" to support clinicians in providing safe patient care and safe working environments. Three other Centers, organized under the VA National Patient Safety Center, are in White Plains (VT), Cincinnati (OH), and Palo Alto (CA)."

Ideas for recruitment and retainment for the one in seven hospitals that do not have enough registered nurses: Have they considered allowing their back-injured nurses to return to work, into positions that will not further harm them, and preventing future unnecessary loss of nurses by purchasing safe patient handling equipment and implementing policies requiring its use?

Anne Hudson, RN, BSN, BIN

"B.I.N. There" - Back Injured Nurse

[email protected]

http://www.phil-e-slide.com/nursing/BIN_There.htm

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Originally posted by sharann

Hi Brian and thanks for asking.

I like this site very much! My one suggestion

would be to consider getting rid of any of the

forums (sections) that haven't been posted to

in more than 3 or 6 months. It takes up space

which could be used by creating a new forum

such as suggested earlier, sub-forums.

THIS MAY OR MAY NOT BE WELL RECEIVED, BUT YOU DO SUCH A GREAT JOB.........would never want to lose it.........need my info and my chkles!!!!!!!!! will kick myself for saying this, but would consider paying a small user fee for the privilege if privilege was ever in jeopardy of being lost, but you guys are doing so great, that will never happen!!!!!!!!!

otherwise:

1) Maybe more smilies and other expressive motives and if # of to be in arg. then explain for us illiterate.........

2) Maybe being able to post in large and colored text at same time.............

3) maybe more teaching for the computer illiterate out here and how to post pic's that aren't standard avatars.......and maybe more avatars.........

4) other than that , keep up the great work and truly can't believe that such a great expressive, and educational thread exists for us...........

micro:p :p :p

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Specializes in ER.

I'd like to be able to start a new thread on any board from any other board. So if I want to start one on general nursing discussion I wouldn't have to get out of nursing issues and hunt around for the general board before I could add to it.

All the smilies don't show- and there are only two missing- can we put them all up?

I'd like to be able to block people from reading my profile, or sometimes my posts. If someone is harassing another member the harassee should still be able to post, and be protected from the harasser. If enough people block a user from reading their posts that user should eventually go away for lack of things to read, kind of a way for the group to do their own moderation of acceptable and unacceptable behaviour.

I love the ROFLMAO smiliee, can you make it gradually turn purple and bust open!?

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Specializes in Pediatric Rehabilitation.
Originally posted by canoehead

I'd like to be able to block people from reading my profile, or sometimes my posts. If someone is harassing another member the harassee should still be able to post, and be protected from the harasser. If enough people block a user from reading their posts that user should eventually go away for lack of things to read, kind of a way for the group to do their own moderation of acceptable and unacceptable behaviour.

I think this is a wonderful idea, canoe. Also, I think it would be great if moderators had the option to remove ONE post from a thread instead of an entire thread being trashed because of the antics of one person.

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Specializes in NICU, Infection Control.

E-MOTICONS! :roll, :cool:, :devil:, ;)

Now how about some new avatars?? PLEASE??

Thanks, Brain! :imbar, :D, :chuckle

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Okay, I admit it, I'm as thick as a brick and will probably be sorry I asked, but what does NEVER TRUST A 35 WEEKER mean?

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Specializes in NICU.

35 weeks gestation is kinda between being "term" and "preemie." They're mostly term, but they can still have issues. They almost seem old enough to be off a monitor, bottle feed without forgetting to breathe, sleep without having an apneic or bradycardic event, and go home without worry. But not quite. It's kind of a toss up, some still have these preemie issues, and some don't. But by 36 weeks they usually don't. It really is a good phrase Prmenrs!

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KRVRN - just goes to show ya, "an nurse is NOT a nurse" I work in ICU and you wouldn't want me birthin your baby!!!

Enjoyed your explanation, and thanks for taking the time to write.

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Specializes in NICU, Infection Control.

KRV: Right on, girl!! :roll!!

and, Ryan, you don't want ME messing w/your drips! :D, :devil:

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Originally posted by Talino

Instant messaging perhaps on those who are logged on?

:eek: :eek: truly love this site and no c/o:imbar :( :confused: :eek:

micro:p

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Originally posted by nurs4kids

I think this is a wonderful idea, canoe. Also, I think it would be great if moderators had the option to remove ONE post from a thread instead of an entire thread being trashed because of the antics of one person.

:roll :imbar :roll :imbar :roll you know micro never at least once........but twice..................

hey all

micro:imbar :p :p :devil:

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