Heavier nurse workload means more pt deaths, study finds...

nightingale, RN · Oct 23, 2002

Originally posted by deespoohbear
New study.....(like we didn't know this already..)

__________________
I can only please one person per day. Today is not your day. Tomorrow doesn't look good either.

Sorry des.. the first time I tried to quote you I hit the wrong button so I put the original post back the way I found it!

Commenting on the article.. I was just thinking that myself yesterday wehn I had my six patients with one going south and no bed available in ICU... yukkkk

Home Health Columnist / Guide · Oct 23, 2002

Link to JAMA article and other news report:

https://allnurses.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=24679

Peeps Mcarthur · Oct 23, 2002

The general public is not getting this message. I've been seeing it reported in the newsletter format alot,but the old saying in the newspaper business is "if it bleeds,it leads" so maybe some talking head will start feeding the TV public this stuff.

-jt · Oct 23, 2002

>>

New????? Where have they been? This study only confirms the one the ANA did in 1997 that had the same results. This latest study was published in August & has been reported on by nursing journals & the ANA for at least 2 months already with just a passing mention by the media. Yesterday, it was all over the news. CBS AM news radio repeated it every hour. I thought they made a mistake when they said it was reported by the American MEDICAL Assoc - because the ANA has been sending out press release reports about it for weeks but I didnt hear it being talked about in the news. It just burns me up that this nursing study did not become big news on all the airwaves until the DOCTORS reported it. Still, the radio reports last night were very good so I guess we can thank them for that. Its just so aggravating that nobody listens until the doctors talk. So indicative of the professional worlds perception of nurses. Anyway, CBS radio's report included comments of nurses from the Washington State Nurses Assoc/UAN & I thought they made a strong impact in what they had to say.

nightingale, RN · Oct 23, 2002

I gives me chills to just think about it this morning....

I am grateful I have the luxury to take a week off (wish it were a month)....

B.

oramar · Oct 23, 2002

I know it is irritating that this matter has been studied yet again. However, there are segments of the healthcare provider population that only respond to data. What nurses having been saying about work loads and conditions just does not move them. It will give also give patients that suffer bad outcomes ammunition to use during law suits. That should make the powers that be sit up and take notice.

renerian, BSN, RN · Oct 23, 2002

I think that is really true from what I hear of my friends who are still at the hospital. Very scarey......

renerian

-jt · Oct 23, 2002

It doesnt bother me that more research was done. We need the research to support to our claims, strengthen our leverage, and prove why we need the changes we say we need. The thing that bothers me is that this report came out 2 months ago. The American Journal of Nursing has already reported on it, & nurses organizations have been talking to the media about it & sending out press releases on it to get it into the news for the public, BUT the media did not think it was newsworthy until the DOCTORS mentioned it in THEIR journal. Now all of the sudden, because the DOCTORS talked about this nursing study, its all over the news every hour. What changed between the time that nurses reported on the study this past summer & doctors reported on the very same study just yesterday? Only the media's attention to it.

nightingale, RN · Oct 23, 2002

yes.....

Peeps Mcarthur · Oct 23, 2002

Maybe it's starting to get into the doc's workload now.

Less nurses means less to do thier bidding and more calls about unstable patients.

A more public account would start putting the staffing turd in the administrator's pants when a patient dies cause the docs have covered thier butts by saying "yup,hospitals aren't staffing that's why care seems incompetent".

It's so true though that the media will believe ANYTHING a doc says and ignore the reams of studies by nurses themselves because of the public's perception of what a nurse really does.

When staffing gets in the doc's wallets I'm willing to bet they will get all passionate about the nurse's plight.

Youda · Oct 23, 2002

Nurses can talk about it,

Doctors can talk about it,

Studies can talk about it,

Congress can talk about it,

But . . .

I don't really think it's going to change until John Q. Public starts feeling it more. Unfortunately, that means more unnecessary or premature deaths.

Right now, Mr. Public has gotten the idea that they are paying for "customer service" instead of health care (let's turn nurses into waitresses in the minds of the public so no one will listen to them).

Right now, I'll take any education of that Public, even if it comes from the local dog catcher.