Healthcare workers on the frontline of the coronavirus outbreak in Northern Ireland have made an appeal to the public. In a video, doctors and nurses from the Belfast trust respiratory team urge people to stay at home in order to save lives
Continue reading...Category Archives: Nursing
Nurse in tears after coronavirus panic buying leaves shelves empty of food – video
Dawn Bilbrough, a critical care nurse, appeals to people to stop panic buying after she was unable to find basic food items in her supermarket following a 48-hour shift. She urges people to remember that NHS staff like her are the ones looking after patients and need food to stay healthy
Continue reading...I saw colleagues die of Ebola. Health workers must not become coronavirus martyrs
We will be the group most affected by this outbreak. Governments must bury austerity and ensure care is adequately staffed and well-resourced
Imagine working in an underfunded, understaffed hospital facing a devastating disease outbreak. Imagine being forced to make impossible choices about who to treat and who to let die. Imagine coming home to your family, knowing you might be putting them at risk.
These are the awful situations we health workers faced in dealing with the 2014 Ebola outbreak in Libera. For me the greatest tragedy is hearing similar stories emerge from colleagues around the world who are up against the coronavirus. It terrifies me to see that developed countries health systems are at breaking point – I hate to imagine what this virus might do to my region next.
Continue reading...Inside an ICU: how long can we stay calm in the face of the coronavirus crisis?
Now, more than ever, the NHS must prioritise care - not just for frail, elderly and vulnerable people but for staff too
- ‘Unlike anything seen in peacetime’: NHS prepares for surge in Covid-19 cases
- Coronavirus – latest updates
There’s a strange mood in the intensive care unit (ICU) where I work at the moment. It’s one of controlled planning, paperwork and people pulling together in ways that on a normal day perhaps wouldn’t happen.
ICUs are as prepared as they can be. Locally business as usual has made way for preparations for caring for high numbers of patients. We are finding every ventilator we may have and identifying every suitably qualified member of staff. We will work together to fill gaps as best we can.
Continue reading...In New Zealand, we are starting to value women’s work fairly. It’s time for the world to follow
On International Women’s Day, let’s commit to properly compensating women for the unpaid and underpaid work they have always done
The world would stop running were it not for the unpaid and underpaid work undertaken by women. It is past time for our contribution to be recognised, and remunerated fairly. Here in Aotearoa New Zealand, we are creating a new process to appropriately value the caring work traditionally undertaken by women.
It started in 2013, when a care and support worker named Kristine Bartlett, supported by her union (E Tū), filed a pay equity claim under the Equal Pay Act 1972. She made the case that the caring work she did was undervalued because it was mainly performed by women. This was compared to work that was male-dominated but required a similar level of skill, effort and responsibilities.
Continue reading...Nurse in trousers told her London Marathon record would not count
Guinness World Records says Jessica Anderson needed to have had a dress on to qualify
An NHS nurse who ran the London Marathon was told her Guinness World Record attempt would not count because she was not wearing a dress.
Jessica Anderson, who has been working for the Royal London Hospital’s acute admission unit for seven years, was aiming to become the fastest female marathon runner dressed as a nurse but her scrubs and trousers did not match the uniform criteria.
Continue reading...Stephen Hawking’s former nurse struck off for failings in his care
Patricia Dowdy deemed not fit to practise over multiple misconduct charges
One of Stephen Hawking’s former nurses has been struck off after the Nursing and Midwifery Council ruled she “failed to provide the standards of good, professional care that we expect and Professor Hawking deserved”.
The NMC said Patricia Dowdy, 61, had faced multiple misconduct charges in relation to the care she was providing to the eminent physicist, including financial misconduct, dishonesty, not providing appropriate care, failing to cooperate with the NMC and not having the correct qualifications.
Continue reading...Republicans launch new attack ad on Phillips in House race
A new ad from Republican U.S. Rep. Erik Paulsen accuses Democratic challenger Dean Phillips of doing nothing about a sexual harassment case brought by seven female nurses against Allina Health clinic in 2007, when Phillips served on the Allina board. The commercial , which debuted on Twin Cities television Wednesday evening, cites a February 2007 lawsuit by the nurses, who alleged they were sexually harassed by a doctor at an Allina clinic in Richfield.
Nurse staffing proposal trailing in new poll NEW
Opponents outnumber supporters of Question 1 in newly released UMass-Lowell poll results that also show Gov. Charlie Baker and Sen. Elizabeth Warren maintaining large leads over their opponents as they seek re-election on Nov. 6. The poll of 791 registered voters , taken the first week of October, showed 51 percent of likely voters opposed nurse ... (more)
New Scorecard Shows Only 12 House Democrats Have Fully Embraced Game-Changing Progressive Agenda
"To build an equal and just society in which every person can live a healthy life, Members of Congress must support bold progressive policies that address the public health and environmental crises that are ripping our country apart," say the groups behind a new congressional scorecard that details lawmakers' support for key pieces of legislation.
Veterans Affairs to the forefront
July 23 marked a rare event in the politically and ideologically lacerated chambers of Congress. President Donald Trump's nominee for veterans affairs secretary, Robert Wilkie, won Senate confirmation by a strikingly bipartisan vote of 86 to 9. The VA borrows its mission statement from the penultimate phrase of one of the American history's loftiest documents, Abraham Lincoln's Second Inaugural Address: "To care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow, and his orphan."
The Health 202: The Trump administration will allow people to buy…
Interpretation of the news based on evidence, including data, as well as anticipating how events might unfold based on past events The Health 202: The Trump administration will allow people to buy cheaper health plans. But they won't have certain Obamacare benefits.
Ohio nurses seek relief from overwork and burnout
The Plain Dealer reports the concerns are echoed by nurses across the state who say they love what they do but are overburdened by low staffing levels, greater numbers of patients and added responsibilities. Some nurses consider leaving the profession, while others find ways to manage the stress.
Workplace
Dr. Fawzia Haque, a board-certified family medicine physician, has joined Tyrone Regional Health Network and the Tyrone Hospital medical staff. Haque provides primary care services at TRHN's Pinecroft Medical Center.
Louisiana Democrats Threaten To Evict Nursing Home Residents
Democratic Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards used the nuclear option Thursday morning when he directed the state Health Department to send out tens of thousands of "eviction notices" to elderly and disabled Medicaid recipients currently living in nursing and group homes. Edwards stated that unless new tax legislation can be passed before July 1, 2018, the existing state money used to take care of almost 37,000 Louisiana residents on Medicaid will dry up.
Lawmakers take no action to curb surprise medical billing but pass hands-free driving bill
During the frenetic last-day activity Thursday at the General Assembly, state lawmakers failed to agree on a way to curb surprise medical billing.
Joe Biden video chats with cancer-stricken Idaho teen
And he recently made one particular cancer patient's day by giving her some words of encouragement via video call to her hospital bed in Idaho. Cierra Shaffer is a 17-year-old battling leukemia at St. Luke's Children's Hospital in Boise.
Protecting the conscience and religious beliefs of health care workers
The Trump administration has created a new division within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services tasked with protecting the moral and religious beliefs of health care workers. According to Office for Civil Rights Director Roger Severino: America's doctors and nurses are dedicated to saving lives and should not be bullied out of the practice of medicine simply because they object to performing abortions against their conscience.
Oregon approves new taxes to address Medicaid costs
Oregon approved taxes on hospitals, health insurers and managed care companies in an unusual special election Tuesday that asked voters - and not lawmakers - how to pay for Medicaid costs that now include coverage of hundreds of thousands of low-income residents added to the program's rolls under the Affordable Care Act. Measure 101 was passing handily in early returns Tuesday night.
How I chronicled the story of an undocumented immigrant
I didn't plan to meet Jessica Esparza every two years, but interesting changes kept happening in her life. Jessica is an undocumented immigrant, brought to the U.S. by her parents as a child.