Author Archive, Paul Wallis

If you consider nursing recruitment as a marketing exercise, the first things you notice are: The demand for nurses is huge. The recruiting methods are comparatively passive. If  you look at the stats, the Bureau of Labor Statistics states that the number of nursing positions in the market is expected to increase by 23% in the next decade. That's about double the average national figure. The need for more basic support for nurse recruiting has been recognized. The new Healthcare Reform Bill passed through ... More »

Major mobile "medware" provider Epocrates Inc. has announced that it will be providing New York University College of Nursing (NYUCN) graduates with its mobile software. Both students and faculty were already using the Epocrates software, which operates both as a clinical database and "decision support" software. The intention is to incorporate software training into the curriculum for future nursing students. From an industry perspective, this is a particularly significant development, because there are no formal industry standards ... More »

Americans seeking nursing care in the Northwest may be about to get some relief. The highly successful Canadian Nurse Next Door home health care business is expanding into the US, coming to Washington state sometime in the next 12 months. Nurse Next Door has been spreading across Canada like wildfire. It started in 2001, and has built itself up. Just a little more than two years ago, NND had three locations; it now has 27. One of the founders is ... More »

An exciting idea that could work out as a pilot program for big improvements in the nursing profession is now under way: $10,000 scholarships for the Accelerated Bachelor of Science in Nursing. These scholarships are granted as part of the New Careers in Nursing Scholarship Program through a collaboration of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) and the American Association of  Colleges of Nursing (AACN). Nationally, 58 colleges out of 113 applicants were granted the new scholarships. The Accelerated ... More »

Many nurses want to be able to unionize. The Employee Free Choice Act, which would allow unionization, is moving through the Senate, but it's looking like there are going to be some roadblocks as the idea of nurses being represented by unions seeps through to government and industry. However, the situation for the profession is too complex for purely polarized, pro and con simplifications about the principle of unionization. There's a lot more at stake here. The entire nursing profession ... More »

A Medicare rate adjustment, combined with cuts in Federal and state spending, has started to have a deep impact on nursing homes. Medicare cuts alone are expected to average a $1.6 billion reduction in funding per year. 24 states have already cut funding. Further cuts are currently before Congress. There are currently 16,000 nursing homes operating in the US, with an estimated 1.85 million people in care. The cuts are expected to force closures as well ... More »

There's one common factor in all nursing careers: hard work, and lots of it. There are tough sides and good sides, explaining the reasons for 12-hour shifts to your feet, and laughing your head off at some little kid with a grin on her face.