Washington Travel Nurse Jobs

Recent closings of two midwifery practices in the greater Washington, D.C., area have sparked an “outcry” from women seeking to give birth outside a hospital or with the assistance of a midwife, the Washington Post reports. The Takoma Women’s Health Center in Takoma Park, Md., closed last month shortly after its owner ended its midwifery practice, and the Maternity Center in Bethesda, Md., will stop delivering infants at the end of this month. According to the Post, at least seven other birth centers and midwifery practices in the Washington, D.C.-Baltimore area have closed in the previous 10 years, citing increasing malpractice insurance premiums and delayed insurance company reimbursements.

Maryland-, Virginia- and district-based midwives attended 12,500 births in 2002, American College of Nurse-Midwives statistics show. Those births accounted for nearly 8% of all Maryland births, 3% of district births and 7% of Virginia births. The closings of district-area birth centers mirror a national trend with about six birth centers closing annually in recent years, the Post reports.

Midwives said similar financial pressures are being felt throughout the health care industry, but birth centers especially are affected because they have smaller profit margins compared with most physicians. They also said that the increasing popularity of caesarean sections — which only physicians may perform — has affected their practices. According to the Post, midwives cannot compensate for lower insurance reimbursements for office visits by performing high-cost surgeries.

Some industry observers said the closings might signal the end of a “natural cycle” in the practice, as midwives who opened birth centers during the 1970s and 1980s start to retire, the Post reports. Observers said many young midwives do not want to deal with the financial strain of managing a practice (Shaver, Washington Post, 5/18).

International nurse migration experts convened on July 9, 2005 at the Rockefeller Foundation Conference Center in Bellagio, Italy to examine the causes and consequences of the global nurse shortage and to consider strategies to mitigate its negative impact on the health of people around the world. The recommendations and presentations from the expert meeting can be found at academyhealth.org/international/nurses.htm.

Travel nurses are central to the delivery of care in all countries. Developed countries have come to rely on many more nurses than they produce, and increasingly depend upon nurses recruited from less developed countries. “Approximately 80 percent of nurses immigrating to the United States are from developing countries, however close to 60,000 nurses residing in the U.S. come from Canada, the United Kingdom, Ireland and other developed countries also facing nursing shortages. This contributes to the need for these countries to recruit from developing countries,” says Linda H. Aiken, professor and director of the Center for Health Outcomes and Policy at the University of Pennsylvania. “This exodus of nurses from developing countries impacts the ability of these countries to develop sustainable health care systems, provide appropriate care, and manage disease.”

The expert group’s work was based on guiding principles that advocate countries’ self-sufficiency in their nursing workforce; equitable nursing migration; use of trade and foreign policy to enhance nursing capacity; and the use of partnerships among nursing peers worldwide to advance nursing services.

The group’s recommendations for resolving the global nursing shortage build upon previous successes in developing policies and practices to recruit, build capacity, motivate, and retain nurses. On an international scale, the expert group recommends developing: * A Global Health and Nursing Equity Index including elements such as work conditions, nurse production, inflow/outflow of nurses, nurse/population ratio, and burden of disease. This index can then be used to guide performance assessments, develop practice guidelines, and inform distribution of foreign aid to enhance nurse capacity;

* Strategic partnerships and networking to share best practices, promote leadership development, and support cross-national evaluative research;

* Appropriate international credentialing to recognize and elevate prestige of nursing work.

On a national scale, the expert group recommends:

* Promoting targeted investment in nursing education and work conditions;

* Harmonizing curricula and certifications within regions to promote regional self-sufficiency;

* Including nurse/bed ratios in hospital accreditation instruments;

* Reforming local regulations that discriminate against nurses returning home and recognizing international experience abroad in pay and seniority;

* Evaluating strategies for motivating and retaining nurses;

* Evaluating the impact of trade agreements on nurse capacity;

* Stabilizing visa/work permit quotas offered by destination countries to support effective supply planning in source countries;

* Creating a high-level governmental body to coordinate and recommend national and international nursing workforce policies;

* Developing oversight of recruitment agencies to align activities with national plans;

* Promoting and monitoring immigrant nurses’ rights.

The meeting, organized by AcademyHealth and The University of Pennsylvania, brought together representatives of universities in Canada, the U.K., the U.S., four Sub-Saharan African countries, India, the Philippines, China, and the Caribbean, as well as The World Health Organization, The International Council of Nurses, The Commonwealth Secretariat, and the U.S. Commission on Graduates of Foreign Nursing.

Sponsorship support for this meeting was provided by the Rockefeller Foundation, the International Development Research Centre, Johnson & Johnson, The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the Nuffield Trust, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, the Canadian Health Services Research Foundation, the Canadian Nurses Association, and the Joint Committee on Economic and Policy Analysis.

The dialogue on global nursing shortages will continue at the AcademyHealth Health in Foreign Policy Forum, February 8th, 2006 at the Renaissance Washington D. C. Hotel. The 2006 event will bring together domestic and foreign policy experts to explore ways to build health workforce capacity in this country and abroad, and to tailor policies to specific regional situations. For more information on the Forum, visit academyhealth.org/nhpc/foreignpolicy

Stacia Sanvik
stacia.sanvik@academyhealth.org
AcademyHealth
http://www.academyhealth.org

The dean of the Emory University Nursing School predicts that a shortage of at least 800,000 nurses by 2020 threatens to undermine care for an aging American population. It’s troubling news for senior living providers, who are dealing with an increasingly acute population. Speaking to the National Press Club in Washington, Dean Marla Salmon called the nursing popluation “an equation that is failing.” The median age of nurses is up to 47 and nursing schools continue to reject applicants due to a shortage of teachers. Rising administrative tasks have further contributed to the problem, according to Dr. Arthur Kellermann, chair of emergency medicine at Emory.

Use the “search” feature at the top of the ALFA Web site menu bar to locate other articles related to “nurse shortage.”

Assisted Living Federation of America
http://www.alfa.org

Black nursing home residents are more likely than their white counterparts to be hospitalized for conditions such as dehydration, poor nutrition and bedsores, according to a study to be published in the June issue of the journal Health Services Research, the Washington Post reports. Lead study author Andrea Gruneir and other researchers affiliated with the Brown University Albert Medical School examined data from 2000 on more than 500,000 nursing home residents in 9,000 facilities across the U.S. (Spinner, Washington Post, 1/15).

According to the study, 18.5% of white nursing home residents were hospitalized in 2000, compared with 24.1% of black residents. Those in nursing homes with high populations of black residents were 20% more likely to be hospitalized than those in facilities with no black residents (Gruneir et al., Health Services Research, OnlineEarly Articles).

Residents in nursing homes that were very reliant on Medicaid funding, had lower patient-to-employee ratios, or did not have a nurse practitioner or medical director were more likely than others to be hospitalized, according to Susan Miller, associate professor of community health at Brown University’s Center for Gerontology and Health Care Research. Miller added that the poorest residents were most likely to be hospitalized.

Gruneir said, “The percentage of residents who had to be hospitalized was strongly correlated with the residents on Medicaid, which also was strongly tied to facilities with limited resources.”

The study concluded that the racial disparities could be reduced by providing more resources to nursing homes that heavily rely on Medicaid funding, the Post reports.

Janet Wells, director of public policy for the National Citizens’ Coalition for Nursing Home Reform, said, “Nursing homes in this country have a serious deficiency in quality, and studies have shown that African-Americans are more likely to get the worst care,” adding, “We think it’s a civil rights issue.” She also said that having a high proportion of residents covered by Medicaid does not necessarily predict the quality of care, adding, “A lot of nursing homes with Medicaid residents are good nursing homes. We see them all over the country” (Washington Post, 1/15).

An abstract of the study is available online.

Washington, D.C., Mayor Adrian Fenty’s administration on Monday pledged to triple within one year the number of no-cost condoms distributed by the city, as well as to work with hospitals to increase HIV testing in emergency departments, in an effort to curb the spread of the virus, the Washington Post reports (Nakamura, Washington Post, 11/27).

The announcement follows the release of a report that called HIV/AIDS a “modern epidemic” in the district with “complexities and challenges that continue to threaten the lives and well-being of far too many residents.” According to the report, almost 12,500 district residents were known to be living with HIV/AIDS in 2006. Thirty-seven percent of HIV cases were transmitted through heterosexual contact, compared with 25% that were transmitted among men who have sex with men.

The number of HIV cases in the district began declining in 2003, but the decrease likely is the result of underreporting or delayed reporting, the report said. One in 20 district residents is HIV-positive and one in 50 is living with AIDS, according to Shannon Hader, head of the city’s HIV/AIDS Administration. The city’s cumulative number of AIDS cases is more than 17,400.

More than two-thirds of AIDS cases in the district during the past 10 years were among people who progressed to AIDS within one year of being diagnosed with HIV, compared with 39% of AIDS cases nationwide, the report found. The report also found that more people ages 40 to 49 were being diagnosed with HIV than any other age group. In addition, all of the 36 children in the district who tested positive for HIV since 2002 contracted the virus during birth (Kaiser Daily HIV/AIDS Report, 11/26).

Hader said the HIV/AIDS Administration plans to scale up several initiatives that began before she started at the administration in October, the Post reports. Hader also said that she hopes to increase the number of no-cost condoms distributed by the city to three million by 2009 to help prevent the spread of HIV. She added that she wants to “challenge” all hospital EDs to offer “rapid HIV testing” to help diagnose the virus in earlier stages. George Washington University Medical Center and Howard University Hospital have the only EDs that currently offer HIV testing, Hader said. In addition, Hader said she plans to collaborate with the city’s seven birthing centers to draft guidelines and set up outreach and testing sites to help prevent mother-to-child HIV transmission.

“These things have already been started, but we want to use the report to build on them,” Hader said, adding, “We’re using all the tools in the tool kit, and we’re also looking at all of our tool kits, figuring out where there are gaps.” Hader said she does not plan to request more HIV/AIDS funding in the coming year but added that if early testing and treatment rates are increased, the programs could become more costly (Washington Post, 11/27).

Related Editorial
The figures in the report are “harrowing,” but “with a new director of HIV/AIDS administration, plenty of funding and, now, data, the district stands a chance of beating back this killer that has no cure,” a Post editorial says. According to the editorial, doctors and hospitals need to routinely test pregnant women for HIV, and prevention and treatment efforts “must be accelerated.” The Post adds that Fenty and Hader have committed themselves to this goal, but “their efforts will be useless if people think they are somehow immune to the epidemic.” The editorial concludes that “AIDS is an equal-opportunity killer” (Washington Post, 11/27).

NPR’s “The Bryant Park Project” on Tuesday included a discussion with Larry Bryant, an outreach and advocacy worker in the district, about the report (”Bryant Park Project,” NPR, 11/27). Audio of the segment is available online.

In addition, WAMU’s “The Diane Rehm Show” on Tuesday is scheduled to include a discussion with Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease at NIH, about the report and other issues related to HIV/AIDS (”The Diane Rehm Show” Web site, 11/27). A broadcast schedule and additional details about the segment are available on the program’s Web site. Audio of the segment will be available online about one hour after the broadcast.

A program developed by the geriatric department of Washington Hospital Center in Washington, D.C., hopes to reduce health care costs by providing house calls to elderly residents, the Washington Times reports. The hospital’s Medical House Calls Program, which began in 1999, assists about 150 to 170 patients weekly. A staff of 17 physicians and social workers travel within a 10 mile radius of the hospital to treat elderly patients and address emotional issues. George Taler, who oversees the program along with Eric De Jonge, estimates that the house calls cost $35,000 annually per patient, compared with $75,000 for a patient who might require transportation to a hospital for the same treatment. Several hospitals in other cities have inquired about the program, according to Patricia Harris, the hospital’s director of geriatric education. The large elderly population in need of at-home care in D.C. plays a major role in making the program successful, Rick Wade, senior vice president for communications for the American Hospital Association, said. Nationally, house calls to Medicare beneficiaries increased by 40% between 1998 and 2004, according to the Journal of the American Medical Association (Toto, Washington Times, 10/24).

One of the nation’s oldest and most respected non-profit science organizations will provide more than $86,000 in travel fellowships to underrepresented minority students and scientists to attend the Experimental Biology conference in San Diego, CA, April 5-9. The American Physiological Society (APS), which administers the program, has announced that 52 fellows will receive the travel awards.

APS administers the program with financial support from the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK) and the National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS). Both NIDDK and NIGMS are part of the National Institutes of Health.

The APS Minority Travel Fellowship Program is designed to encourage more students from minority groups that are underrepresented in science to become scientists and remain in the field. African-American, Hispanic, Native American and Pacific Islander undergraduate, graduate and post-doctoral students and faculty are eligible for the fellowships. The APS has awarded travel fellowships to approximately 500 minority students and faculty since 1987, when the program began.

In addition to paying travel and registration costs, each fellow is paired with an established researcher, an APS member who is usually in the same research area as the student. More than 60 APS members volunteer each year to be mentors. A number of former minority travel fellows — now established researchers with their own graduate students — serve as mentors themselves.

The program provides many career networking opportunities. The mentor introduces the fellow to other established scientists at the conference, and the fellows meet other minority students at an orientation and reception for current and past travel fellows. APS also invites fellows to career workshops, sessions on special skills development, and other special sessions during the conference.

Past fellows have praised the program, saying they received advice concerning their research from scientists they met through the program and also learned the ins and outs of interviewing for a postdoctoral or faculty position.

The 2008 Minority Travel Fellows are as follows:

Adebowale Adebiyi, University of Tennessee Health Science Center, Memphis, TN

Julio E. Ayala, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN

Stefanie M. Azevedo, New Mexico Tech, Socorro, NM

Moradeke Bamgboye, University of Maryland, Baltimore

Sharell M. Bindom, LSUHSC, New Orleans, LA

Jessica A. Clark, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO

Elizabeth L. Crittenden, Texas State University, San Marcos, San Marcos, TX

Nildris Cruz, UPR-Medical Science Campus, San Juan, PR

Marielly Cuevas, Ponce School of Medicine, Ponce, PR

Kylie L. Davis, University of North Dakota, Grand Forks, ND

Dolores F. Doane, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL

John H. Dubinion, University of Mississippi Medical Center, Jackson, MS

Jorge L. Gamboa, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY

Albert L. Gonzales, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO

Helmut B. Gottlieb, University of the Incarnate Word, San Antonio, TX

TanYa M. Gwathmey, Wake Forest University School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, NC

Kadine L. Hamilton, St. Lawrence University, Canton, NY

James E. Harris, Auburn University, Auburn, AL

Lateira D. Haynes, Spelman College, Atlanta, GA

Andres Hernandez, Auburn University, Auburn, AL

Marcela Herrera, Henry Ford Hospital, Detroit, MI

Crystal D. Hill-Pryor, Medical College of Georgia, Augusta, GA

Michael Hoffman, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI

Sandra Houser, Columbia University, College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York, NY

Cynthia Ann Jackson, Tuskegee University, Tuskegee, AL

Brandiese E. Jacobs, University of Maryland, Baltimore

Anna K. Leal, UT Southwestern, Dallas, TX

Exazevia Logan, Wake Forest University School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, NC

Elizabeth J. Luger, University of North Dakota, Grand Forks, ND

Keisa W. Mathis, LSU Health Sciences Center, New Orleans, LA

Matthew McGeachy, LSU School of Veterinary Medicine, Baton Rouge, LA

Miguel F. Molina, LSUHSC, New Orleans, LA

Kimberly X. Mulligan, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN

Juliana O. Odetunde, University of Louisville, Louisville, KY

Norma B. Ojeda, University of Mississippi Medical Center, Jackson, MS

Beatriz Pagan-Ortiz, Ponce School of Medicine, Ponce, PR

Elisha Peterson, Rush Medical College, Chicago, IL

Kristi M. Porter, Emory University, Tucker, GA

José Quidgley, Universtity of Puerto Rico School of Medicine, San Juan, PR

Clintoria Richards-Williams, University of Alabama at Birmingham

Zelieann Rivera, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ

Edelmarie Rivera-De Jesús, Ponce School of Medicine, Ponce, PR

Ana E. Rodriguez, University of Puerto Rico - Medical Sciences Campus, San Juan, PR

Jesus Salazar, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI

Christopher L. Sandoval, University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee, Fox Point, WI

Olga I. Santiago, Ponce School of Medicine, Ponce, PR

Mesia M. Steed, University of Louisville, Louisville, KY

Ann A. Tobin, Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, WI

Inimary Toby, The Research Institute Nationwide Children’s Hospital, Columbus, OH

Carmen M. Troncoso Brindeiro, University of Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha, NE

Johana Vallejo-Elias, Miwestern University-Arizona Osteopathic School of Medicine, Glendale, AZ

Lizette Warner, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN

Vabren L. Watts, Meharry Medical College, Nashville, TN

Alencia V. Woodard-Grice, University of Alabama at Birmingham

—————————-

Article adapted by Medical News Today from original press release.

—————————-

Physiology is the study of how molecules, cells, tissues and organs function to create health or disease. The American Physiological Society has been an integral part of this scientific discovery process since it was established in 1887. The Society provides a wide range of research, educational and career support and programming to further the contributions of physiology to understanding diseased and healthy states.

Source: Brooke Bruthers

American Physiological Society

The dean of nursing at the University of Cincinnati (UC) is leading a quality review of the Kingdom of Jordan’s 22 associate and six baccalaureate nursing programs.

A team of 20 U.S. nursing professionals, headed by Dean Andrea Lindell, DNSc, of UC’s College of Nursing, will meet in Cincinnati Sept. 15 for a one-day workshop to prepare them for the review.

For the last six years, Jordan has been working to improve the quality of its higher education programs in computer science, business administration, law, and accounting and is currently focusing on nursing.

The review is sponsored by the Hussein Fund for Excellence. A nonprofit organization supported by Jordan’s banking sector, the fund was established in 1999 to enhance and improve the quality of the country’s higher education among other goals.

The Hussein Fund is working with the Center for Quality Assurance in International Education (CQAIE), based in Washington, D.C., to lead the external review of Jordan’s nursing degree programs.

The CQAIE selected Lindell to head the review for three primary reasons, according to Marjorie Lenn, PhD, the organization’s executive director.

“Dr. Lindell has outstanding experience in United States accreditation, long-standing leadership at a national level in nursing, and senior-level experience in the administration of one of the most highly esteemed nursing programs in the country,” says Lenn.

“I’m very honored to be selected as the U.S. representative to help Jordan measure the quality of its nursing programs and ultimately raise the standards they use to judge themselves,” Lindell says.

“The fact that Jordanian leaders requested the assistance of the United States shows they value what we’ve done to monitor and assess our own nursing programs to ensure quality,” she says.

The review process began earlier this year when Lindell traveled to Jordan to meet with dignitaries, including Her Royal Highness Princess Muna Al Hussein, director of the country’s nursing council, and nursing leaders. During her visit, Lindell shared the expectations of a quality assurance review and how Jordan can effectively prepare for it.

Nursing educators in Jordan are currently undergoing self-reviews and preparing documentation that will be evaluated by the U.S. review team. They will travel to Jordan in November and December to meet with Jordanian nursing educators and expect to complete the reviews by early next year.

According to Hilda Ajeilat, PhD, executive director of the Hussein Fund, demand for national and regional nursing programs at Jordan’s colleges and universities is increasing.

“The nursing profession demands wide knowledge, problem solving and practical skills,” says Ajeilat. “That’s why we want to improve the quality of our programs. We’re also experiencing an increased need for nurses because of a number of new hospitals in the region.”

The highest quality baccalaureate program will receive $45,000 from the Hussein Fund, and the best associate program will receive $15,000.

—————————-
Article adapted by Medical News Today from original press release.
—————————-

Contact: Jamie Davis
University of Cincinnati

Welcome to Blog - Free. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, then start blogging!