DiversityNursing Blog

Terri Matula, Cardiovascular Nurse at the Navicent Health center, is saving many animal lives by recycling used pacemakers.

20 years ago when Matula and her husband were in college, their beloved cocker spaniel, Gator, suffered from an urgent third-degree heart blockage. They couldn't afford the $3,000 device at the time.

According to an Atlanta News article, Matula said, "Eventually Gator died from complications due to congestive heart failure." Years later Matula's husband had heart problems and needed a pacemaker. But as his condition changed he needed a new device. Typically pacemakers are thrown away.

Matula remembered what happened to Gator and asked the Cardiologist if she could keep his old device. Then she called the University of Georgia to find out if she could donate the device to the College of Veterinary Medicine.

"They don't actually develop pacemakers specifically for dogs and cats so we have to use human equipment," said veterinary Cardiologist Kate Meurs.

In February 2018, Matula formed the Pacemaker Donation Program between the University of Georgia and Navicent Health.

“When a patient’s pacemaker is exchanged, upgraded or replaced, the patient is offered the option of donating their used device to the Pacemaker Donation Program,” said Beth Mann, Vice President for cardiovascular services and Nursing strategy at Navicent. “Everyone – our staff and our patients – has been excited to save the lives of animals with reusable devices.”

Since the inception of the Pacemaker Donation Program in 2018, 41 pacemakers have been donated for patients at UGA. Once the pacemakers are explanted at The Medical Center, Navicent Health (MCNH), they are sterilized and shipped to UGA. Only the pacemakers of living donors are used for the program. Many of the pacemakers have at least 5.5 years of battery life remaining. The pacemakers with less battery life are useful as teaching tools in the classroom for UGA’s veterinary students.

What a creative and simple solution to a problem born out of heartbreak. We love this story and appreciate Matula’s great mind and determination to make things better for our 4-legged friends! To learn more about the program visit https://ugaresearch.uga.edu

A contact hour is 50 or 60 minutes of instruction in a board-approved Nursing continuing education class or activity. One Continuing Education Unit (CEU) equals ten contact hours. Many Nurses continuing education courses are measured by CEUs to fulfill the Nursing program continuing education requirements.

See Nursing Continuing Education Requirements by State here.

And enjoy this list of FREE CEU's!

Organ and Tissue Donation and Recovery

Bladder Management after Spinal Cord Injury: A Practical Approach

Continuous Glucose Monitoring: Implications for Primary Care in Management of Type 2 Diabetes

Hepatitis C Among Homeless Individuals

Miracle Moments: How Psychiatric-Mental Health Nurses Save Lives

Using Emotional Intelligence to Create the Work Environment You Desire

Show Your Stuff and Watch Your Tone: Nurse Caring Behaviors

Autoimmune Complications from Cancer Chemotherapy: An Emerging Field

Emergency Medicine and Immuno-Oncology Intersect: Recognizing and Managing Cancer Immunotherapy–Related Adverse Effects in the Emergency Department

Families' sense of abandonment when patients were referred to a hospice

Applying Evidence from the PCORI PROSPER Studies in Stroke Prevention & Care

Empowering Oncology Teams to Improve Care Quality for Women with Advanced or Metastatic HR+/HER2- Breast Cancer

Hematologic Malignancies & Precision Medicine: Expert Q&A with Highlights from the 2nd Annual Federal Seminar Series

Hereditary Breast Cancer Susceptibility: Understanding Gene Associated Risks

Improving Patient Outcomes With Cancer Immunotherapies Throughout the Lung Cancer Continuum: State of the Science and Implications for Practice

Managing Toxicities of Novel Therapies and Coordinating Care for CLL/SLL and FL Patients

 Do you know of other Free CEU's? Feel free to share in our comments section below!

The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) defines innovation as “a new way of doing things to improve healthcare delivery”. Innovation can happen in your processes, systems, business models, as well as other “new” products or services.

“Nurses are the backbone of the American healthcare system,” says Sarah Colamarino, Vice President, Corporate Equity, Johnson & Johnson. “We know they are compassionate caregivers, but they’re so much more—they’re also driving innovation and pushing healthcare forward."

The reason Nurses are natural innovators is because “Nurses sit at the juncture between the patient and the system. They understand the pain points,’’ says Boston Children's Hospital Nursing Director, Jayne Rogers. “We want to encourage them to identify those issues and bring them forward for solutions.’’

Here are a few terrific Nurses Innovators whose ideas made life better for many.

Jonelle Krier, an OB Nurse in Duluth, MN, noticed parents struggle with air-drying their infant’s umbilical cord. She came up with an idea for an infant body suit with an opening that provides umbilical exposure. The one-piece garments are now used in some hospital nurseries. Krier won a Huggies® Mom Inspired™ grant, which has helped her expand the line to offer additional colors and designs.

Some ideas are simple changes, but make a huge impact in patient care.

Nurses Teri Barton-Salina and her sister Gail Barton-Hay had the idea to color-code IV lines so you'd be able to identify lines in seconds. In hospitals those seconds are valuable.

Neomi Bennett, RN, wanted to help Nurses and patients dealing with deep vein thrombosis (DVT), which occurs when blood clots form in the deep veins, often the legs. Many Doctors require patients to wear compression stockings, which can be difficult to put on because they are very tight. Bennett invented the Neo-Slip, a simple foot covering that allows compression stockings to be slipped on with ease.

OR Nurse, Jill Byrne of the Cleveland Clinic, created a vest to keep surgical staff cool under hot operating room lights. The lightweight vest contains pockets to hold ice packs and is designed to fit under surgical gowns to fight heat stress.

Innovation doesn't mean you have to create something completely new.

A Lippincott article says, "You can use an existing tool or device for a new purpose. An example of this is how older drugs are approved for new indications. Similarly, Nurses may find a secondary benefit of an existing device that we can use to support Nursing care like using a patient’s mobile phone to record patient teaching. There also may be great ideas that Nurses can repurpose from another industry to solve a problem in healthcare. An example of this is how Nursing professional development practitioners borrowed from the entertainment and gaming industry to foster learning in a more engaging format. Having received poor feedback about boring lectures in a Nurse residency program, the organizers of the program implemented escape rooms to reinforce learning and to test problem-solving skills among Nurse residents."

It is imperative to create a culture of innovation where Nurses feel confident in sharing their ideas and receive resources to help further their concepts into actual solutions.

An ANA article said, " In Nursing education, we should be teaching our Nurse leaders how to be change agents and innovators. We should be developing ways to train new Nurses and ensure that they are “innovation competent” when they graduate. As Nurses, we need to be calculated risk takers while keeping patient safety paramount. That way, we raise Nurses who don’t accept the status quo and are always questioning and seeing what’s next."

Healthcare is continually evolving. To become better, we need Nurse innovators to create new ideas, solutions and improvements to existing processes, systems and materials. Please share new innovations that made a difference to you and your patients.

Patient numbers are growing and so is the pressure for health care organizations to operate efficiently. Educated and experienced Nurse leaders are needed to manage teams, patient care, and promote organizational goals. In order to accomplish these goals, a successful Nurse leader must possess certain qualities that include...

Critical-Thinking and Decision-Making Skills

A Mississippi College article said, "Whether developing technology, advocating for patients, or running hospitals, Nurses need decision-making skills. For example, the Institute of Medicine (IOM) says Nurse leaders must identify problems and areas of waste, devise and implement plans for improvement, and make necessary adjustments to achieve goals. These responsibilities require an ability to analyze problems, look at the bigger picture, and devise solutions."

Relationship Management

According to Lippincott Solutions, Nurse leaders must be able to manage relationships with a wide variety of individuals because collaboration and team work are required to deliver high-quality patient care. Effective communication skills are keys to managing any relationship, but they’re especially important to Nurse leaders who must engage in a variety of relationships. These skills are also important for resolving conflicts and moving toward common goals.

Mentoring and Creating Future Leaders

In an ANA article, the quote “If your unit or department can run without you, you have done your job.” is very true. A successful leader will mentor and invest in experienced Nurses as a succession strategy to help guarantee the team's mission and values remain intact well into the future.

If you believe you posses these qualities and are interested in becoming a Nurse leader, there are different roles you can aspire to become. Some leadership roles include Head Nurse, Patient Care Director, Middle Level Management, Chief Nursing Officer, and CEO.

There are steps you can take in achieving a new leadership position.

Hospitals often need Nurses to serve on volunteer committees or advisory boards. Becoming a volunteer is an additional way to demonstrate leadership initiative. By offering your time, you’re proving to upper management that you truly care about helping your healthcare facility be the best it can be.

Earning your Master’s of Science in Nursing (MSN) could be the key to opening up a world of leadership opportunities in your Nursing career, according to Nurse Journal. Not only will your MSN courses help you sharpen your leadership skills and acquire qualifications for more advanced positions, MSN degrees often offer areas of specialization you can pursue.

Are you a Nurse leader and have helpful tips you'd like to share? Is there a Nurse leader you look up to and want to share what characteristics inspire you? Please comment below – we would love to hear from you!

TED talks are a community of short talks, usually under 18 minutes long with the goal to use the power of ideas to change attitudes, lives and, ultimately, the world. Here is a list of top Nursing TED talks that motivate, inspire, and engage!

Nurse Innovation: Saving the Future of Healthcare

Rebecca Love talks about how Nurses represent nearly half of the healthcare workforce and are the end user of nearly every medical product on the market, but they are rarely if ever engaged in the decision-making process by which new health care products are designed, constructed and brought to market. This is a huge missed opportunity that is resulting in costly inefficiencies and leading to the highest levels of Nurse burnout ever recorded.

In The Opioid Crisis, Here's What it Takes to Save a Life

Fire Chief and Nurse, Jan Rader has spent her career saving lives. But when the opioid epidemic hit her town, she realized they needed to take a brand-new approach to life-saving. In this powerful, hopeful talk, Rader shows what it's like on the front lines of this crisis and how her community is taking an unusual new approach to treating substance-abuse disorder that starts with listening.

A Tribute To Nurses

Carolyn Jones spent five years interviewing, photographing and filming nurses across America, traveling to places dealing with some of the nation's biggest public health issues. She shares personal stories of unwavering dedication in this celebration of the everyday heroes who work at the front lines of health care.

Spreading Smiles in Hospitals, The Power of a Facility Dog

(To have this video translated to English, click the CC button in the bottom right corner of the video.) Yuko Morita shares how she became one of Japan's first facility dog trainers. Using videos of Bailey providing emotional support to the patients at a Yokohama children's clinic, she makes the case for bringing dogs (and their healthcare professional handlers) into hospitals everywhere.

The "Dementia Village" That's Redefining Elder Care

How would you prefer to spend the last years of your life: in a sterile, hospital-like institution or in a village with a supermarket, pub, theater and park within easy walking distance? The answer seems obvious now, but when Yvonne van Amerongen helped develop the groundbreaking Hogeweyk dementia care center in Amsterdam 25 years ago, it was seen as a risky break from tradition. Journey with van Amerongen to Hogeweyk and get a glimpse at what a reimagined nursing home based on freedom, meaning and social life could look like.

How To Make Stress Your Friend

Nursing is a stressful profession. Psychologist Kelly McGonigal talks about how new research suggests that stress may only be bad for you if you believe that to be the case. She urges us to see stress as a positive, and introduces us to an unsung mechanism for stress reduction: reaching out to others.

Do You Ask Doctors Nursing Questions?

Carissa Enright discusses how often patients don’t understand the differences between the role of a Nurse and that of a Doctor. This veteran Nurse will empower patients to ask their healthcare providers the right questions through examples in her own story.

We hope you enjoy these TED talks! Do you have any favorites you want to share with us? Comment below, we would love to hear from you.

Organizations put a lot of effort into their Diversity and Inclusion programs and yet few of these efforts yield results. What are some of the reasons why D&I programs fail?

Your Diversity and Inclusion programs should be a consistent part of your organization’s culture. It should not be implemented as a response to an issue because it might appear disingenuous. These programs should be used throughout all departments to show an overall belief and commitment that D&I is important to everyone. 

Do not make the programs mandatory because when individuals feel like they don’t have a choice, this can lead to resistance and opposition to D&I programs.

Your leadership must fully support D&I for it to work well. Leadership must be committed to making D&I part of your mission, values and beliefs. It is important they understand D&I is beneficial in acquiring and retaining talent, offering culturally competent patient care, building employee engagement, and improving business performance. Your programs should always be evolving. If it's outdated, it will be ineffective. 

Employees might believe that actual changes won't be made. So it is important to lead by example and utilize what these programs teach. There should be visible and committed role models on the leadership team.

Get your employees who are closely affected by Diversity and Inclusion involved with the design and assessment of the programs to ensure they will work and take hold. Remember, you want ideas and collaboration from employees who represent different cultures, religions, ages, educational backgrounds, etc. The programs must be custom tailored to each company, using its specific culture and goals to determine the best course of action.

According to DeEtta Jones, a diversity and inclusion strategy consultant "when developing an inclusion plan, organizations should keep two goals in mind.  Any inclusion plan should be attainable and measurable.  A lofty plan with goals that can never be achieved ruins employee morale and reinforces the idea that management is not willing to make meaningful changes.  Without measurable goals, leaders and organizations cannot be held accountable for implementing the plan.  Without accountability, any plan will be ineffective.  Good inclusion plans are measurable and achievable. "

Your organization should be an inclusive environment where all employees feel comfortable and open enough to discuss and make real changes. In order to achieve this environment, we all must be aware of biases.

Kristen Pressner said in a Forbes article, "We all have biases, and it’s important to acknowledge them so behavioral tendencies can be headed off at the pass. Make a safe place for everyone to look in their full-length mirror and recognize their own biases so they can work on eliminating them. This can be as holistic as hosting training and workshops, and as personal as articulating and owning them one on one. Articulate how shifting the behavior will lead to better results. Recognizing one’s own biases is a great level set; everyone has them and can support each other in breaking them."

In a different Forbes article, Cat Graham recommends "acknowledging and recognizing great ideas, wherever they come from. Celebrate and communicate with your employees how diversity and inclusion have impacted creativity, engagement and results. Make room for different religious celebrations, and encourage staff to share their cultural heritage with others. Actively create groups that support and connect employees through their shared backgrounds."

The Diversity and Inclusion process can be difficult to perfect, but it is important to make it a major part of your organization's mission. If you have any helpful tips or experiences you’d like to share, please do so here.

An article from the American Journal of Nursing notes the precise numbers are impossible to determine but, it's estimated that between 600,000 and 800,000 adults and children worldwide are trafficked across international borders annually and made to work under brutal and inhumane conditions.

Human trafficking is defined by Homeland Security as "modern-day slavery and involves the use of force, fraud, or coercion to obtain some type of labor or commercial sex act."

Nurses are more likely to come in contact with human trafficking victims during the time of their exploitation than any other profession, but very few are identified by staff and helped to find safety according to Johnson & Johnson Notes on Nursing. 

Danielle Jordan Bastein, an ER Nurse at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit, Michigan created a new screening protocol to help identify trafficked individuals. She says more than 90% of trafficked victims have some type of contact with health care workers, but fewer than 1% has been identified in a health care setting.

She told a local Detroit news station how the screening protocol worked. "It is a multiple step process and it involves mostly nurses," she said. "What happens is, as soon as you make contact to our area you go through triage. Based on the education the Nurses have, and also the Physicians, and they are triaging this patient and they say, you know what, something doesn't seem right, I am going to flag them."

Once the patient has been flagged, the primary Nurse is alerted and conducts another assessment with specific questions.

Some signs Danielle points out include "A lot of the things we look for is an inconsistent story," she said. "If there is abuse, torture or neglect signs with that person; if they aren't holding their own ID or money. If the person with them is refusing to leave while they answer or is answering questions for them."

"If the person is identified as a victim of human trafficking and agrees to receive help, authorities are alerted and they are given safe housing, necessities and transportation."

As of January 24, 2019 the news station said Danielle's program has saved 17 victims so far and she hopes other hospitals will implement her screening. 

We applaud Danielle’s initiative and creativity because she devised a very useful tool to help identify these victims. You can also find training at SOAR (Stop, Observe, Ask, Respond)  https://www.acf.hhs.gov/otip/training/soar-to-health-and-wellness-training. Soar is jointly provided by Postgraduate Institute for Medicine, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and the National Human Trafficking Training and Technical Assistance Center in collaboration with the Administration for Children and Families, Office on Trafficking in Persons and Office on Women’s Health.

Resources:

If you know of human trafficking or are a victim, call The National Human Trafficking Hotline (888) 373-7888.

You can also text at 233733, text "help" or "info" hours: 24 hours, 7 days a week. The website: humantraffickinghotline.org.

Join Us in Celebrating the Foundation of the National Student Nurses' Association 50th Anniversary by Supporting Nursing Education! 

Get involved and help us double the 3M™ Littmann® Stethoscopes Grant!

3M™ Littmann® Stethoscopes is providing a $50,000 grant to the Foundation. Double the impact! Help us turn $50,000 into $100,000 to support the education of future nurses! 

To make a donation, please click the “Donate Here” link…

Donate Here 

As you know, Nursing is a demanding profession that requires a lot of dedication and commitment. The field has challenges that you must constantly work to overcome.

Professional Responsibility

You hold legal responsibility for all patients under your care. If a physician gives an incorrect
order, you won’t be absolved of the blame if you carry it out. This requires you to be fully aware of the risk of each order, prescription, and treatment you provide.

Workplace Safety

Nurses face a number of workplace safety issues. According to an AJC article, depending on the setting in which you work, Nurses can also be subject to substantially higher rates of workplace violence injuries than many other professions. They're more likely to experience incidents of hitting, kicking and beating in inpatient facilities such as hospitals, but these injuries often go unreported.

Short Staffing

Beckers Hospital Review discusses short-staffing in hospitals as a top concern for Nurses. The article says, "A 2017 survey conducted by AMN Healthcare showed 72 percent of CNOs acknowledged moderate, significant or severe nursing shortage at their healthcare organizations, and most believe the shortages would worsen over the next five years. Overall, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates more than 1 million registered nurses will be needed by 2022 due to occupational growth and replacement hiring. It’s worth noting, other research shows variation among the nation's major metropolitan areas, with some facing nursing shortages and others facing surpluses."

Changing Technology

Technology is always changing. The challenge is to stay ahead of it. CNO’s, nurse managers, and floor nurses must stay up to date with technology and adopt the systems that improve patient care. Nurses must be trained in the new technology, whether it is enhanced EMR/EHR, patient glucose monitors, patient scheduling systems, or software platforms that enhance patient/family/provider communication.

Long Working Hours

Nurses are often required to work long shifts. Many are working back-to-back or extended shifts, risking fatigue that could result in medical mistakes.

Healthcare is constantly changing. As you know, it’s your duty to navigate through the workload and responsibility the best you can. If you have some tips to share on how you handle these changes, please comment below.

Illness is blind to race, gender and ethnic origins. Since you are in the business of caring for others, it's critically important to ensure that clinicians, executives and even members of the governing boards, accurately represent the communities you serve. 

There is room for considerable improvement in leadership diversity in healthcare. According to AMN Healthcare, A survey by American Hospital Association’s Institute for Diversity in Healthcare Management found that while minorities represented 32% of patients in hospitals, they comprised only 14% of hospital board members, 11% of executive leadership, and 19% of mid-level and first-level managers. On gender, despite a healthcare workforce that is 80% female, women occupy approximately 25% of hospital CEO positions. Representation by women of color is in the single digits.

There are clear benefits of promoting diversity in the C-suite and encouraging stronger representation from groups that have long been underrepresented in executive roles. Not only do patients benefit from having advocates who represent the full spectrum of the community, but it also makes good business sense. 

Having a variety of opinions and perspectives among top leadership ranks leads to deeper discussions, more thoughtful and intentional strategies, and better decision-making. That, in turn, improves operational performance.

Diversity can be a competitive advance in recruiting, hiring, and retaining quality Nurses, Physicians and other healthcare professionals, including leaders. Like patient engagement, the engagement of team members and leaders is crucial to recruitment and retention, so diversity should be an important consideration to make all feel welcome.

Healthcare systems are aware that diversity among staff, leadership and board members is important to improving patient medical outcomes and reducing health disparities. Diversity also improves the bottom line. Companies with the most ethnically diverse executive teams are 33% more likely to outperform peers on profitability, according to McKinsey & Co.

Healthcare organizations should pursue diversity in their leadership and workforce to improve healthcare outcomes and their bottom line.