Healthcare staffing

As the use of stents has grown and the number of cardiac bypass procedures has fallen in turn, jobs for cardiac surgeons have taken a hit. These days, cardiac surgeons who keep up active practices are often picking up a lot more heart valve or lung surgeries rather than focusing on bypass procedures. The dip in job opportunity is so pronounced that the specialty is falling out of favor in medical school. According to an article published in the Annals of Thoracic Surgery last …

According to a new study, the shortage of nurses shrunk by 420,000 registered nurses. This means there is still a gap of 340,000 nurses, which is significantly less than the 760,000 originally projected. The study found that 80 percent of new nurses chose the job after leaving a career in another field. These nurses are in their late 20s and early 30s, rather than their early 20s. But despite a surge in registered nurses, the shortage still promises to cause problems for the healthcare …

Having approved industry changes that could slash 4,100 of the state's hospital beds, Gov. George Pataki is hoping to cushion the blow with a fund designed to help workers displaced by the restructuring. The funds will pay for job training, counseling and placement for displaced workers, primarily those in less-skilled positions such as service, clerical, maintenance and security positions. (The program assumes that in-demand clinical workers will have a much easier time finding new …

Press Release: Consumer Directed Health Model Can Motivate Improved Lifestyle Habits, Lower Spending

The distribution of healthcare workers continues to be quite uneven across the U.S., according to a new report from The Center for Health Workforce Studies (CHWS) at the University at Albany's School of Public Health. The report, which used data from 2004, found that New Hampshire had the highest number of nurses per capita in the U.S., at 1,283 per 100,000 residents, while California, in contrast, has only 588 nurses per 100,000. Researchers also noted that only 5 percent of the nation's …

In a move expected to further sap inner-city healthcare resources in Los Angeles, the Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science has decided to close its 34-year-old residency program. Among other problems, the university is having trouble securing funds to pay its 251 residents' salaries. It has also been unable to find long-term accreditation for the residents, who had been in training at the city's Martin Luther King Jr./Drew Medical Center. …

These survey results may be a downer, but they're not much of a surprise. American doctors are stressed, tired and discouraged by the state of the healthcare system, according to the results of a new survey from the American College of Physician Executives (ACPE). Low reimbursement, loss of autonomy and respect, bureaucratic hassles and excessive patient loads are leading many physicians to question whether they've chosen the right career, the ACPE said. Almost 60 percent of the 1,205 …

Patients are more likely to die or experience complications in hospitals where there are lower levels of nurse staffing, according to a new study from the U.K.'s Royal College of Nursing. To learn more about the relationship between nurse staffing and patient outcomes, researchers examined 118,752 patient episodes of care in 30 hospital trusts in England. They also interviewed more than 4,000 nurses. The researchers concluded that mortality rates were 26 percent higher in wards with lower …

Chicago-area hospital operator Resurrection Health Care has been found by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) to have stifled union organizing activities, and to settle those charges, has agreed to make extra efforts to inform workers of their right to unionize. The union seeking to organize Resurrection workers, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, filed charges with the NLRB complaining that the hospital was actively discouraging employees from …

Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell has kicked off a $7 million initiative designed to both boost the number of nurse educators available in the state and increase the number of nurses that graduate from the state's schools. The "Loaned Faculty" program, which will distribute $4 million, will pay for healthcare providers and educational facilities to loan faculty members to nursing schools experiencing teaching shortages. Another $3 million, meanwhile, will go directly to schools and healthcare …