YourNurseIsOn.com

Your Nurse Is On is an awarding-winning healthcare communications platform founded by an entrepreneurial healthcare practitioner in response to the need for more efficient staff communications. YNIO is the first software communications solution designed for healthcare that offers two-way messages via voice, SMS and email for real-time response capture. YNIO automates vacant shift fulfillment notifications and important organizational messages so that your Company can focus on patient care.

Here is a video of CEO Matthew Browning (@matthewbrowning) on Fox 61:



To learn more about Your Nurse Is On, visit http://yournurseison.com/

Nursing as a second career?

This guest post is contributed by Maryanne Osberg.

It’s official – our country needs more people to join the nursing community. We already have a shortage of nursing staff, and with the rise in the aging population, there is an increasing need for more people in the primary care sector. So if you’re considering becoming a nurse, now is the best possible time. You’re assured of a job on graduation, you have options to climb up the career ladder and become a nurse practitioner (some nurse practitioners are the only doctors that people in rural and underserved areas know and trust – they’re allowed to treat patients and prescribe medication like primary care doctors would), and your pay packet is not too shabby.

However, before you go down the nursing route, you must be sure that you are suited to a career in this field. Most people know that it is demanding and that the hours are long, but they choose to become nurses because they love the nature of the work or because it is a stepping stone to something bigger. Nursing is a great career choice if you want to work in the field of medicine but do not want the responsibility that goes hand in hand with being a doctor, cannot afford the exorbitant fees that med schools charge, and don’t have the time (the many years) to go through med school before you’re a full-fledged doctor or specialist.

Growth in nursing jobs

We seem to see ads for nursing jobs everywhere. If you type "nursing jobs" into an Internet search engine like Google or Yahoo, you'll see a variety of ads mixed with your search results. People are going back to school to pursue nursing jobs. After all, isn't the health care industry more stable compared to the business world? I'm sure we all know many non-clinicians who are going back to school to pursue health care careers such as nursing. The irony is that I also work with physicians who are planning on transitioning to non-clinical careers and several of them are thinking about graduate degrees in business, public health, and informatics. Some of these graduate degree programs are available online, so you can work and go to school at the same time. Are you willing to work full-time and take courses part-time? That's one way of going back to school while maintaining your income.

Maybe you've thought about going back to school. Maybe you're thinking about it right now. Are you looking at full-time programs? Part-time? Online? I know business executives who are applying to part-time nursing schools. Some are taking courses online. I also know other business executives interested in various part-time and full-time health care programs in pharmacy and medicine. Are you thinking about a career change? Maybe you should think about going back to school.

Nursing Informatics at the Point of Care: A Barrier or a Bridge?

If you're interested in this topic, then perhaps you'll want to attend SINI 2009. This is the theme this year for the Summer Institute in Nursing Informatics. Informatics at the Point of Care: A Barrier or a Bridge?

SINI 2009 is July 22-25 at the University of Maryland School of Nursing. Can't get to Baltimore? Then you can still participate in the plenary presentations and concurrent sessions by registering for the Web-streamed program. Web participants receive all the conference materials and can participate in discussions via email.

Featured speakers this year include:

* Keynote – James J. Cimino, MD, National Institutes of Health
* Paul Tang, MD, Palo Alto Medical Foundation
* Marcelline Harris, PhD, RN, Mayo Clinic
* Nancy Staggers, PhD, RN, University of Utah
* End Note – Suzanne Bakken, DNSc, RN, Columbia University

Wish to learn more? Then visit: http://nursing.umaryland.edu/sini

How many nursing homes use Electronic Health Records (EHRs)?

What percentage of nursing homes (NH) use electronic health records (EHRs)? Perhaps I should call them skilled nursing facilities (SNFs) instead of nursing homes. There's a paper that was recently published in the Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association (JAMIA) that answers this question. The authors on this paper were: Helaine E. Resnick PhD, MPH; Barbara B. Manard PhD; Robyn I. Stone DrPH; and Majd Alwan PhD.

Here are the key points:

• Nearly 43% of U.S. NH had EIS (electronic information system) for medical records, including nurse's notes, physician notes, and MDS forms. EIS use ranged from a high of 79.6% for admission, transfer, and discharge to a low of 17.6% for daily care by certified nursing assistants (CNAs).

Although this paper was published in 2009, it reflects data from 2004. One of the key points in the discussion is: "One way that electronic information systems could lead to improvements in quality of care would be for these systems to provide better support for transitions across care settings."

Care to view the abstract? Click here.

Resnick HE, Manard BB, Stone RI, Alwan M. Use of electronic information systems in nursing homes: United States, 2004. J Am Med Inform Assoc. 2009 Mar-Apr;16(2):179-86.

Voice Assisted Care Technology and Healthcare

At the HIMSS Virtual Conference and Expo, there was an educational session on the topic of Voice Assisted Care Technology. How do you think voice assisted care technology can improve the nursing workflow? Nurses are often so busy because they are caring for so many patients.

In a nursing pilot program (3 weeks, six IV nurses), voice technology in IV application was shown to reduce documentation time by 75%, improve communication, and improve point of care documenting. The researchers also felt that infection may be reduced because nurses who used this voice technology were not touching as many items that may contaiminate the IV. They were using a hands-free headset and they could speak more and write less. Will future nurses all walk around the hospital with a headset (or earpiece)? I'm sure Vocollect would like to think so.

Here's the brief abstract that sums up how voice assisted care technology can impact healthcare: "In today’s complex healthcare setting, IT is seen as the number one method for improving efficiency and quality. Voice assisted care technology provides hands and eyes free accurate documentation for nursing staff while enabling easy verbal access to patient information, effective communication and task management. This innovative technology is believed to increase the accuracy of documentation, while interfacing directly into the EHR. This presentation will introduce you to innovative voice assisted technology designed to support nurse clinicians at the bedside, allowing real time documentation and communication with patients and co-workers."

The speaker was Debra Wolf, PhD, MSN, BSN, RN. She is an Associate Professor of Nursing at Slippery Rock University. Her program of research focuses on nurses impacting patient outcomes using a patient-centered model of care. Dr. Wolf oversees the Healthcare Informatics Certification Program at Slippery Rock University.