Nursing management
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To assure quality of orientation and meet JCAHO standards in the operating room (OR), educators and managers reviewed curriculum and educational resources. Using competency-based education in a perioperative program clearly defines expectations for the OR nurse.
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Job satisfaction of the nursing staff at a 1,000-bed neuropsychiatric veterans administration (VA) facility was assessed, with results similar to those of other studies. The greatest source of stress was nurse/supervisor and nurse/physician interpersonal conflict. This article reports on a further study of this factor.
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Stat nursing was designed to alleviate short-term workload fluctuations occurring in intensive care units (ICUs). The stat nurses (SNs) "rove" throughout the hospital, using a priority schedule to intervene in short-term staffing crises that include, but are not limited to, code blues, ICU postoperative recoveries, ICU patient transports for radiological procedures, ICU patient admissions, ICU bedside procedures, technical consultation, trouble-shooting equipment and i.v. therapy.
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A recent study of 9,000 dying patients found that improving communications between physicians, patients and families did not improve the quality of the care the patients received. Though provided with up-to-date information about patient prognoses and levels of pain, physicians made no change in their treatment patterns. This article reviews commentators from medicine, philosophy and the media and suggests actions that might improve care of the dying.