NurseZone Newsletter | 1-16-2009

Working the night shift is a necessity in many fields, including health care. The need to tend patients and provide immediate medical care for emergencies shows no regard for time. While working the night shift does have its advantages—-less traffic on the road for commuting, generally quieter conditions compared to day shift workers in the same positions—-the work is fraught with far more downsides.

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According to a new study, more than 120,000 nurses are working outside of the profession in a diverse range of jobs. The study also discovered that dissatisfaction with the nursing workplace is a key reason for RNs leaving their chosen field. 

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What makes a facility attractive to a travel nurse? RN staffing levels, staff friendliness, patient safety and orientation were just a few of the criteria evaluated by traveling RNs in a survey to determine the top ranked travel nurse facilities in the nation.

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An employee outreach program at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Healthcare System in Lebanon, New Hampshire, provides support, information and resources to the people who need it most—-nurses and other facility staff.

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Phone calls can be interrupting. Listening to voice mail is time consuming. E-mail is not always practical. That's why a growing number of hospitals, as well as individual nurses, are finding that text messaging is the best mode of communication in a hospital setting.

Last year marked one of the biggest swells in U.S. unemployment since the 1970s, a year that also saw hospitals implement the largest staff reduction in 10 years. Numbering upward of 2.5 million, nurses make up the biggest segment of the health care workforce and many are wondering if they will be spared from unemployment in 2009.