Poster abstracts being accepted for upcoming Nursing Consortium conference |
"This will be the Nursing Consortium of South Florida's first in-person educational conference in two years, and plans include doubling the space normally reserved to permit for greater distancing and contracting for services to provide live webcasting of the the conference to those not able to attend in-person, remarked committee chair Jean Seaver who is also the Consortium's new president-elect. Please click here for sponsor and exhibitor opportunities. |
The program will open and close with presentations by highly acclaimed nurse consultant, author, and speaker Donna Wright and will also feature panel presentations by local leaders on strategies for rebuilding high performing teams with greater resilience. |
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Don’t miss what is certain to be a truly exceptional educational conference and networking opportunity. More than 100 have already registered! Register today Our last in-person conference set an attendance record and this one will surely sell out early. You can register now for as little as $75.00. Click here to make sure you don't get left out! This conference will also be presented live via Zoom with the assistance of Creative Particle to those needing to attend remotely. |
Nursing Consortium committees making progress during pandemic
Nursing Consortium of South Florida committees remain active and are making significant progress towards goals despite waves of COVID spikes. "Its been quite a testament to area nurse leaders and the culture of collaboration that the Consortium has fostered for nearly three decades," remarked Consortium executive director Ralph Egües.
Youth initiatives is busy planning for our second virtual Day in the Life of a Nurse (DITLOAN) experience. "Last year more than 5,000 middle and high school students and their teachers participated and the response was so strong that we extended the program for a second week. This year we will also offer the program to the public school systems in Lee, St. Lucie, and Highlands counties where the Consortium has new members," noted committee chair Jason Dunne. In addition to planning for DITLOAN, Youth Initiatives will also be working to establish nurse summer camps to provide high school students with greater exposure to the profession in the summer of 2022.
Recruitment and Retention has been exploring novel strategies to address staffing challenges exacerbated by the COVID pandemic. "Five areas needing urgent attention have been identified and we are making progress on developing targeted solutions for each," stated committee chair Jean Seaver, who added "As we've engaged national leaders for their input, they've been very complimentary on our approach and commented that they know of no similar initiatives underway elsewhere."
In addition to these committees and the Conference Planning Committee, the Community Engagement committee which is developing opportunities for nurse leaders to participate on community and corporate boards and the Advocacy committee which is exploring ways for nursing to more effectively engage on public policy have also been active. Want to participate in ongoing committee work, click here.
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Missouri and Hawaii spend millions to help hospitals with the high cost of temporary staffing
Governor Mike Parson of Missouri has announced that the
state plans to spend $15 million to provide temporary staffing for hospitals
operating under the stress of treating thousands of COVID-19 patients. The Governor also announced an additional $15
million program to establish five to eight monoclonal antibody infusion
stations to operate for 30 days throughout the state. Monoclonal antibodies are
proteins to help fight off COVID-19 and reduce the risk of severe disease and
hospitalization. Meanwhile, the Department of Health in Hawaii has announced that it will be using $46 million in FEMA funding to bring in more than 500 out-of-state traveling healthcare workers to staff hospitals and assist long-term care providers.
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McKinsey updates perspective on when pandemic will end
A recent article by McKinsey & Company updates their
perspectives on when the coronavirus pandemic will end to reflect the latest
information on vaccine rollout, variants of concern, and disease progression.
Among high-income countries, cases caused by the Delta variant reversed the transition
toward normalcy first in the United Kingdom, during June and July of 2021, and
subsequently in the United States and elsewhere. McKinsey’s own analysis
supports the view of others that the Delta variant has effectively moved
overall herd immunity out of reach in most countries for the time being. The
United Kingdom’s experience nevertheless suggests that once a country has
weathered a wave of Delta-driven cases, it may be able to resume the transition
toward normalcy. Beyond that, a more realistic epidemiological endpoint might
arrive not when herd immunity is achieved but when COVID-19 can be managed as
an endemic disease. The biggest overall risk would likely then be the emergence
of a significant new variant. Please click here to read more.
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Washington
Examiner reports nurses leaving hospitals for high-pay travel jobs
A recent story in the Washington Examiner says the stress
of treating severely ill COVID patients for over a year is prompting many
nurses to look for flexible, higher-paid jobs through staffing agencies. The
article quotes Florida Hospital Association President Mary Mayhew as saying “There
are so many other opportunities that exist for nurses that are outside of a
very grueling and demanding 24/7 hospital environment. On top of that, we have
lost nurses to staffing agencies where these nurses are traveling around the
country at substantially higher compensation.” The demand for travel nurses skyrocketed last
year at the onset of the pandemic in the United States when hospitals,
unprepared for the magnitude of the coming crisis, struggled to keep up with
the number of admitted patients. According to Brian Hudson, senior VP at the staffing
agency Avant Healthcare, hospitals are estimated to have lost about 30% of
their nursing staff to more lucrative travel jobs. Please click here to read
more.
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Marcus Neuroscience
Institute opens new location to serve Palm Beach County |
Marcus Neuroscience Institute, a part of Consortium
member Baptist Health South Florida. is expanding its services to make
breakthrough neurological care more accessible for patients in northern and
central Palm Beach County seeking comprehensive treatment for conditions
affecting the brain, spine and peripheral nervous system. The new location is at
2800 S. Seacrest Boulevard, Suite 160 in Boynton Beach. Established in 2015, Marcus
Neuroscience Institute, part of Baptist Health South Florida, is an innovative
center of care for neurologic and neurosurgical care. Here, using cutting
edge technology, experts address conditions from brain tumors to back pain —
and everything in between. That includes movement disorders, seizures,
life-threatening strokes and aneurysms, memory disorders, migraines, spine
conditions and diseases such as multiple sclerosis and Parkinson’s, to name a
few.
Marcus Neuroscience Institute, based at Boca Raton
Regional Hospital, was established with a lead gift of $25 million from
the Marcus Foundation, initiated by Billi and Bernie Marcus, the founder and
former CEO of The Home Depot. Please click here to read more.
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Fierce Healthcare seeks
nominations for 2021 Women of Influence Awards
Fierce
Healthcare is calling for nominations for its 2021 Women of Influence Awards to
honor women across the healthcare industry—from physicians and CEOs to
researchers and tech company execs—who are shaping the way healthcare of the
future will be delivered. Nominees should be leaders who have made
a measurable impact on healthcare in the past year. They should be examples
of innovation, passion, ingenuity and leadership with a demonstrated track
record in paving the way forward for women and men alike. If you know
of a female leader in healthcare that you would like to nominate for this
honor, please click here for more info. Nomination forms must be submitted by
Friday, Sept. 24. Winners will be announced at the end of October.
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Dealing with back-to-school anxiety
As children return to school, it is not uncommon to hear
about anxiety cropping up. Dr. Ximena Flanders, PsyD, a
pediatric psychologist at Consortium member Joe DiMaggio Children’s Hospital
offers some useful advice to help address this problem. She says, “There can be
a lot of fear in the unknown, and even adults are struggling with making
transitions to their routines. It’s not surprising, the pandemic has been hard
for many kids and parents and transitioning back to in-school learning can be a
big adjustment.” Dr. Flanders shares good
advice you can use to support your kids so they can reintegrate and start
feeling great about returning to school. Please click here to read more.
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UF study show breast milk of vaccinated mothers contains
antibodies that fight the illness
A new study by the University of Florida reveals that the breast
milk of lactating mothers vaccinated against COVID-19 contains a significant
supply of antibodies that may help protect nursing infants from the illness. For
the study, researchers recruited 21 lactating healthcare workers and tested
antibody levels in their blood and breast milk before and after receiving the
Pfizer or Moderna vaccines. Senior author of the study Joseph Larkin
III, Ph.D., said “Our findings show that vaccination results in a
significant increase in antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 — the virus that causes
COVID-19 — in breast milk, suggesting that vaccinated mothers can pass on this
immunity to their babies, something we are working to confirm in our ongoing
research,” The study was conducted between December 2020 and March 2021, when
the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines first became available to health care workers.
Please click here to read more.
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FDA announces Cardinal
Health nationwide recall of saline syringes
The FDA has published a nationwide announcement by Cardinal Health recalling 267
million Monoject Flush Prefilled Saline Syringes. The products have been found
to reintroduce air into the syringe after the air has been expelled. This could
result in injection of air into blood vessels and create the potential for air
embolism, which can cause serious adverse health outcomes or death. The recall
applies to all lots of the products manufactured from July 2019 to June 2021
distributed between July 2019 and July 2021. For more information and the latest
updates, please click here.
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