Becker's Hospital Review

41 NURSING SPOTLIGHT Patient sets Florida hospital bed on fire to get nurse's attention By Gabrielle Masson A patient at AdventHealth New Smyrna Beach (Fla.) set his hospital bed on fire in an attempt to get a nurse's attention, according to police documents cited by CBS affiliate WKMG-TV. John King told police he felt ignored by hospital staff after asking for his clothes to be brought to him. He admitted to setting a plastic bag on fire Feb. 22 to get the staff's attention, according to police records. Mr. King's hospital roommate told officials that he saw Mr. King light a fire, but convinced him to put out the flame. However, Mr. King later relit the fire, and the roommate pressed an emergency button in their shared room. A nurse put out the fire with a fire extinguisher. Mr. King was arrested on a felony charge of arson, the report said. He was at the hospital for respiratory failure and said he had no intention of harming anyone. The bed, which costs $4,000, was damaged beyond repair, the hospital's administrator told WKMG-TV. "Federal laws that protect patient privacy prohibit the disclosure of any information related to a specific patient's care," Lindsay Cashio, director of communica- tions at AdventHealth Central Florida Division – North Region, told Becker's in an emailed statement. "Safety is of utmost importance at AdventHealth and we are so proud of our staff for their swift action which helped quickly resolve this situation." n Suicide prevention program found, helped nurses at risk By Anuja Vaidya A nurse-centric suicide prevention program was suc- cessful in identifying at-risk nurses and was well-re- ceived, according to a study published in World- views on Evidence-Based Nursing. The Healer Education Assessment and Referral, or HEAR, suicide prevention program has been used to improve phy- sician well-being for about a decade. Researchers conduct- ed a pilot of the HEAR program geared specifically toward nurses, beginning in 2016. The program emphasizes education to decrease stigma related to mental health treatment; group debriefings after significant patient care events; proactive risk screening; counseling; and referral to treatment. Researchers from University of California San Diego School of Medicine and UC San Diego Health conducted the study over three years. During the study period, 527 nurses took advantage of the screening portion of the program. The screening deter- mined 48 percent of nurses were at high risk of emotional distress. Nine percent of the nurses said they thought about taking their own lives, and 9.7 percent had attempted suicide. Via the program, 176 nurses received support from thera- pists, and 98 accepted referral for treatment. The number of group debriefs after patient care events rose from eight in 2016 to 38 in fiscal year 2019. n Hospitals with internationally trained nurses have more stable workforces By Gabrielle Masson E mploying foreign-trained nurses doesn't hurt collaboration among med- ical professionals and can result in a more educated and stable nursing workforce, according to a study published in the journal Nursing Economic$. Researchers analyzed responses to the 2013 National Database of Nursing Quality Indi- cators survey from 24,045 nurses at 168 U.S. acute care hospitals. Of all nurses surveyed, 2,156 were trained internationally. e analysis found that having higher propor- tions of internationally educated nurses did not decrease collaboration among nurses or between nurses and physicians. Units with more internationally trained nurs- es had higher levels of education, potentially because internationally educated nurses are more likely to have a bachelor's degree to qualify for and pass the U.S. licensure exam. Higher proportions of internationally trained nurses were also tied to higher retention rates, which the authors attributed to the higher probability that international nurses stay in a position longer than U.S.-educated peers. "Given the ongoing nursing workforce shortage, especially in rural areas, nurse managers and hospital administrators should not be reluctant to hire qualified internation- ally educated nurses to fill vacancies," said Chenjuan Ma, PhD, lead author and assistant professor at New York City-based NYU Rory Meyers College of Nursing. However, the study did find that units with more internationally trained nurses had higher patient-to-nurse ratios, despite those nurses often being recruited to counter such shortages. n

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