Issue link: https://beckershealthcare.uberflip.com/i/1480010
34 NURSING SPOTLIGHT Why Northwestern is reintroducing LPNs to inpatient care By Mackenzie Bean C hicago-based Northwestern Medicine is tapping licensed practical nurses to ease staffing shortages as part of a new pilot program at one of its hospitals, the Daily Herald reported Aug. 7. Northwestern Medicine Delnor Hospital in Geneva, Ill., has seen an increase in vacancies for patient care support roles, as nursing students often fill these roles temporarily before moving on to registered nurse roles. "We needed to look for a more permanent solution to fill that important work," Gina Reid Tinio, PhD, chief nurse executive at Delnor Hospital, told the Daily Herald. "We're exploring if reintroducing the LPN to the inpatient care team can help us fill those gaps so that we can continue to optimally meet our patients' needs." The hospital is opening its labor pool to LPNs, who typically work in nursing and long-term care facilities, in the hope they will give nurses more support by performing tasks patient care technicians aren't trained to do. If the pilot is successful, Northwestern may expand the staffing strategy to other facilities. n Why 1 nurse will never return to the bedside By Cailey Gleeson D espite wanting to return to the medical field, Theresa Brown, PhD, BSN, RN, said she is unlikely to return because of the "present form" of bedside nurses' work, she wrote July 22 in Medscape. Years of overwork and underappreciation experienced by front-line staff were "merely intensified by the pandemic," and Dr. Brown used an analogy of swimming in an "under resourced pool" to clarify the hardships faced by front-line workers. "If after all that, someone asked me, 'Do you want to keep swimming for exercise?' I would of course answer yes, emphatically, but not in that place," Dr. Brown wrote. "The problem is, from what I hear anecdotally, working as a nurse in so many hospitals right now is very similar to swimming in that underresourced pool." Citing various studies on satisfaction and retention, Dr. Brown went on to explain how patient safety is affected by current workforce shortages. "The connection between inadequate nurse staffing and increased patient mortality has been well established by research," she wrote. I have been talking and writing about this frightening reality for so long to so little effect that I sometimes feel I am talking only to myself. But I'm not going to quit because this is an important and solvable problem." n Meet the 6 nurse leaders named living legends By Kelly Gooch T he American Academy of Nursing has named six leaders as living legends for their contributions to healthcare and health systems. e designation is the academy's highest nursing honor, according to an Aug. 10 news release from the AAN. Below are brief biographies of the leaders, who will be honored in October at the Living Legends Ceremony held during the academy's annual health policy conference. 1. Jane Barnsteiner, PhD, MSN, RN. Dr. Barnsteiner is professor emerita at the University of Pennsylvania's nursing school in Philadelphia and editor of translational research and quality improvement for the American Journal of Nursing. Previously, she served as director of nursing for translational research at the University of Pennsylvania Health System and was director of nursing practice and research at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. 2. William Holzemer, PhD, BSN, RN. Dr. Holzemer is an HIV/ AIDS care expert and spent 10 years as dean of Newark, N.J.-based Rutgers School of Nursing. He currently holds several titles, including distinguished professor and dean emeritus of the Rutgers School of Nursing as well as professor emeritus at the UC San Francisco School of Nursing and distinguished honorary professor at St. Luke's International University in Tokyo. 3. Jeanette Ives Erickson, DNP, MSN, RN. Dr. Ives Erickson is chair of the MGH Institute of Health Professions board of trustees, interim president and CEO of Nantucket (Mass.) Cottage Hospital and chief nurse emerita at Boston-based Massachusetts General Hospital. She also serves as professor at IHP's School of Nursing and as an instructor at Harvard Medical School in Boston. 4. Norma Martinez Rogers, PhD, MSN, RN. Dr. Martinez Rogers is professor emeritus at the University of Texas Health Science Center San Antonio School of Nursing, where she was the inaugural fully tenured Latina professor. Earlier in her career, she was assigned to William Beaumont Army Medical Center at Fort Bliss (Texas) during Operation Desert Storm and was president of the National Association of Hispanic Nurses. 5. Joyce Newman Giger, EdD, APRN. Dr. Newman Giger is a professor at the Miami-based College of Nursing & Health Sciences at Florida International University. She previously held roles including professor and Lulu Wolf Endowed Chair at University of California Los Angeles and was the first African-American nurse named as a tenured professor in UCLA School of Nursing history. 6. Franklin Shaffer, EdD, BSN, RN. Dr. Shaffer helms CGFNS International, formerly known as the Commission on Graduates of Foreign Nursing Schools. Previously, he was deputy director of the National League for Nursing, the accreditation organization for nurse faculty and leaders in nursing education. n