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Worker Health Charts: Comparing the Health and Safety of Your Nurses to the Nation

Is this facility’s problem unique?

Most health care facilities conduct regular employee surveys to identify and address problems among their workforce. However, it can be difficult to for a facility to determine if the issues identified in their employee survey are unique to their institution or similar to what is happening at other facilities nationwide.

To answer this question, it would be helpful for health care facilities to have a national data set for comparison. Recently, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) created Worker Health Charts, a tool that charts data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, National Health Interview Survey (NHIS), and other national and state-level data sources. The data cover various topics ranging from psychosocial exposures in the workplace (e.g., high job demands and work–life imbalance) to chronic conditions (e.g., cancer and high blood pressure) found among certain jobs, industries, or demographics. Nurse managers and occupational health staff can use Worker Health Charts to include questions in employee surveys and compare their data to national statistics.

How national data can inform a local plan of action.

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2018-10-17T11:05:56-04:00October 17th, 2018|Nursing|0 Comments
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A Mother and a Nurse

Kristy Rodriguez, BSN, RN, works as a nurse in Florida.

As a mother and a nurse, I have often found myself with the dilemma of whether to inform others in a health care setting that I am a nurse. I say this because it can go either way: some look at it as a blessing that they can easily explain things to you using medical terminology, while other nurses may take it as a threat. And I understand these concerns. As a nurse I have come in contact with both attitudes—the helpful and the threatening—among family members and patients who work in health care. It has been helpful to have a family member or patient who understands at least the basics and is eager to learn. Then, on the other hand, it can be a nightmare with the patient or family member who uses the statement “I’m a nurse” as a kind of threat.

A son’s troubling symptoms.

My story all started about three years ago, a day that my son’s life would forever be changed, and mine with it. It was the spring of 2012 and my son was 12 years old and developing as a normal boy should develop. A stomach virus had recently swept through our house and sickened my son and […]

2018-09-28T14:34:00-04:00September 27th, 2018|Nursing|2 Comments
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A Day in the Emergency Room for a Nurse Who Loves Her Job

Another day begins.

nursing shoes, always left in the car

It’s hard to explain how I feel after yesterday . . .

I wake up and head to work with a smile. I’m wearing my normal attire, blue scrubs. The color is rather ironic. I put my shoes on in the car like always. The shoes never go inside, as they bear remnants of the day before.

I walk in to meet my tribe. We laugh off the previous day’s challenges as we start over. Patients come in and are greeted with the warm Southern welcome of this community emergency room.

Coughs, chest pain, leg injuries, moms, dads, babies, grandmas. A patient with my story who is fighting battles that I fought years ago. My heart aches. I give her hope. She is optimistic. I’m soaring, feeling high on life.

A girl who lost a baby. My heart aches. Why does this happen? What do I say? How do I comfort her? I pray for her. I make a funny joke, at which she has a two-second reprieve from grief and we share a laugh. I feel peace.

A boy is vomiting and writhing in pain. He is scared as he gets his first IV. It’s in and he’s proud of himself for […]

2018-08-16T10:20:32-04:00August 16th, 2018|Nursing|2 Comments
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The 2018 ANA Membership Assembly: Making True Dialogue a Reality

By Katheren Koehn, MA, RN, FAAN, executive director of the Minnesota Organization of Registered Nurses (MNORN) and a member of AJN‘s editorial board.

I have been a member of the American Nurses Association (ANA) for over 40 years, an active member for about 35 years. I “grew up” in the association as a delegate to the House of Delegates. I learned to “edit on the fly” by debating perhaps hundreds of resolutions introduced by state nurses associations at the annual, then biannual meetings of the highest level of governance of ANA.

Debating resolutions.

Resolutions had a formal structure of “whereas” and “be it resolved.” Whereases contained the facts; the be-it-resolved contained the actions delegates wanted the ANA to enact. Whereases could not be edited or debated; be-it-resolveds could be edited and debated for hours, or until someone remembered to use the Robert’s Rule “Call the Question.” Debate over resolutions had more to do with proving your point than listening to another’s point of view. It was great theater, but I don’t know how often those resolutions moved our profession forward. I’m sure some of them did, but I remember the debate more than the resolution.

Making the ANA governing body a membership assembly.

When the 2012 ANA House of Delegates voted to change the governing body of […]

2018-07-30T08:49:53-04:00July 30th, 2018|Nursing|0 Comments
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Seeking Good Nurses With a Story to Tell

karindalziel/ via Flickr Creative Commons karindalziel/ Flickr Creative Commons

Whenever I meet someone new who happens to be a nurse—in both clinical and social settings—I wait for the right moment to mention my work on AJN‘s Reflections column.

It’s not only that I’m proud of the column. It’s also that I’m forever on the lookout for that next submission—for a fresh, compelling story I just know is destined to shine (accompanied by a fabulous professional illustration) on the inside back page of AJN.

‘But I’m not exactly a writer…’

“I imagine you have a story or two to tell,” I’ll say to a nurse I’ve just met—which is the same thing I say, whenever I have the chance, to nurses I’ve known for years. I mean it sincerely; given the vantage point on humanity that our profession affords, I actually do believe that every nurse is carrying around material for a terrific story.

The response I usually get (along with a wry smile, the raising of eyebrows, or a short laugh) is, “Oh yes. I have stories.”

But then—even as I’m mentioning the Reflections author guidelines, even as I say warmly that we’re eager to read—I can sense the backing away.

“Sure,” the nurse will say. “I’ll check it out . . . but the thing is, I’m not […]

2021-11-29T17:32:55-05:00April 18th, 2018|Nursing, nursing stories|1 Comment
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Views expressed on the blog are solely those of the authors or persons quoted. They do not necessarily reflect AJN’s views or those of Wolters Kluwer Health/Lippincott Williams and Wilkins.
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