Nurse-led service slashes cancelled heart ops (UK)

"A nurse-led service for patients having cardiac surgery has helped slash the number of cancelled operations and length of hospital stay at a south London trust. The service - a joint project between St George's Hospital Trust and the South West London Cardiac and Stroke Network - was set up in December 2008 to improve the cardiac surgery patient pathway and help the trust meet the 18-week referral to treatment target. Lead by a cardiothoracic nurse practitioner, who co-ordinates the care of cardiac surgery patients, the service has seen the number of theatre cancellations decrease from 10.1 cases per month two years ago to just 2.3 cases per month at present. Length of hospital stay has also reduced - from 8.8 days to 7.6 days for elective patients, and 15.7 days to 13.3 days for emergencies" - Nursing Times

Nurses across Canada are reducing wait times

"A new treatment regime initiated by a clinical nurse specialist in New Westminster, B.C., means cardiac surgery patients have fewer complications and spend less time in hospital. A nurse-managed outpatient chemotherapy clinic in Toronto decreases wait times for treatment. Intervention from a nurse practitioner reduces the need for hospitalization for long-term care residents across Ontario. Nurses working collaboratively with physicians has almost doubled the capacity of some family practices in Halifax. These are just a few examples of how registered nurses are developing innovative solutions to the challenges of wait times, as outlined in Registered Nurses: On the Front Lines of Wait Times, a paper the Canadian Nurses Association has released to coincide with the Taming of the Queue conference on March 26-27 in Ottawa. Concern about wait times in Canada has increased over the last decade to become the most important health-care issue among the Canadian public and health-care providers (Health Care in Canada Survey, 2007)." - CNW

Nurses not immune to nicotine addiction

Despite seeing smoking's health effects firsthand, the rate at which U.S. nurses quit smoking has been no faster than for other women, researchers say. The findings from researchers at the University of California in Los Angeles describe smoking trends among U.S. nurses enrolled in the Nurses' Health Study between 1976 and 2003. The study, begun at Brigham and Women's Hospital, is based on surveys completed every two years by 237,648 female registered nurses. "Nurses in the study demonstrated behavior patterns similar to women in the general population," lead study investigator Linda Sarna said in a statement. "For example, the younger nurses in the study began smoking before entering the profession, a pattern reflected by American women starting smoking at younger ages in general. Being a nurse did not make these women immune to nicotine addiction." The study, published in Nursing Research, found the rate of smoking among women in the study declined from 33.2 percent in 1976 to 8.4 percent in 2003 - a 75 percent drop. The number of cigarettes smoked per day also dropped. "Quitting smoking made a big difference in enhancing longevity, especially among nurses in their late 70s," said Sarna. "Death rates among former smokers that age were 1.5 times higher than those of non-smokers, while current smokers were 2.3 times more likely to have died by that age than nurses who never smoked." - UPI