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With the summer season fast approaching, your thoughts may be turning to where you’ll be spending your vacation time. Perhaps you enjoy lounging on the beach, soaking up the sun, while you bury yourself in a good book. Others may enjoy ‘quiet time’ on the golf course or in their backyard pool. . . . → Read More: This Summer, Go With Your Own Glow!!! Recently, it seems like we’ve had a flurry of facilities whose staff has been unwilling, for one reason or another, to speak with our nurse advocates over the phone. Last week, I was asked to intervene in a case where our nurse advocate was having difficulty getting information DESPITE a signed authorization and consent on . . . → Read More: “Our nurses don’t give medical information.” Through the years of healthcare innovation and reform, even going as far back as the 1990′s, one of the favorite rallying cries of administrators is delivering and offering “patient centered care.” When I first heard the phrase, as a manager in an acute care hospital, I thought, “Um, isn’t that what we WERE delivering?” I . . . → Read More: “Patient Centered Care? Absolutely! I’ll Get to That Right After My Meeting.” In the course of our work at Guardian Nurses, we often (ok, every day) have to deal with the federal healthcare privacy law called HIPAA. Since we are working on behalf of patients, we need to get their written authorization that we can speak with their clinical providers and request records from facilities. Patients easily . . . → Read More: HIPAA GONE WILD! Though it comes the same time every year, the New Year’s holiday evokes anxiety in people who feel the need to “make resolutions” as they approach the new year. I take a different approach. Think of your resolution as a suggestion. Don’t put so much pressure on yourself. For those of us working in the . . . → Read More: New Year’s Thoughts and Reminders November is National Alzheimer’s Disease Awareness Month. Several weeks ago, many of us and our families were in the midst of dealing with Hurricane (aka Super Storm) Sandy and her destructive aftermath. Days without power or heat, homes destroyed by flooding and fallen trees, and communications limited by our cable, internet and phone providers. And . . . → Read More: Next Storm? Protect Your Loved One Who Has Dementia Many thanks to the planning committee and volunteers who made the 2012 RN-AIM (Registered Nurse Association in Michigan) Annual Conference a smashing success! This year’s theme for the conference, on September 20th and 21st, was “Nurse As Advocate” and I was honored to be invited to give the keynote presentation to kick off the meeting. . . . → Read More: Six Lessons for Nurse Advocates We recently had a case in California which required us to frequently communicate telephonically with the nursing staff. We had the required signed HIPAA release on the chart (multiple times, in fact, as it continued to get ‘lost’) as well as the family’s verbal authorization to speak on their behalf with the clinical team. . . . → Read More: Nurse Practice Act? C’MON……. Last week a good friend had bilateral knee replacements and chose to ‘buy up’ for her recovery by selecting the hospital’s “Concierge Unit.” Many hospitals now offer such a unit, requiring patients to pay out of pocket per night in addition to their expected insurance payment. In my friend’s case, it was $40o each night. . . . → Read More: $400 Per Night and Still No Benadryl Ointment!! I was on the receiving end of healthcare this week. Being a patient, and a nurse, is a little like being a “secret shopper.” I don’t usually admit that I’m a nurse when checking in, filling out the voluminous forms, or being interviewed on my personal health history by the intake nurse. I want to . . . → Read More: New, Ridiculous Policies |
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