The following is the New Jersey Nursing Initiative (NJNI) weekly news roundup, highlighting nursing and health care stories from around the state.
COMMENTARY: Many hospitals lack communication skills (The Courier-Post)
An Oct. 3 piece in The New York Times about the Texas Ebola case provides a glimpse into longstanding issues within U.S. hospitals. In this particular case, the Ebola patient was mistakenly sent home even though the fact that he had been in Liberia had been documented in the medical record by a nurse. Nurses, physicians, and other health care providers are all too familiar with the myriad IT issues related to the use of electronic health records.
Kennedy Nurse Midwife receives March of Dimes ‘Born to Shine’ award (South Jersey Times)
Nurse Midwife Diane Hargis-Reynolds, CNM, MSN — on staff with Kennedy University Hospital and Rowan University School of Osteopathic Medicine — was honored for making a difference in the field of maternal and pediatric health care at the 2014 March of Dimes “Born to Shine” Gala in Atlantic City. he was one of six health care professionals from throughout southern New Jersey honored at the event.
Editorial: Where do the Ebola quarantines end? (The Star-Ledger)
Gov. Chris Christie’s course correction on Ebola shows why politicians should not make public health decisions during a crisis, or flout the consensus of professionals who have a better sense of what constitutes medical security. His unsteady treatment of nurse Kaci Hickox was an overreaction.