News Roundup – September 2, 2014

The following is the New Jersey Nursing Initiative (NJNI) weekly news roundup, highlighting nursing and health care stories from around the state.

Diocese of Camden puts nursing homes up for sale (South Jersey Times)
The Diocese of Camden is looking for a buyer for all three of its nursing homes, as Bishop Dennis Sullivan released a statement saying the current model for diocesan nursing homes “cannot be sustained.” Proceeds from the sale would be used to fund current and new diocesan programs providing “health care ministry” to the poor, elderly, the homebound and the dying. The programs will also assist families with other health issues, including autism, according to the diocese.

(more…)

News Roundup – August 26, 2014

The following is the New Jersey Nursing Initiative (NJNI) weekly news roundup, highlighting nursing and health care stories from around the state.

Inspira Woodbury nurses file to join union (South Jersey Times)

A statewide health care and nurses union has announced that registered nurses at Inspira Medical Center Woodbury have filed with the National Labor Relations Board to join its ranks. According to the Health Professionals and Allied Employees union, nurses at the Woodbury hospital will soon host a meeting with local elected officials and other leaders to draft a mission statement and call on Inspira to “respect the rights of nurses to unionize, and to commit to holding a fair and fast election.” HPAE currently represents registered nurses at Inspira’s medical centers in Bridgeton, Elmer and Vineland.

(more…)

News Roundup – August 19, 2014

The following is the New Jersey Nursing Initiative (NJNI) weekly news roundup, highlighting nursing and health care stories from around the state.

Pascack Valley CNO reflects on year since HackensackUMC hospital opened (Nurse.com)

Despite a six-year wait that included a bankruptcy filing by the former Pascack Valley Hospital and a court battle from competing facilities to keep it closed, HackensackUMC at Pascack Valley in Westwood, N.J., reopened last year thanks in part to the work of Chief Nursing Officer Susan Giordano, RN, BSN, MBA, NEA-BC, FACHE, and her team. “It has been a challenge of a lifetime,” said Giordano, who oversees 236 part-time and full-time staff members plus 108 per-diem staff at the 128-bed facility. The facility received the first license since 1984 for a new hospital in the state, according to HackensackUMC’s website.

(more…)

News Roundup – August 5, 2014

The following is the New Jersey Nursing Initiative (NJNI) weekly news roundup, highlighting nursing and health care stories from around the state.

N.J.’s county-run nursing homes face uncertain future as Medicaid funding dwindles (South Jersey Times)
County-run nursing homes used to be the norm in New Jersey, as local governments fulfilled residents’ needs for affordable care and comfort as they reached the end of life. The practice itself may be on borrowed time, however, as a recent report from the New Jersey Association of Counties paints a dim financial picture for county nursing homes in the years to come. Only eight counties in the state — Gloucester, Atlantic, Cape May, Bergen, Middlesex, Monmouth, Morris and Passaic — still run their own elderly care facilities, fighting against the tide of a changing health care funding system.

(more…)

News Roundup – July 29, 2014

The following is the New Jersey Nursing Initiative (NJNI) weekly news roundup, highlighting nursing and health care stories from around the state.

Trinitas launches residency programs for nurses (Nurse.com)
Trinitas Regional Medical Center in Elizabeth has introduced two residency programs for novice nurses to acquaint them with emergency and med/surg nursing through a 12-week program. “Such programs represent a trend among hospitals across the country to attract new nurses who are interested in refining their skills and transitioning into professional practice,” Denise Loneker, RN, nurse manager of the Trinitas ED, said in a news release.

(more…)

NJNI Program Co-Director Aline Holmes: High-Achieving Nurse Leader Has No Time for Retirement

Going back to school is not the kind of thing most people do when they’re pushing 70. But Aline Holmes, 67, a nurse leader in the field of health care quality and safety, is no slave to convention. “It was on my bucket list,” she says. “It’s one of the things I wanted to do before I die.”

Holmes is senior vice president for clinical affairs at the New Jersey Hospital Association (NJHA) and director of the NJHA Institute for Quality & Safety—positions she has no intention of leaving any time soon. Indeed, she upped her workload at age 64—the traditional age of retirement—when she enrolled in a doctor of nursing practice (DNP) program at Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey.

Read more of this article from Sharing Nursing’s Knowledge, a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation e-publication.