Tuesday | April 25, 2023

Healthcare starts with you. This is your beat.

Hey-O Nursing Beat Friends!

Here are your random medical facts for Tuesday.

🦠 There are more bacteria in your mouth than the entire populations of the US and Canada combined.

🦠 Approximately 32,000,000 bacteria live on every square inch of the human body!

Now that you’re thoroughly grossed out, get out there and have a great day! 😆

Keep safe and healthy,

Kel M.

Managing Editor of TNB

MORNING BRIEF 🍳 ☕️

Congrats to the New Class of AANA Fellows

A hearty congratulations go out to the 58 nurse anesthesiologists named as the 2023 candidates for the American Association of Nurse Anesthesiology’s class of 2023 fellows. The fellowship application is rigorous, requiring at least ten years of AANA membership, attendance at its conferences, three letters of recommendation, two essays, at least ten years of continuous experience in nurse anesthesia or as a nurse educator or practice leader, and making” significant contributions both in and out of their professional scope,” according to Becker’s. 

The fellows’ applicants will be inducted at the AANA Annual Congress in Seattle, Washington, from August 18th to 22nd. They will join more than 110 Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetists (CRNAs) who previously have gone through the fellowship program. Further evidence of the caliber of this year’s crop of applicants is that 49 have doctoral degrees. 

Bill Reintroduced to Expand APRN Practice Scope under CMS 

The Improving Care and Access to Nurses (ICAN) Act, a bill aimed at expanding the services that advanced practice registered nurses (APRNs) can provide under Medicare and Medicaid, failed last Congressional session but has been reintroduced this week. Nursing organizations are already among the medical groups rushing to support its passage, enabling NPs and PAs “to supervise Medicare cardiac, intensive cardiac, and pulmonary rehabilitation programs” and “certify the need for inpatient hospital services under Medicare and Medicaid,” among other responsibilities. 

More than 160 healthcare organizations supported the bill last session, and the American Nurses Association (ANA), the American Association of Nurse Anesthesiology (AANA), and the American Association of Nurse Practitioners (AANP) have each already issued statements in support of its reintroduction. Yet nearly 90 physician groups opposed the bill in a November 2022 letter that they’re unlikely to rescind. 

Reintroduced Legislation Aims to Strengthen Safety Protection of Nurses

Another bill reintroduced after not passing last year focuses on improving workplace safety for healthcare professionals. The Workplace Violence Prevention for Health Care and Social Service Workers Act, initially passed only by the House of Representatives in April 2021, would require the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) “to issue a workplace violence prevention standard requiring employers within the healthcare and social service sectors to develop and implement a workplace violence prevention plan,” according to Becker’s. 

Sponsoring Representatives Alma Adams (North Carolina) and Joe Courtney (Connecticut) joined Sen. Tammy Baldwin (Wisconsin) and reintroduced it on April 18th. Again the American Nurses Association and National Nurses United immediately spoke up in support of the reintroduced bill, noting the importance of OSHA holding employers accountable for protecting nurses who “have been punched, kicked, bitten, and choked or threatened with extreme violence” in the course of doing their job.

COMMUNITY PICKS 🌼 

We always watch for the cutest drinkware around, and this tumbler is no exception! It has a cute stethoscope design, multiple color choices, and personalization options!

TECH TUESDAY with NURSE MANNY 🤖

GPT-4 and the EPIC EHR

We are often told about all the ways that AI is going to change the world. I frequently write about different AI tools we can expect down the pipeline. AI may finally assist us at the bedside and with patient care clinicians. Last week, EPIC and Microsoft announced a collaboration to integrate GPT-4 into the EPIC EHR. What to expect? Initially, the AI software will be able to generate message responses and assist in writing applicable notes. Later uses include integrating GPT-4 with Epic’s “SlicerDicer” data analysis tools to allow clinicians to ask questions and identify trends across large patient populations. 

While the ability to ease communication and improve workflows sounds promising, skepticism is held by some. AI is not without bias; without strong rulesets, integrating AI into healthcare may hurt marginalized and at-risk populations and exacerbate false negative assumptions. Even though I find the merger of AI and healthcare exciting and think we should adopt the tech with optimism, we must always ensure our compassion for our patients is not overshadowed by information identified or generated by AI.

DAILY DIVERSION 💊

If you find yourself in the Boston area, be sure to stop by the Warren Anatomical Museum at Harvard Medical School. John Collins Warren, who donated the collection upon his retirement in 1846, began collecting specimens as early as 1799.

🤯 ONE BIG NUMBER

Thanks for reading! 🤓