Monday | May 15, 2023

Healthcare starts with you. This is your beat.

Happy Monday, Readers! 

This past weekend, our team was in San Diego celebrating Nurses Week by supporting the Operation Happy Nurse (OHN) concert! It was great to clock out, connect with fellow nurses, and commiserate over shared experiences. OHN is a nurse-founded non-profit that helps nurses struggling with stress, anxiety, and/or depression by offering a community focused on improved overall mental health and physical well-being. 

Stay safe. Be healthy. Be kind. 

Tamara AL-Yassin (aka Nurse T)

CEO | The Nursing Beat 

MORNING BRIEF 🍳 ☕️

Male Nurses Share How to Get More Men Into Nursing

Of the 4.3 million registered nurses in the US, only 13 percent are male, according to the American Nurses Association, which believes that increasing the number of male nurses could significantly impact US healthcare. However, experts say current tactics to recruit men into nursing — showing male nurses in admission photos and scrubs magazines — don’t adequately convey what nursing is about and how men fit into the role. Becker’s Hospital Review spoke with 21 male nurses to learn what hospitals and nursing schools need to do to recruit more men into nursing. 

Male nursing roles should be promoted more at college and hospital information sessions and meet and greets, as well as in social and entertainment media, highlighting, in particular, the benefits and opportunities for men in the field. Other tactics include breaking down stereotypes, promoting male nursing role models, talking to high schoolers, and focusing on diversity and culture. 

RaDonda Vaught Seeks License Return

RaDonda Vaught made national headlines when she was convicted of criminally negligent homicide and gross neglect of an impaired adult last year for a medication error that killed a patient. The ruling shocked the medical profession, raising alarms that the sentencing could have significant repercussions for nurses and patient care. Vaught is now trying to get her nursing license returned, arguing that the state Board of Nursing acted improperly when it took away her license. 

The Tennessee Department of Health initially reviewed Vaught’s errors and concluded they didn’t require further action. But then the department reversed its decision a year later, which Vaught’s attorney argues was due to outside pressure rather than any new evidence. Despite fighting for the return of her license, Vaught vowed never to go back to nursing — but she cares for the profession and has good friends who are nurses. 

Former Home Health Care Nurse Sentenced in Death of Toddler

In June of last year, Judith Sobol was found guilty of second-degree murder in the death of 3-year-old Coloma Township girl Ophelia Mazure and possession of methamphetamine. The 42-year-old has now been sentenced to 30 to 75 years in prison and will be 71 when she first becomes eligible for parole. 

Ophelia required around-the-clock care, having been born with severe medical problems. Sobol, the home nurse assigned to Ophelia’s care, arrived to work late on the night of the death. In the middle of the night, the child’s mother, Shelby Mazure, woke up to use the bathroom but heard alarms from Ophelia’s medical equipment. She found Sobol partly on a chair, mumbling incoherently, while her child wasn’t breathing and her tracheal tube was removed. Sobol was found in possession of drug paraphernalia, including meth pipes and needle caps, and admitted to shooting up that fateful day.

COMMUNITY PICKS 🌼 

On almost every unit, or at least in every facility, you will find a nurse rocking a headband. It’s nearly as synonymous as a stethoscope or a favorite pen. Let’s face it, you can’t have hair in your face when you’re trying to clean up a patient with C. diff or you’re gowned up in an isolation room! So here’s a cute option from Junk! Not only are they lightweight and breathable, but these headbands also don’t slide around! They come in various colors and styles that will suit just about anyone!

🧑‍💻 THAT REMOTE LIFE powered by

Remote Nurse Essentials: MCG and Interqual

Have you ever wondered why your patient’s insurance company denied their claim? The answer probably lies in MCG and InterQual criteria. For bedside nurses, Epic, Cerner, and hospital policies are the staples that guide their daily practice. For remote nurses, it’s likely MCG and InterQual.

In the late 70s and 80s, both InterQual and MCG were introduced to provide guidelines for medically necessary hospital admissions. Today, these accredited guidelines are essential for insurance companies to approve and deny claims. They apply to inpatient admissions, DMEs, labs, procedures, and virtually all health services.

The sensitive nature of insurance claims can easily cause conflict between providers and insurance companies. But the role of a remote nurse doesn’t ask them to join the fray. Instead, their job is to measure the criteria against clinical documentation. Want to learn more and test your knowledge? Check out the full blog here.

Ready to find your remote nursing role? Nurse Fern caters to remote job postings to nurses leaving the bedside. Check out our daily remote nurse job postings on Nurse Fern.

🧭 MAP OF THE MODERN NURSE powered by

Does Meditation Make You Feel Uncomfortable and Anxious?

Do you long for a meditation practice but find it creates more anxiety? If so, you aren’t alone. It is common to encounter inner resistance as you commit to developing a practice. So common, they have been recognized and given a name, The Five Hindrances. 

1. Desire 

The wish for things to be different, be it a different sense experience “to feel better” or to become someone different.

2. Aversion 

Known or unknown anger toward what arises. Resistance to the present moment in the form of fear and self-judgment.

3. Sleepiness

Sleepy, heavy, or dull: a physical fatigue or resistance to something occurring in the mind.

4. Restlessness 

Restlessness is a storm of thoughts, feelings, and sensations that demand movement and are quite distracting.

5. Doubt 
The inner voice that says, “I can’t handle this,” or “This is not for me,” is expressed as negative self-talk triggered by resistance. 

Debriefing the Front Lines is the only nurse-led mental health organization debriefing single incidents and cumulative care-taking trauma. Book a complimentary first session.

DAILY DIVERSION 💊

“Ours is a sacred role: women supporting women.

Your lives give ours purpose.

Thank you for letting us be a part of your story.

You are an essential part of ours.”

Check out this touching tribute to new mothers from Taylor Alef, a mother-baby nurse at Mission Hospital. 

🤯 ONE BIG NUMBER

Thanks for reading! 🤓