Nurses Are Vital to Hospice, Outpatient and Primary Health Care

Nurses Are Vital to Hospice,

Outpatient and Primary Health Care

The role of nurses has always been important in providing quality health care in hospitals; however, today’s nurses are transforming health care beyond hospital settings.  In addition to reinventing America’s approach to hospice care from “a service that provided a place to die to one that addressed many end-of-life issues and allowed patients to remain in their homes,” nurses have evolved into strong patient advocates and indeed are the sole source of quality, “high-level” health care for many underserved areas and populations in America.  And with the possibility of adding more than 35 million newly insured citizens as a result of health care reform, nurses will be even more critical to local and state public health departments and primary care centers.  

Highlighted Clip for Tuesday, May 31, 2011:

"Role of nurses extends beyond the hospital ward"

A nurse is a doctor’s best friend, according to Marvin M. Lipman, Consumers Union’s chief medical adviser. This advice was given to him by a hospital ward’s head nurse when he was a third-year medical student making contact with patients for the first time, along with the suggestion that’d he’d do well not to forget it.

Calling for Prison Reform

Source: Statistics as of June 30, 2004 from Prison and Jail Inmates at Midyear 2004, Tables 1, 14 and 15 and U.S. Census. (Peter Wagner, June 2005)

As the nation rightfully pauses this weekend to remember our soldiers, who died in battles to win, protect and preserve our freedoms, we still have a ways to go before we win social justice. The critical need for prison reform draws us to the battlefield of public conscious. Today, 2.3 million Americans are behind bars. Blacks are 6.4 times as likely to be incarcerated as whites, reports the Prison Policy Initiative. Michelle Alexander, a law professor at Ohio State University, has written a must-read analysis on the incarceration of blacks.  This weekend pick up The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness.

For more information on this subject, visit: http://www.prisonpolicy.org/graphs/raceinc.html

Calling for Prison Reform

Oprah’s 25 Years Reminds Us to Be ‘Authentic’

Oprah’s 25 Years Reminds Us to Be ‘Authentic’

Yesterday, Oprah’s fans tuned in worldwide to view the Oprah Winfrey Show finale, drawing the show’s highest rating in 17 years, according to Nielsen figures. For more than 25 years (prior to her show), Oprah has devoted herself to learning and sharing stories that impact lives. During the finale, she imparted words of wisdom with her audience, including “everybody has a calling, and your real job in life is to figure out what that is…and do it.” In other words, hear the call, live it being your “authentic self.” In doing so, you can’t go wrong.

For more than 20 years, McKinney & Associates has done just that, by successfully providing strategic communications on matters of social justice. From the beginning, McKinney & Associates has remained true to its authentic roots by passionately and skillfully practicing “public relations with a conscience” for local, national and international organizations.

We appreciate Oprah’s reminder of what life can bring you when you remain true to yourself. We wish Oprah the best on her path of impacting lives for the better.

Read more of Oprah’s show finale here: “Oprah’s Show Draws Highest Rating in 25 Years”

Calling Males to the Counseling Profession

Calling Males to the Counseling Profession

Men are all but missing in the mental health profession reports the New York Times. Need Therapy? A Good Man Is Hard to Find (New York Times, 05/21/2011) reports that “men earn only one in five of all master’s degrees awarded in psychology, down from half in the 1970s. They account for less than 10 percent of social workers under the age of 34, according to a recent survey. And their numbers have dwindled among professional counselors — to 10 percent of the American Counseling Association’s membership today from 30 percent in 1982 — and appear to be declining among marriage and family therapists.”

The dearth of male therapists is a barrier for some men who’d like to receive counseling but would prefer to go to a man. Here’s another need to diversify the health care workforce.

Highlighted Clip for Wednesday, May 25, 2011:

"Need Therapy? A Good Man Is Hard to Find"
By BENEDICT CAREY
Researchers began tracking the “feminization” of mental health care more than a generation ago, when women started to outnumber men in fields like psychology and counseling. Today the takeover is almost complete.

Doctors’ Advice: Fewer Tests, Cheaper Health Care

Doctors’ Advice: Fewer Tests, Cheaper Health Care

Everyone wants to save money, cut costs wherever possible while maintaining the best life. When it comes to doctors’ visits and tests, a primary care group is working to keep more money in your pocket. Recently, the National Physicians Alliance met with doctors in family medicine, internal medicine and pediatrics and asked them to list five ways they could save patients money—all while enhancing care. Say what? This idea may call for a magic wand or Superman, but with some thought, more than 250 doctors provided their top “less is more” recommendations. Most of the recommendations focused on eliminating certain expensive tests (unless you’re near death) or forgoing routine antibiotic prescriptions for mild or moderate sinusitis (you’ll just have to deal with the itchy eyes and sneezing).  But what if you believe you need the tests or that antibiotic? Check out their recommendations and see if you agree!

Highlighted Clip for Tuesday, May 24, 2011:

"Advice From Doctors: Top 5 Ways to Lower Costs and Improve Care"

If anyone knows where health-care dollars are being wasted, it's primary-care physicians. So, the National Physicians Alliance recently assembled working groups of doctors within three fields of primary care — family medicine, internal medicine and pediatrics — and asked each to come up with five ways to reduce costs in their areas while enhancing patient care.

Cultural Competency in Health Care Trailing Behind Nation’s Demographic Shifts

Cultural Competency in Health Care Trailing Behind Nation’s Demographic Shifts

As America’s racial and ethnic mix shifts rapidly to a majority minority nation, the need for cultural competency in health care increases. Oregon’s Democratic lawmakers get that. Unfortunately, their Republican colleagues don’t.   The Register Guard reports that a split partisan vote in the Oregon House stymied a bill that would advance the cultural understanding of minorities among social workers, physicians, and other health care professionals licensed by the state.

Now is the time to enhance cultural competency training, not stymie it.

Highlighted Clip for Monday, May 23, 2011:

"Cultural competency bill fails again"

By Saul Hubbard

For the second day in a row, a split partisan vote in the Oregon House on Thursday stymied a bill aimed at advancing the cultural understanding of minorities among the state’s licensed health care providers, in order to improve the quality of health care minorities receive. 

Does a Happy Meal Make Everybody Happy?

Does a Happy Meal Make Everybody Happy?

Well, the answer to this question for some concerned parents and groups is “No.” The marketing to children of processed meals, loaded with sodium, high in fat, and sugar coated with a “toy inside” has been argued as irresponsible and contributing to our nation’s out of control childhood obesity rate.  The Corporate Accountability International (CAI) presented a proposal yesterday to McDonald’s shareholders asking them to consider links between fast food and childhood obesity—and more importantly, the company’s responsibility to correct. McDonald’s CEO Jim Skinner refuted the proposal, stating McDonald’s would “continue to advertise to our customers responsibly about our menu and about lifestyle choices and leave the personal responsibility up to them.” Skinner claimed that the fast food company takes “responsible advertising very seriously.”
True, it is the responsibility of parents to make healthy, safe decisions for their children. By all accounts, most parents do everything to protect their children from harm. However, what if you live in a community with little access to healthy foods? With hungry kids, little in your wallet and McDonald’s just around the corner, should the Happy Meal make you happy for its existence?

Read more: “McDonald’s Stands Its Ground: Advertising to Children OK”