Grinetta Elston, MSN, RN, EndoNurse
In the realm of nursing, the term "leadership" often is associated with a title, rather than individual pursuit and capability. However, frontline nurses like Florence Nightingale captured the role and meaning of leadership long before there were labels like chief nursing officer or nurse manager. There is a distinguishable difference between a leader and a manager.

Genevieve Diesing, H&HN
Looking at flaws in the system, instead of blaming human error, can help health care teams to make the leap to better patient care, say speakers on Day 2 of the TeamSTEPPS National Conference.

Jennifer Thew, RN, HealthLeaders MediaM
Research finds that Magnet designation correctly identifies a hospital's level of nursing excellence, but that earning the recognition does not improve surgical patient outcomes.

Alexandra Robbins, The New York Times
Several emergency-room nurses were crying in frustration after their shift ended at a large metropolitan hospital when Molly, who was new to the hospital, walked in. The nurses were scared because their department was so understaffed that they believed their patients — and their nursing licenses — were in danger, and because they knew that when tensions ran high and nurses were spread thin, patients could snap and turn violent.

Jo Stephenson, NursingTimes.net
Longer breaks between shifts can help nurses’ bodies recover from the stresses of work and boost their long-term well being, according to a small study from Finland.

Sarah Wickline Wallan, MedPage Today
Nurse practitioners are earning more, and more are earning that income as salaried employees. A survey from the American Association of Nurse Practitioners (AANP) found a 6 percent jump in average base salary since 2011 and a 10 percent hike in total annual income over the same period.

The Choosing Wisely® campaign is an initiative of the American Board of Internal Medicine (ABIM) that works to improve communication between providers and patients. The campaign began in April 2012 with the goal of promoting communication that would help patients choose care that is supported by evidence, does not duplicate tests or procedures that have already been completed, does not cause harm and is truly needed to guide care. The ABIM Foundation challenged medical organizations to develop a list focused on their specialty. Currently, there are over 60 health care provider organizations that have released a list of tests or procedures to consider and addition organizations that plan to release a list in the coming months. There are 14 consumer groups that have collaborated with Consumer Reports that are supporting the Choosing Wisely® campaign, including AARP and the Leapfrog Group.

Ellen Pitcher RN, MSN, MBA, NEA-BC, FACHE
The projection for 2021 is health care spending will reach $5 trillion or 20% of the GNP,
which is not sustainable. The government is forcing the health care industry toward more
transparency in cost and quality information that is public reported (Nickitas, 2013). Success is
being demonstrated with populations based transitions of care models. These models align with
primary care providers to ensure the patients understanding of medications and disease process
to prevent poor outcomes.

Zack Budryk, FierceHealthcare
Hospitals must address environmental factors that leave many patients at risk of long-term damage from post-hospital syndrome and delirium, according to a column in Forbes.

Gina Kolatajune, The New York Times
For more than 100 years, the standard treatment for appendicitis has been surgery. Now a large Finnish study provides the best evidence to date that most patients can be treated with antibiotics alone.

Alexandra Wilson Pecci, HealthLeaders Media
"The current system of reporting patient satisfaction scores is much more difficult for large, urban hospitals than for small, rural hospitals," says one researcher, raising discussion about whether there should be additional adjustments by CMS.

Joanne Finnegan, FierceHealthcare
Hospitals that reduce the number of medications a patient takes could improve patient safety under the theory that the fewer medications given, the less chance of a medication error, according to an opinion piece at Quartz, a digital news outlet.

Leslie Small, FierceHealthcare
Though hospitals' performance on hand-hygiene practices has improved, 23 percent still fail to meet all 10 best practices the Leapfrog Group outlines in its latest quality and safety report, according to the nonprofit organization.

Will Huntsberry, NPR
Millions of Americans rely on rural hospitals for emergency medical care. But in the last five years, these facilities have been shutting down more frequently than in previous years. A group of activists from across the country are walking nearly 300 miles from North Carolina to Washington, D.C., to draw lawmakers' attention.

Robert Book, Forbes
Reuters reported recently that, "Despite the promise of coverage through the U.S. Affordable Care Act (ACA), the number of people applying for non-compliant, short-term health insurance policies was up more than 100 percent in 2014."

Bob Dent is the senior vice president and chief operation officer at Midland Memorial Hospital in Midland, Texas. With more than 25 years of experience in the health care sector, Dent has served as a nursing assistant, licensed vocational nurse, registered nurse, licensed nursing home administrator, chief nursing officer, and chief operating officer for various size organizations. He has also served as dean of a local community college.

Erin McCann, Healthcare IT News
They're calling it the "third wave of digital." And it's coming to the health care industry first.

Joanne Finnegan, FierceHealthcare
Innovation is more than a buzzword in an industry as volatile as health care. Kaiser Permanente, one of the country's largest health systems, is using "pull strategies" to attract people to new ideas, according to Benjamin K. Chu, M.D., executive vice president of Kaiser Foundation Hospitals and Health Plan, based in Oakland, California.