June 9, 2004
NHA Mid-Year Golf Tournament, Arbor Links, Nebraska City

June 10-11, 2004
NHA Mid-Year Meeting, Arbor Lodge, Nebraska City

• Strategies for Separating Yourself From the Problem Employee
• Managing Your Health Insurance Costs
• Recent Changes in the Fair Labor Standards Act
• Are Your Wage and Hour Practices Legal?
• HR Roundtable

This program has been approved for 4 recertification credit hours toward PHR and SPHR recertification through the Human Resource Certification Institute (HRCI). For more information about certification or recertification, please visit the HRCI homepage at www.hrci.org. 

Click here for program brochure.

Click here or more information or contact Amy Adams at aadams@nhanet.org. 

Mandatory Training Solutions Available On-Line
Keeping employees trained appropriately and their skills up-to-date is a constant challenge for most hospitals and health care providers. The cost of developing appropriate curriculum and teaching staff, in addition to the difficulty of scheduling staff for classes, has many health care providers looking for alternative solutions to traditional hospital-based education. careLearning.com offers the “Health and Safety Compliance Series” as an alternative to conventional learning. There are 13 courses in this series, including those covering:

· Fire safety
· Standard precautions
· Electrical safety
· Slips, trips and falls
· Moving and lifting
· Hazardous substances
· Age-specific care· Bloodborne pathogens
· Disaster preparation
· Restraints and seclusions
· Patient rights
· Abuse and neglect

All of these courses are customizable to individual organizations. Organization-specific courses may also be added at no additional cost. In addition to quality courses, this series allows organizations to access the Administrative Management System. This system has many outstanding features, including:

• The ability to run reports by individual, department or group. Reports may be run by careLearning.com courses that have not been completed, completed courses, and all courses (live and on-line).
• Tracking of live courses. This software can be used to register and record grades of live courses. The capabilities of this system also include printing name badges and certificates of completion.
• License tracking. Organizations are able to print license expirations by individual, department, or group (i.e., RN, PT, etc). Certificates such as CPR, ACLS, PALS, TNNCC, and others may also be tracked.
• Human resources database. The system allows the input of individualized geographic and licensure information.

For more information or to take the demo courses, visit www.carelearning.com  or contact Jon Borton, director of education at jborton@nhanet.org.

Enrollment in BS nursing programs climbs 16.6%, but 11,000 turned away
Enrollment in entry-level baccalaureate programs in nursing increased by 16.6% in fall 2003, the American Association of Colleges of Nursing announced in December 22, 2003. That's up from a 15.9% preliminary estimate announced by AACN Dec. 1. Still, more than 11,000 qualified students were turned away from the programs due to a limited number of faculty, clinical sites and classroom space, the association adds. Commenting earlier on the enrollment increase, Pamela Thompson, CEO of the American Organization of Nurse Executives, said, "Although we are relieved to see the enrollments increase, this certainly doesn't mean that we are out of the woods regarding the nursing shortage. We now also have a critical shortage of faculty to accommodate this increase in enrollment and we must continue to address that issue as well."

RNs projected to lead high-growth occupations for next decade
In February, the Bureau of Labor Statistics identified registered nurses as the occupation with the largest projected job growth from 2002-2012. BLS projects the nation will employ 623,000 more RNs in 2012 than 2002, a 27% increase. Carla Luggiero, AHA senior associate director for federal relations, said the projection "acknowledges what our AHA Workforce Commission has recognized -- that the shortage of health care professionals, particularly nurses, is growing. The need for well-qualified health care professionals is especially significant given the demographic trends and the impending retirement of the 'baby boomers.'" For more, see the BLS news release and charts at http://www.bls.gov/news.release/ecopro.nr0.htm. 

AONE adopts policy statements on key nursing issues
The American Organization of Nurse Executives' board of directors has approved policy statements on foreign nurse recruitment, mandatory overtime and mandated staffing ratios. Click here to view the policy statements. 

Survey reports on nursing, allied health vacancies and turnover
A survey of hospital and other health care recruiters by Bernard Hodes Group found average vacancy rates of 13.9% for registered nurses. According to the online survey of 151 recruiters conducted from April 22 to Oct. 1, 2003, other reported nursing and allied health vacancies averaged 15.7% for occupational therapists, 14.6% for physical therapists, 14.4% for speech language therapists, and 14.2% for respiratory therapists. RNs had the highest turnover rate at 15.5%, followed by occupational therapists (14.9%), and respiratory therapists (14.2%). About 80% of survey respondents worked in acute-care facilities. The survey can be found at http://www.hodes.com/hcrecruiting/. 

Treasury, IRS issue Health Savings Accounts (HSA) guidance
On December 22, the Treasury Department and IRS issued guidance regarding the new health savings accounts (HSAs) created by the Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act of 2003 under section 1201 and section 223. 

According to the guidance, tax-advantaged contributions can be made in three ways: 

1. The individual and family members can make tax-deductible contributions to an HSA even if the individual does not itemize deductions. 
2. The individual's employer can make contributions that are not taxed to either the employer or the employee. 
3. Employers with cafeteria plans can allow employees to contribute untaxed salary through a salary-reduction plan. 

The Treasury Department and the IRS intend to issue additional guidance in the summer of 2004. 

DOL launches $24.4 million national initiative to train health care workers
The U.S. Labor Department on March 12, 2004, announced a $24.4 million job training program to help address the nation's critical shortage of health professionals. Labor Secretary Elaine Chao kicked off the program, part of the president's High Growth Job Training Initiative, during a visit to Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore. Johns Hopkins Health System will receive a $3 million grant under the so-called Health Care Initiative program to fund training for current workers, upgrade training for positions experiencing critical worker shortages, and provide GED and diploma preparation. The State of Maryland also will receive a $1.5 million grant to address the shortage of health care faculty by providing scholarships for nurses who pursue credentials to teach at the college and university level. Additional funding will train current workers for future health care jobs and support scholarships for licensed practical nurses and others seeking credentials as registered nurses For more, go to http://www.dol.gov/opa/media/press/eta/ETA2004397.htm.