A Free-for-All From Readers and Tweeters, From Medical Debt to Homelessness
Letters to the Editor is a periodic feature. We welcome all comments and will publish a selection. We edit for length and clarity and require full names. It […]
Nurses
Readers and Tweeters Weigh In on America’s Medical Debt, Obesity Epidemic, and Opioid Battles
Letters to the Editor is a periodic feature. We welcome all comments and will publish a selection. We edit for length and clarity and require full names. So, […]
Readers and Tweeters Go to the Mat on Abortion Rights and Perceived Wrongs
Letters to the Editor is a periodic feature. We welcome all comments and will publish a selection. We edit for length and clarity and require full names. Pulling […]
No Prison Time for Tennessee Nurse Convicted of Fatal Drug Error
RaDonda Vaught, a former Tennessee nurse convicted of two felonies for a fatal drug error, whose trial became a rallying cry for nurses fearful of […]
Demand for US Travel Nurses Plunges
In the past months, many hospitals and other health care providers have noted the steep rise in the cost of hiring nurses. Many providers saw […]
Travel Nurses See Swift Change of Fortunes as Covid Money Runs Dry
Tiffanie Jones was a few tanks of gas into her drive from Tampa, Florida, to Cheyenne, Wyoming, when she found out her travel nurse contract […]
At US Hospitals, a Drug Mix-Up Is Just a Few Keystrokes Away
More than four years ago, Tennessee nurse RaDonda Vaught typed two letters into a hospital’s computerized medication cabinet, selected the wrong drug from the search […]
Physicians Are Uneasy as Colorado Collects Providers’ Diversity Data
Shaunti Meyer, a certified nurse-midwife and medical director at STRIDE Community Health Center in Colorado, doesn’t usually disclose her sexual orientation to patients. But at […]
Staffing issues, workplace violence among nurses’ top concerns: poll
A new poll from National Nurses United found nurses’ top concerns in their field two years into the coronavirus pandemic that have placed enormous burdens […]
A Travel Nurse Leaves Fears of Hospital Drug Tampering Across Three States
Health officials in at least three states are investigating a travel nurse suspected of tampering with and potentially contaminating vials and syringes of opioid painkillers […]
Why Nurses Are Raging and Quitting After the RaDonda Vaught Verdict
Emma Moore felt cornered. At a community health clinic in Portland, Oregon, the 29-year-old nurse practitioner said she felt overwhelmed and undertrained. Coronavirus patients flooded […]
Reaction to the RaDonda Vaught Verdict: KHN Wants to Hear From Nurses
RaDonda Vaught, a former Tennessee nurse, killed a patient in 2017 by administering the wrong drug. She was criminally prosecuted and convicted of gross neglect […]
Nurse Convicted of Neglect and Negligent Homicide for Fatal Drug Error
NASHVILLE, Tenn. – RaDonda Vaught, a former nurse criminally prosecuted for a fatal drug error in 2017, was convicted of gross neglect of an impaired […]
In Nurse’s Trial, Investigator Says Hospital Bears ‘Heavy’ Responsibility for Patient Death
A lead investigator in the criminal case against former Tennessee nurse RaDonda Vaught testified Wednesday that state investigators found Vanderbilt University Medical Center had a […]
As a Nurse Faces Prison for a Deadly Error, Her Colleagues Worry: Could I Be Next?
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Four years ago, inside the most prestigious hospital in Tennessee, nurse RaDonda Vaught withdrew a vial from an electronic medication cabinet, administered […]
Bounties and Bonuses Leave Small Hospitals Behind in Staffing Wars
A recent lawsuit filed by one Wisconsin health system that temporarily prevented seven workers from starting new jobs at a different health network raised eyebrows, […]
Hospitales enfrentan más casos de covid en personas ya hospitalizadas, con menos personal
El 11 de enero, la Clínica Cleveland de Weston, en el sur de la Florida, estaba tratando a 80 pacientes con covid-19, 10 veces más […]
Incidental Cases and Staff Shortages Make Covid’s Next Act Tough for Hospitals
The Cleveland Clinic in Weston, Florida, on Jan. 11 was treating 80 covid-19 patients — a tenfold increase since late December. Nearly half were admitted […]
Hospitals Recruit International Nurses to Fill Pandemic Shortages
BILLINGS, Mont. — Before Mary Venus was offered a nursing job at a hospital here, she’d never heard of Billings or visited the United States. […]
How to find proper housing for nomadic healthcare workers
We may acknowledge just how essential the nomadic healthcare workforce has been in efforts to control the Covid-19 pandemic, but what’s often overlooked is how […]
Nurse employment and wage trends
Recent news articles have spilled much ink about the current nurse shortage. According to Pew, due to nursing shortages “Hospitals nationwide are canceling nonemergency surgeries, […]
Nurses in crisis over Covid dig in for better work conditions
Nurses and health care workers across the country are finding strength in numbers and with […]
Nurses in Crisis Over Covid Dig In for Better Work Conditions
Nurses and health care workers across the country are finding strength in numbers and with labor actions not seen in years. In California, which has […]
KHN’s ‘What the Health?’: The Big Biden Budget Bill Passes the House
Can’t see the audio player? Click here to listen on Acast. You can also listen on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Pocket Casts or wherever you […]
KHN’s ‘What the Health?’: Why Health Care Is So Expensive, Chapter $22K
Can’t see the audio player? Click here to listen on Acast. You can also listen on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Pocket Casts or wherever you […]
Nursing shortages
While the COVID-19 pandemic continues, the worst part of the pandemic is largely past us (see NYT graph) with more people getting vaccinated. One would […]
Labs With No One to Run Them: Why Public Health Workers Are Fleeing the Field
There were days, nights and weekends in the early months of the pandemic when Denise Von Bargen was the only person running covid tests at […]
Worn-Out Nurses Hit the Road for Better Pay, Stressing Hospital Budgets — and Morale
In parts of the country where covid-19 continues to fill hospitals, a rotating cast of traveling nurses helps keep intensive care units fully staffed. Hospitals […]
Journalists Examine Vaccination Rates Among Student Nurses and in Covid Hot Spots
Contributing writer and former KHN correspondent Michelle Andrews discussed difficulties in providing clinical training to student nurses who refuse to get vaccinated on CBS News […]
California Vaccine Mandate Extends to Aides for People With Disabilities
Workers in adult and senior care facilities and in-home aides have been added to the list of California health workers who must be fully vaccinated […]
Mandatory Vaccines for Health Care Workers Might Upend Nurses’ Training
Kaitlyn Hevner expects to complete a 15-month accelerated nursing program at the University of North Florida in Jacksonville in December. For her clinical training this […]
At an Overrun ICU, ‘the Problem Is We Are Running Out of Hallways’
BILLINGS, Mont. — Nurses fill the hospital room to turn a patient from his stomach to his back. The ventilator forcing air into him is […]
Health Care Unions Defending Newsom From Recall Will Want Single-Payer Payback
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Should Gavin Newsom survive the Republican-driven attempt to oust him from office, the Democratic governor will face the prospect of paying back […]
Lack of a Vaccine Mandate Becomes Competitive Advantage in Hospital Staffing Wars
In the rural northeastern corner of Missouri, Scotland County Hospital has been so low on staff that it sometimes had to turn away patients amid […]
Trinity Health Mid-Atlantic to deploy NeuroFlow’s mental health tools across 3 hospitals
Through a program funded by Independence Blue Cross Foundation, 1,800 frontline healthcare workers across the three Pennsylvania-based hospitals will gain access to NeuroFlow’s technology, which […]
After Pandemic Ravaged Nursing Homes, New State Laws Protect Residents
When the coronavirus hit Martha Leland’s Connecticut nursing home last year, she and dozens of other residents contracted the disease while the facility was on […]
Labor Department Issues Emergency Rules to Protect Health Care Workers From Covid
Labor Department officials on Thursday announced a temporary emergency standard to protect health care workers, saying they face “grave danger” in the workplace from the […]
Readers and Tweeters React to Racism, Inequities in Health Care
Letters to the Editor is a periodic feature. We welcome all comments and will publish a selection. We edit for length and clarity and require full names. A […]
Public Health Nurses Once Again Asking, “What Are They Thinking?”
Whitney Thurman Karen Johnson By KAREN JOHNSON and WHITNEY THURMAN One recent Friday night, we huddled with our colleagues in the pouring rain at a […]
Steward Health v Aya Healthcare: 4 things to know
The Texas-based health system first sued the staffing firm for “price gouging” amid the Covid-19 pandemic, as wages for nurses shot up from $75 to […]
A Year Into Pandemic, Federal Officials Design New Mask Guidelines to Better Protect More Workers
Federal officials announced new measures to help get fresh, new N95 masks to health care workers and expand their use in other industries after scientists […]
Fauci Thanks US Health Workers for Sacrifices but Admits PPE Shortages Drove Up Death Toll
Dr. Anthony Fauci thanked America’s health care workers, who “every single day put themselves at risk” during the pandemic, even as he acknowledged that PPE […]
Calls Mount for Biden to Track US Health Care Worker Deaths from Covid
This story also ran on The Guardian. It can be republished for free. Calls are mounting for the Biden administration to set up a national […]
Para este enfermero de cuidados paliativos, la vacuna de covid llegó demasiado tarde
Antonio Espinoza amaba a los Dodgers de Los Angeles. Los quería tanto que para su velatorio lo vistieron con su camiseta del equipo. Su familia […]
For This Hospice Nurse, the Covid Shot Came Too Late
CORONA, Calif. — Antonio Espinoza loved the Los Angeles Dodgers. He loved them so much that he was laid to rest in his favorite Dodgers […]
Calling All Vaccinators: Closing the Next Gap in Covid Supply and Demand
This story also ran on NBC News. It can be republished for free. Beating back covid right now comes down to balancing supply and demand. […]
‘I Wanted to Go in There and Help’: Nursing Schools See Enrollment Bump Amid Pandemic
This story also ran on USA Today. It can be republished for free. Last December, Mirande Gross graduated from Bellarmine University in Louisville, Kentucky, with […]
California’s Top Hospital Lobbyist Cements Influence in Covid Crisis
SACRAMENTO — As intensive care units filled and coronavirus cases surged over the holidays, Carmela Coyle invoked a World War II-era quote attributed to British […]
Readers and Tweeters Fight Stigma and Salute Front-Line Workers
Letters to the Editor is a periodic feature. We welcome all comments and will publish a selection. We edit for length and clarity and require full names. In […]
California Is Overriding Its Limits on Nurse Workloads as Covid Surges
This story is from a reporting partnership that includes KQED, NPR and KHN. It can be republished for free. California’s telemetry nurses, who specialize in […]
Health Workers Unions See Surge in Interest Amid Covid
This story also ran on NPR. It can be republished for free. The nurses at Mission Hospital in Asheville, North Carolina, declared on March 6 […]
Video: The Healthy Nurse Who Died at 40 on the COVID Frontline: ‘She Was the Best Mom I Ever Had’
Yolanda Coar was 40 when she died of COVID-19 in August 2020 in Augusta, Georgia. She was also a nurse manager, and one of nearly […]
More Than 2,900 Health Care Workers Died This Year — And the Government Barely Kept Track
This story also ran on The Guardian. It can be republished for free. More than 2,900 U.S. health care workers have died in the COVID-19 […]
As the Terror of COVID Struck, Health Care Workers Struggled to Survive. Thousands Lost the Fight.
This story also ran on The Guardian. It can be republished for free. Workers at Garfield Medical Center in suburban Los Angeles were on edge […]
Readers and Tweeters Defend Front-Line Nurses and Blind Us With Science
Letters to the Editor is a periodic feature. We welcome all comments and will publish a selection. We edit for length and clarity and require full names. […]
KHN on the Air This Week
KHN senior correspondent JoNel Aleccia discussed the demand for COVID-19 vaccines with Newsy’s “Morning Rush” on Thursday. Click here to watch Aleccia on Newsy Read […]
NYC Hospital Workers, Knowing How Bad It Can Get, Brace for COVID 2nd Wave
No single municipality in the country suffered more in the first wave of the pandemic than New York City, which saw more than 24,000 deaths, […]
For Nurses Feeling the Strain of the Pandemic, Virus Resurgence Is ‘Paralyzing’
For Christina Nester, the pandemic lull in Massachusetts lasted about three months through summer into early fall. In late June, St. Vincent Hospital had resumed […]
Need a COVID-19 Nurse? That’ll Be $8,000 a Week
DENVER — In March, Claire Tripeny was watching her dream job fall apart. She’d been working as an intensive care nurse at St. Anthony Hospital […]
Helping nurses bounce back from the devastating effects of Covid-19
Closing the gap between documentation and communication and ensuring software enhances rather than distracts from workflow are two ways that the burden on nurses can […]
Anger After North Dakota Governor Asks COVID-Positive Health Staff to Stay on Job
Nurse Leslie McKamey has gotten used to the 16-hour shifts, to skipping lunch, to the nightly ritual of throwing all her clothes in the laundry […]
Long-Term Care Workers, Grieving and Under Siege, Brace for COVID’s Next Round
In the middle of the night, Stefania Silvestri lies in bed remembering her elderly patients’ cries. “Help me.” “Please don’t leave me.” “I need my […]
‘Is This Worth My Life?’: Traveling Health Workers Decry COVID Care Conditions
This story also ran on The Guardian. It can be republished for free. David Joel Perea called from Maine, Vermont, Minnesota and, ultimately, Nevada, always […]
COVID Spikes Exacerbate Health Worker Shortages in Rocky Mountains, Great Plains
COVID-19 cases are surging in rural places across the Mountain States and Midwest, and when it hits health care workers, ready reinforcements aren’t easy to […]
COVID Spikes Exacerbate Health Worker Shortages in Rocky Mountains, Great Plains
COVID-19 cases are surging in rural places across the Mountain States and Midwest, and when it hits health care workers, ready reinforcements aren’t easy to […]
They Cared for Some of New York’s Most Vulnerable Communities. Then 12 Died.
Dr. Reza Chowdhury didn’t charge copays when his patients were low on cash. He gave them his home phone number and answered their medical questions […]
Teen Artist’s Portraits Help Frame Sacrifice of Health Care Workers Lost to COVID
As Xinyi Christine Zhang watched the COVID-19 death toll among health care workers rise this spring, she wanted to find a way to give solace […]
Más de 900 trabajadores de salud han muerto por COVID-19 en los Estados Unidos. Y la cifra aumenta
Más de 900 trabajadores de atención médica esenciales han muerto por COVID-19, según una base de datos interactiva creada por The Guardian y KHN. Lost […]
Adding To COVID Stress, Families Of Health Workers Fight For Denied Workers’ Comp Benefits
James “Mike” Anderson was a hospital employee in suburban Philadelphia with a low-profile though critical job: changing air filters in COVID patients’ rooms. By late […]
Lost On The Frontline
America’s health care workers are dying. In some states, medical personnel account for as many as 20% of known coronavirus cases. They tend to patients […]
