Turns out, nurses value better working conditions and a greater say in patient care over financial incentives, according to a Washington Post story.
The awe-inspiring bonuses and other impressive incentives from the recruitment craze of recent years, spurred by a national nursing shortage, are starting to settle in favor of the quieter, but more favorable conditions that actually keep nurses happy.
The hard truth:
Five years ago, hospitals waged intense bidding wars to fill nursing vacancies, luring nurses with huge signing bonuses and even sport-utility vehicles and vacations to the Bahamas. Those efforts often only served to exacerbate turnover, spurring nurses to remain in jobs just long enough to claim the prizes before moving to other hospitals with better incentives.
As it turns out, many nurses want better working conditions more than they do extra money. Hospitals now are responding by introducing technology to dramatically reduce paperwork, offering more flexible hours, reducing caseloads, paying for advanced training and giving them more authority.
Who knew that to be a good business reporter one needs to keep up with The Eagle’s “Faith & Values” section?
Now, in fairness, I was out of town for about two weeks when religion writer Joe Rodriguez wrote about First United Methodist Church’s plans for a downtown coffeehouse. So I embarrassed myself by calling about it. Church spokesman Kirk Longhofer explained that the paper had already covered it.
Not one to let further embarrassment hold me back, I accidentally called again today. This because a coworker mentioned seeing an Eby Construction truck at the former Gilbert & Mosley’s at Douglas and Emporia. Someone with Eby gave me a name and number to call. It was only after I dialed that I realized, duh, I’m calling Kirk again. Must be that same coffeehouse.
I told Kirk I had a stupid question. He replied by quoting Charles Pearson, the former WSU journalism professor: “There are no stupid questions. Only stupid reporters.” Painful, but — apparently — true.
Here’s a good Kansas City Star report on the moderation of oil prices after what can charitably be described as pre-Hurricane Ike price gouging.
And for the record, that was no 10-cent Ike hike in Wichita: It was 35 cents. Obviously, all that rain Friday morning confused someone.
Oil fell well under $100 today. Meanwhile, pump prices began to work their way down after Ike failed to do the expected damage to the Texas Gulf Coast oil infrastructure.
The story attributes the decline to declining demand – due to concerns about the continually sagging state of the U.S. economy.
So if I’ve got this straight, since my 401(k) took a soaking today from the near-collapse of the Wall Street banks, I’m going to be too depressed to get in my car and drive to the grocery store tonight?
Not me, baby. Read More »