The Latest Healthcare Industry News

Despite the uncertainty of what 2009 will bring, one industry will always have a strong foundation: healthcare. There will always be a need for doctors, nurses, hospitals and medicine. Injury and sickness do not stop for a faltering economy, international rifts or changes in administration. Yet, despite the ongoing need for healthcare, some facilities are finding the future to be fiscally daunting.

While it seems intuitive that nursing care should center on the patient, completing all the necessary clinical and administrative tasks sometimes takes precedence over listening to the patient and tailoring care to his or her priorities. Now many hospitals have launched initiatives to put the patient and family first in an effort to improve patient satisfaction scores.

With the votes in, America’s desire to tackle some of the tough issues facing the nation, such as healthcare reform, became clear. A new president, many new members of Congress and several new Senators face an abundance of challenges, but also the opportunity to repair a faltering healthcare system to improve access to care, workforce issues and more. 

American patients generally express satisfaction with their hospital stays, and those treated in facilities with a high ratio of nurses to patient days feel more positively about their experience than other patients, according to a new study published in the New England Journal of Medicine.

Vying for a senior leadership role in any industry requires years of hard work and dedication. However, for women working at California’s top 400 companies, that may not be enough. Half of the state’s largest public companies do not have women in executive offices, according to a report recently released by the University of California, Davis, and another half do not have women serving on their board of directors.