How do you spend your time?
According to a recent study, nurses are spending more time on documentation, coordination of care and medication administration, and less on direct patient care. (August 2008)

Meet the New President
Randi Weingarten, who was elected AFT president at the union's national convention in July, talks about her plans for the AFT, the 2008 elections, organizing, the vital role of unions in the country and more in this recent question-and-answer session with the AFT editorial department. (August 2008)

AFT Convention Healthcare Notes
Union urges restoration of workers' rights (July 13, 2008)
AFT Healthcare divisional meeting
Delegates rally for healthcare workers
(July 12, 2008)

Hurdling HIPAA
Ask health professionals about the privacy protections of HIPAA—the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act—and they likely will say it has changed the way they work, and not necessarily for the better. Read more in the latest edition of Healthwire (July/August 2008)

Help Wanted
The shortage of healthcare workers in the United States has been well-publicized, but many Americans are still unaware that there is also a global shortage of more than 4 million healthcare workers. Read more (Healthwire, May/June 2008)

Nurses Win Ban on Mandatory Overtime in New York
New York is now one of a handful of states to put an end to forcing nurses to work overtime. Nurse members from the New York State Public Employees Federation (PEF) and the New York State United Teachers (NYSUT) have been working with several other unions for years to lobby their state legislators to ban mandatory overtime, often sharing their stories of being forced to work double shifts. Read more
(June 27, 2008)

Protecting your license to heal
Obviously, no healthcare worker goes to work wanting to harm a patient. Still, serious mistakes that affect patient care continue to occur. Why? Because healthcare is much more complex than it used to be. Read more
(Healthwire, Jan/Feb08)

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