Minnesota Nurses Research Articles

Needlestick Injuries and Needle Disposal in Minnesota Nursing Homes

We examined needle use and disposal, needlestick injuries and their management, and employee education regarding the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome and needle use by means of a questionnaire sent to all long-term care facilities certified for skilled care in Minnesota. Responses were received from 297 of 349 (85.1%) homes. Nearly all homes (271 of 293; 92.5%) provided education for new nursing employees about use and disposal of needles. Disposal of needles and sharps was generally consistent with current recommendations for short-term care hospitals. Needlestick injuries were usually related to recapping and were most common in registered and licensed practical nurses but were infrequent (i.e., less than 1 injury per home per employee-year) probably because parenteral therapy is infrequently used in long-term care settings. Only slightly over half (166 of 286; 58%) of the homes had protocols for management of needlestick injuries. Although Minnesota nursing homes properly dispose of needles and sharps, many of these institutions need to develop policies for management of needlestick injuries that are consistent with current recommendations.

Information on Agency Nurses Requested

Staff Specialist Minnesota Nurses' Association Suite 140 1295 Bandana Boulevard North St. Paul, Minnesota 55108–5115 (612) 646–4807 Chairperson Commission on Practice Minnesota Nurses Association St. Paul, Minnesota

Infection Control Practices in Minnesota Nursing Homes

Because infection is a major cause of hospitalization among nursing home residents, we assessed infection control activities and related employee health policies in Minnesota nursing homes, using a questionnaire. The majority of institutions (378/440, 85.9%) responded. We found traditional isolation techniques were widely used, but blood and urine precautions were employed in less than half of the homes. Infection surveillance tended to focus on chart review. Antibiotic utilization studies were done in 76% of homes. Procedures for urinary catheter care were often at variance with current recommendations. Employee health policies required a physical examination of a new employee in a minority of institutions. Policies required by Minnesota statute (eg, skin testing for tuberculosis and documentation of employee illness) were carried out by most institutions. Infection control policies and procedures in nursing homes should be redefined so that, where appropriate, they are more consistent with practices in acute-care hospitals.

Death and Dying

A study of attitudes toward dying patients of 1,061 Minnesota nurses who practiced in the metropolitan area (210 nurses) and outside the metropolitan area (851 nurses) revealed that they supported home care for dying children. They reported they would be willing to care for the dying adult or child in the home, but would feel more comfortable if they had added specialized preparation.

University of Minnesota Nursing Research Fund Established

University of Minnesota Nursing Research Fund Established

Minnesota Nurses Form Political Action Group

Minnesota Nurses Form Political Action Group

EDUCATION for CARDIAC NURSING in INDUSTRY

Occupational health nurses in Minnesota have met together for 19 years, always trying to improve their practice. A new university course, growing out of this tradition of study, has resulted in better nursing service for employees with heart disease

Minnesota Nurses Cosponsor Human Rights Fair

Minnesota Nurses Cosponsor Human Rights Fair

Minnesota Nurses Cosponsor Human Rights Fair

Minnesota Nurses Cosponsor Human Rights Fair

Going Places with MNA

WE recently wound up a new membership campaign here in Minnesota, and we have no doubts about what the results will be. We have done this before-and we increased our membership by 14 percent that time. Not only that: we were all equally gratified with the increased interest and enthusiasm for the total program of the district organizations, the Minnesota Nurses Association, and the American Nurses' Associa-

Formalization Observed in Ten Voluntary Associations: Concepts, Morphology, Process

T HIS study presents some of the basic or common processes which underlie manifestations of formalization in the small group, i.e., the process in which groups create rules and procedures for the dispatch of the business and for the regulation of the members to one another. Formalization is defined here as the process by which groups follow prescribed patterns of procedure; an increasing complexity in the social structure, a progressive prescription and standardization of social relationships and finally, an increasing bureaucratization of the organization. Much of the literature on this subject has pointed out that in the small groupings communication flows naturally, spontaneously and uninterrupted, and as a result contacts between members of the group are of an intimate nature. However, present-day observers are alarmed by the extent these channels of communication between followers and leaders in the small as well as the large formal organizations are lengthened, multiplied, and ossified. It is observed that as an organization develops, the tasks of the leadership or executive board and the office staff not only become more complex, but their duties become elaborate, enlarged, and specialized. The principle of division of labor comes more and more into operation, executive authority and responsibility undergo division and subdivision. There is thus constituted a rigorously defined hierarchical structure of positions. The leading hypothesis may be then expressed in these terms: the extension of the organization's structure starts its common process from an amorphous, informal structure and develops to a formal or regimented one. There is a progression from loose interpersonal to rigid impersonal contacts which is characterized primarily by an organizational hierarchy and by an extensive specialization of function. A voluntary association may be defined as a group of people which has some sort of formal organizational structure in which membership is open to all who share a particular occupation or profess a common aspiration or interest and in which people become members by their own decision. The association functions as a means for the pursuit of social ends. Ten associations were intensively studied by the case history method. These ten associations were: The Minneapolis League of Women Voters; the Ancient Order of United Workmen of Minnesota; Minnesota Council of Churches; Minnesota Nurses' Association; Alano Society of Minneapolis; Minnesota Association of Cooperatives; Lutheran Welfare Society; Minnesota Division, American Cancer Society; Hennepin County League of Planned Parenthood; and The International Institute. These ten associations were selected under the following conditions: (1) The officers of the association had to give approval to the research worker to have full access to all the records of the association; and (2) The association had to have, for the purpose of this study, a fairly rich amount of documentary material. The organizational histories of these associations were constructed from the documentary material taken from the files of the organization, i.e., minutes of board and committee meetings, pamphlets, publications, constitution and by-laws, annual reports, letters, and verbatim interviews with active key personnel past and present. In gathering the data for these case histories an attempt was made to record as completely as possible all the successive changes in the manifest social structure of the association, such as formal membership criteria, specific functional positions of officers, the changes in board and committee structure, the changes in the administrative office procedure, the increases in physical property, elaboration of personnel policies, size of the paid regular staff work-

Practical Nurses in Minnesota

Practical Nurses in Minnesota

Practical Nurses in Minnesota

stitutions was discussed by a panel at an institute on practical nurse education, held by the University of Minnesota School of Nursing in the fall of 1953. The panel included representatives of an urban voluntary hospital, a rural voluntary hospital, a specialized hospital, the University of Minnesota hospitals, and a public health agency. As the discussion proceeded, the significance of the nursing care which practical nurses provide became clearly evident.