Analysis of coverage by The New York Times

The nurse as "mercy killer"

December 16, 2003 -- Over the last few days the New York Times and other media outlets have run stories about the filing of murder charges against Pennsylvania nurse Charles Cullen, who reportedly told investigators that he had ended the lives of 30-40 patients in his career in order to "alleviate pain and suffering." Today's Times article presents a relatively fair account of Cullen's alleged actions and their wider significance, though it could have provided more context. more...

See Robert McFadden and Robert Hanley's article "Nurse Charged in Death; Says He Killed Others" in the Dec. 16 the New York Times.

New York Times: "From Philippines, with scrubs"

November 24, 2003 -- Today's New York Times includes a lengthy article by Joseph Berger about the high numbers of Philippines-born nurses in the New York area and elsewhere in the United States. The story states that New York area Filipinas are "practically defined by" nursing, and that 30% of Filipinas in the area work as nurses or other health practitioners. For decades, U.S. hospitalfacing shortages have aggressively recruited nurses from the Philippines. They have reportedly prized them for their English language skills--despite disparagement of those skills on recent episodes of NBC's "ER"--as well as their training in a compatible educational system, work ethic, employment loyalty, and what Berger terms "a tenderness that seems to stem from a culture where people insist on caring for their own aging or sick relatives." The article reports that 41% of the respondents to a 2001 survey of foreign nursing school graduates in the U.S. had received their nursing education in the Philippines. more...

Elite panel issues massive report, urgent call to improve working conditions for nurses

November 5, 2003 -- Today Reuters and the New York Times ran passable initial stories about a major report issued by a panel of the National Academy of Science's Institute of Medicine, which advises the federal government on health care, urging reform to protect patients from the proven dangers of excessive nursing overtime and short-staffing. Neither article adequately conveys the unusually comprehensive analysis or the sweeping calls for legislative and other change in "Keeping Patients Safe: Transforming the Working Environment of Nurses," which is over 400 pages long. more...

NY Times: "Overwhelmed and understaffed"

June 8, 2003 -- An article by Richard Pérez-Peña in today's New York Times describes a new study by the Nursing Home Community Coalition of New York State finding that severe understaffing of the state's nursing homes is a significant threat to patients' health. The piece includes quotes from the study by a registered nurse, a licensed practical nurse, and a nurses aide stressing the unsafe staffing levels, as well as the fear, guilt and burnout staff endure in trying to provide care in the current environment. The article suggests that the primary cause of the understaffing is inadequate funding; most nursing home care in the state is funded by Medicaid. It also details recent legislative efforts to address the issue, noting that some have called for safe staffing ratios in the wake of a 2001 federal study concluding that patients' health was put at risk when the hours of nurses and nurses aides fell below three hours per day per patient. Officials in the Bush Administration reportedly oppose requiring staffing ratios, arguing that a three hour standard does not account for specific conditions. more...

NY Times: Men seen as one answer to nursing shortage

April 13, 2003 -- A piece by Eve Tahmincioglu in today's New York Times describes efforts to recruit male nurses as one way to combat the growing nursing shortage, featuring positive quotes from men who have switched to nursing from fields ranging from policing to the high-tech industry. The article shows how men can make a difference in nursing, and highlights the satisfaction, pay and job security nursing offers in today's tough job market. The piece also underlines the importance of fictional depictions of male nurses by leading with a description of some nurses' negative reactions to the 2000 film Meet the Parents and recent Scrubs episodes. Readers may not realize that some, including the Center, felt that these works actually featured positive male nurse characters undermining the stereotypical views held by others. But this is more...

Lt. Col. Jimmie Keenan, U.S. Army nurse, spurs key change for trauma research

April 8, 2003 -- Gina Kolata's piece in today's New York Times, "Trauma Medicine: Stepchild No More," highlights the exciting opportunities created by a recent change in federal law allowing the Defense Department to participate in clinical trauma research. The article tells how Lt. Col. Jimmie Keenan, an Army nurse, realized while serving as a field hospital head nurse in Kosovo in 1999 that some battlefield trauma practices had changed little since the U.S. Civil War. Later, as a Congressional fellow, Lt. Col. Keenan initiated and helped draft legislation to change a law barring military involvement in health research without explicit advance consent, which had precluded most clinical trauma research. Unfortunately, most of the article is devoted to physicians whose work will benefit from the change, and relatively little to the senior nurse whose patient advocacy led to it. Indeed, three physicians are identified by name and title before Lt. Col. Keenan, who is initially described only as "an Army nurse." The roles of nurses in trauma care and research are ignored. The only photo accompanying the web edition article is of a physician. Nevertheless, Ms. Kolata and the Times are to be commended for including some quotes from Lt. Col. Keenan and explaining the importance of her contribution to trauma care. more...

New York Times, noting link between nurse staffing and mortality, urges hospitals to address critical nursing shortage by reporting nurse-patient ratios

October 25, 2002 -- A New York Times editorial, reacting to nurse researcher Linda Aiken's study establishing a strong link between nurse staffing and patient mortality, explains the gravity of the nursing shortage, examines possible solutions, and calls on hospitals to report their nurse-patient ratios "so that prospective patients can decide where to take their chances."