JOB SHIFT
Most nurses plan to be on the move
According to a survey by http://CareerBuilder.com, 49% of nurses plan to leave their current jobs in the next 2 years, 32% expect to change jobs within a year, and 18% are ready to do so within the next 6 months.
The top reason for switching jobs: an unmanageable workload. Nearly three-quarters of respondents said their facilities are understaffed, which contributes to high stress levels, compromised patient care, department overcrowding, and bed closings. For two-thirds of respondents, workloads have increased in the last 6 months; nearly 60% are feeling burnout.
So where do these nurses want to work? One-quarter prefer health care providers' offices, followed by hospitals, clinics, and pharmaceutical sales companies. Competitive salary/benefits, flexible schedules, stability and profitability, demonstrated recognition of employees, and programs for a healthy work/life balance were elements that most attracted surveyed nurses to a new job.
BREAST CANCER
Exercise can improve survival rate
Breast cancer survivors who spend a few hours a week walking or otherwise exercising can live longer, says new research published in the May 25, 2005, issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association. Of 3,000 women who'd been treated for Stage 1, Stage 2, or Stage 3 invasive breast cancer with standard therapies (surgery, radiation, chemotherapy, and tamoxifen), those who exercised a few hours a week were less likely to die from breast cancer than those who got less than 1 hour of physical activity each week.
The benefit was statistically significant only in women whose tumors were sensitive to estrogen (ER-positive tumors). The lead author, Michelle Holmes, PhD, of Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, Mass., said that this occurs because exercise reduces estrogen levels in the body.
Few ER-negative women were included in the study, so it's unclear whether exercise can help them survive longer as well. Nevertheless, the finding gives breast cancer survivors new hope in fighting the odds of cancer recurrence.
PREVENTIVE CARE
Physicians still support annual examinations
Most physicians still believe that annual physical examinations are worthwhile, despite the fact that the biggest U.S. health groups no longer recommend them for healthy adults.
A June 2005 study from the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center reported that 94% of the almost 800 primary care providers surveyed believe that annual physical exams improve the provider-patient relationship and allow valuable time for counseling patients. About 90% said they perform annual exams, and about 80% say that most of their patients expect an annual exam. Three-quarters of the respondents said that they believed annual exams improved the chances of early detection of illness.
In 1996, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force changed its policy regarding annual physical exams, stating that insufficient clinical evidence was available to support the practice. The American Medical Association and other large health groups have since abandoned the concept of an annual physical for healthy patients; many call for testing based on individual risk factors for disease instead.
MENTAL HEALTH
Effective treatment still eludes many
Many Americans aren't receiving minimally adequate care for mental illness, according to a study by the National Institute of Mental Health. The study, published in the June 2005 issue of Archives of General Psychiatry, found that 46% of Americans will meet the criteria for a DSM-IV disorder some time during their lifetime, although only about 22% of cases occurring within any 12-month period will be serious. Although most people with lifetime psychiatric disorders eventually get treatment, the delay in doing so can range from 6 to 8 years for mood disorders and from 9 to 23 years for anxiety disorders.
DID YOU KNOW?
[black small square] Dark chocolatemay help fight hypertension. The benefit, according to a recent study, may come from flavonoids-natural antioxidants in chocolate and other foods. One word of caution: Subjects ate only small amounts of dark chocolate and cut other calories to avoid weight gain.