THE GREAT STATE OF
COLORADO
William Brent Stanford RN
Education:
BS Mechanical Engineering Technology, 1990, University of Southern Mississippi
BS Nursing, 2004, Regis University
Society's:
Sigma Theta Tau
Colorado Nursing Association
American Association of Critical Care Nurses
As indicated by my education, I am a fairly "new" RN. I began my working career in the engineering and manufacturing realm, holding positions ranging from Quality Assurance to Assistant Plant Manager of a $5 million/y manufacturing company. During this time I was often in charge of "safety", coordinating classes for CPR and the like. I also began volunteering in the ED at Denver General, who after seeing my interest, encouraged and assisted in payment for my completion of EMT-B. I then was pretty much "hooked" and decided to pursue a career full time in the Health Profession. I have worked as a post-surgical RN and am currently an RN in the MICU/SICU. When asked why I became an RN, my reply revolves around the theme that I really like to help people. This job is also one of the most challenging one can undertake, couple that with the "shortage" of RN's currently working in the field and the opportunities are limitless. I am becoming more involved with the Nurses Alliance Association here in Denver and will be confronting issues such as the shortage of RN's as well as working conditions faced by RN's. The goal is to find working solutions beneficial to patients, RN's and the Health Care employers. While we certainly have to work together to solve these issues, I honestly believe is up to the RN profession to lead the discussion. I look forward to working with Male Nurse Magazine for reporting and addressing this and other topics.
On a person level, I have a wonderful wife of 15 years and we spend most of our free time in the mountains, biking, hiking, camping, canoeing, fishing, and skiing...and we have all the toys that go along with those activities, believe me! ha
January Report 2007
Greetings from snowy Colorado! In this, my first report (I've been meaning to send something earlier to you Jerry...really) for Male Nurse Magazine, I'm focusing more on a couple of issues that affect all RN's...instead of what may be the expected focus, male RN's. But first, I would like to relay an interesting comment and observation I received from a patient's family member just other day. The husband of a patient told me how surprised he was about the sheer number of male RN's he had encountered on his unfortunate excursion through the Emergency Department and now the MICU. At that particular time, there were 3 male RN's on and 2 female RN's on the Unit. He asked if there were as many male RN's in all departments as there appeared to be in the ED and ICU. As his experience with the health care team and especially RN's was positive, he even asked what steps he might take to become an RN. It goes to show you, we can be and actually are positive role models and can affect how RN's are viewed by the "general public".
During the 4th quarter of 2006, a lot of action has taken place in Colorado that affects nursing and more importantly, patients. Finally, after months of negotiating, non-negotiating and then negotiating again, HCA-HealthOne and United Healthcare announced a new nationwide contract that includes Colorado. It will allow approximately 850,000 Colorado residents insured through United and it's affiliates to once again have in-network access to HCA's seven Denver Metro area hospital and 10 surgical centers. The background info on this issue revolves around reimbursement rates to HCA by United. United had claimed that HCA-HealthOne demanded a 35% reimbursement rate increase over 4 years in Colorado, while HCA claimed it's requested increase would only translate into a 1.9% premium increase per year for employers and individuals. While this public fight over reimbursements continued, many United members/patients were forced to seek care outside of the HCA-HealthOne network, which caused undue work on the patients side and unfilled beds on HCA side. Neither side has disclosed the terms of the deal.
Another issue that effects Colorado Patients is the nursing shortage. According to a report by the Nurse Alliance of Colorado, the nursing shortage here is twice that of the rest of the country. The interesting facts around this RN shortage include that it is actually created by the state's hospital's staffing ratios and low pay. It also suggests that there is no real shortage of RN's, the shortage is of RN's willing to work bedside care at hospitals. According to the Nurse's alliance, for every full time nurse, there are 6 other RN's who choose NOT to work at hospitals. The Nurse Alliance calls this a "crisis" not a "shortage". As an editorial note, I'd like to state that if I were a patient and I didn't have an RN...it would be a shortage and a crisis!!!
Until next time from Colorado...Keep your skiis on the slopes!
Reporting from your state
