The Bureau of Labor Statistics has good news for America’s unemployed healthcare workers. Of the 19,200 jobs add to employment rosters in November, 8,000 were hospital jobs and 7,400 were reported in ambulatory care settings. Nursing and residential healthcare jobs increased by 3,800. Starting in October, leading travel nurse agency, American Traveler, saw a spike in monthly nurse job postings and allied health positions, indicating an uptick in client side demand, said a company official, bringing to an end the worst two years in healthcare employment in over a decade. Of the Bureau’s published list of 30 occupations projected to have the most job growth through 2018, registered nurses, therapists and physicians rise to the top, along with home health aides, personal care attendants and nurses aides. Though the increase in healthcare jobs promises to put thousands of caregivers back to work, job seekers face extreme competition, as nurses and therapists laid off during the recession look to get their jobs back. American Traveler has staffed over 75% of the USA's best hospitals as rated by US News & World Report. Want to learn more about available nursing jobs and therapist positions at American Traveler? [+]

Checklists are Promoting Safer Standards in US Hospitals Travel nurse jobs give R.N.s the distinct advantage of exposure to a wide variety of charting systems, familiarizing many with what has today become a popular practice in surgical jobs: making checklists. Surgical checklists are creating a sizeable dip in errors and patient mortality—and it’s not just their content changing patient outcomes and hospital efficiency for the better—it’s also the teamwork required from everyone on the surgical team committed to seeing checklists work. Borrowing a strategy from the aviation industry, healthcare is also using teamwork and briefings, to improve safety and efficiency during operations. Surgical checklists are a component in this, so effective they are becoming a new standard in healthcare; even the most highly regarded US hospitals are improving thanks to checklists. Surgical checklists document every step of a patient’s surgery and hospitalization, from admission to discharge, and are reducing the risk of dying after surgery and suffering other types of complications. In one study that addressed a pool of 7,600 patients, surgical checklists decreased mortality by half and morbidity by one-third; these statistics were generated in six different Netherlands hospitals, on 11 separate checklists comprised of [+]

Studies show that using safety techniques from the aviation industry may be the answer According to a study based on surgical teams from hospitals around the country, safety techniques—similar to ones used by the aviation industry—cut death rates from surgery by an astounding 18%. This is compelling news for those in operating room nurse jobs and other healthcare professionals in med surg jobs, interested in the benefits of teamwork. Known as "briefings" in the airline industry, the meetings are conducted before and after each flight, so that crews can anticipate and prepare for potential and/or future safety hazards. In a healthcare setting, "briefings" aided surgical teams in making important discoveries about the specifics of each patient's illness or condition prior to and after each surgical procedure. Checklists are a Must for Team Building in Surgical jobs The aviation industry doesn’t like surprises and either should operating room nurses and professionals in med/surg jobs. So what kinds of tactics are being used to eliminate surprises, and strengthen professional relationships among the operating room team? Operating room nurses are asked (to learn) to recognize red flags Med surg and OR nurses are expected to challenge colleagues should safety risks come up Operating room nurses are expected to develop [+]

Why some nurses are becoming desensitized to hospital alarms Patient safety is foremost in providing excellent healthcare—which is why “alarm fatigue� is an alarming topic. The best way to increase awareness among the medical community, especially those in nursing jobs, is to educate them on what, exactly, nursing alarm fatigue is and when it is most likely to occur. Recently, a hospital in the northeast with a very busy nursing floor had an ill patient’s alarm sounding. Surrounded by constantly beeping monitors, nurses failed to respond to this heart patient’s alarm, signaling a drop in heart rate and ending in fatality 20 minutes later. Nursing Alarm Fatigue has been blamed; it happens because nurses become desensitized to round the clock beeping. You may be suffering from this fatigue, if, while performing your duties you hear so many ubiquitous alarms, you no longer react with the appropriate degree of concern or speed. In the case of the incident stated above, investigators found that the tragedy was due, in part, to the alarm’s volume adjustment by an unknown person; rather than scandal, investigators suspected the alarm was disabled simply because hospital staff sensed its potential to [+]

OR Nurse Jobs get more cutting-edge with the da Vinci® Surgical System Surgery used to present two options for doctors and their patients: a large open incision or laparoscopy; in the case of the later, surgery was limited to a handful of simple procedures, but now there’s an alternative that can be used in a wide variety of complex surgeries—and the fun part? It looks a little like a video game in an arcade. What are we talking about? The da Vinci® Surgical System, a hot topic in the medical community, and one that encourages Med/surg nurses to advance their education on medical robotics; just like their colleagues in OR nursing jobs, are encouraged to learn everything they can to better assist post-op patients. If you fall under the OR nurse jobs or Med/Surg category, consider the da Vinci a buzz-word in your continuing education as a nursing caregiver. Chances are you’ll concur with studies on the positive clinical outcomes (like reduced pain) of this high tech surgery and understand why more and more hospitals are welcoming da Vinci in. Created by the Intuitive Surgical company and named after Leonardo da Vinci for its precision in anatomy and 3-D images reminiscent of his drawings, [+]

Here’s a heads-up to NEURO and ER nurses everywhere: Did you know that, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, there are more than 1 million emergency-room visits per year for traumatic brain injury (TBI) or concussion?  Worse: “Each year, U.S. emergency departments treat an estimated 135,000 sports- and recreation-related TBIs, including concussions, among children ages 5 to 18.� As an ER nurse, you probably do know that many of these brain injuries go ignored far too long, resulting in complications, hospitalizations and even death.  To help get the word out about the seriousness of concussions and TBIs, the CDC has launched a Concussion in Sports Web page. This Web page is loaded with useful information and statistics for consumers -- coaches, parents and others -- including the basics of how to recognize a possible brain injury or concussion or what to do if a concussion occurs. But the site is also an invaluable tool for the ER nurses and other healthcare professionals, too. Let’s say you just took an American Traveler assignment for a pedriatric ICU job in Cincinatti, or for a critical care job in Hudson, FL (these jobs are actually available right now!) -- and a suspected brain-injury [+]

Pink ribbons have long been synonymous with Breast Cancer Awareness, but there’s another advocacy group helping women who face a different cancer diagnosis: ovarian cancer; its ribbon is teal blue. RNs are a critical part of the medical team treating a woman with cancer, which, you could say, is women helping women; according to the U.S. Department of Labor, women make up 91% of the nursing workforce. If you want to use your skills to help cancer patients, American Traveler Nursing Professional Resources page has a link to the Oncology Nursing Society web site. No matter her specialty, RNs should recognize the symptoms of ovarian cancer (bloating, a feeling of fullness before meals, frequent trips to the bathroom, Pelvic and abdominal pain) to help their female patients, as well as know their own bodies well enough to stay healthy themselves. The deadliest of all gynecological cancers, ovarian cancer and the research conducted everyday to beat it, is supported largely by The Ovarian Cancer National Alliance (OCNA), where teal ribbons and a host of products in the same robin’s egg blue (bracelets, necklaces, pendants, art and more) are devoted to raising money for increased [+]

Learn more about our Hot Jobs by signing up for our Healthcare Jobs RSS feed or follow us on Twitter. Our Hot Jobs are refreshed hourly, with a call right now for critical care nurses, Case Manage,  physical therapists, occupational therapists and Med/Surg nurses across the nation. You should know that Hot Jobs offer more specialized positions in telemetry, dialysis, Pediatrics and PACU. You can apply for a job that lasts a mere six weeks, or up to five months; a 13 week assignment is the norm. Every week, we showcase our Top 10 hot jobs. When travel nurses apply, they begin work immediately upon hire. Do you crave an assignment in New England, the nation’s capital, heart of America or somewhere out west? Featured jobs at American Traveler are diverse, well paying—you could earn up to 110K a year!—and scattered across the country. As we mentioned earlier on, you won’t need to check in regularly to see the latest in Hot Jobs, because when position openings come to Washington D.C., LA, even Wichita, you’ll feel like a little bird told you, just by following us on Twitter or better yet, get it in your [+]

RN Travel Nurse Job - Pediatric ICU Location: Oklahoma City, OK Night – 12 Hour Shift Length: 9 Weeks Call 800-884-8788 or Apply Online Now RN Travel Nurse Job - Home Health Location: Irvine, CA Days – 8 Hour Shift Length: 12 Weeks Call 800-884-8788 or Apply Online Now Find more jobs refreshed hourly on our health care Hot Jobs page [+]

OR Travel Nurse Job Location: Washington, DC Day - D/N Rotating 8 Hour Shift Length: 9 Weeks Call 800-884-8788 or Apply Online Now RN Operating Room Job Location: Lebanon, NH Day - Variable10 11:00 AM - 9:00 PM Length: 13 Weeks Call 800-884-8788 or Apply Online Now [+]