Maureen Bonatch

Many nurses countdown the years until retirement, but when the time comes they discover that they aren't quite ready, or they don’t have the funds to live the life they desire. The ongoing nursing shortage has yielded a demand for experienced nurses. Rather than retire, some nurses are exploring other nursing options, or reducing their schedules to assist in adjusting to retirement. While employers may consider the benefits of recruiting, or maintaining, these nurses for their workforce.
Many...

There’s one person we talk to more than anyone else—ourselves. Our internal dialogue is constant most of our waking hours. Although unfortunately, the way we talk to ourselves is often irrational or untrue. Our self-talk when we make a mistake, or overthink a situation, is often demeaning and negative. We’d never say the things we think to ourselves to another person because they’re hurtful. Yet we often poison our happiness by speaking to ourselves in a negative or self-destructive manner.
A...

The Affordable Care Act (ACA) in 2010 prompted an ongoing effort to reduce healthcare costs while striving to improve quality patient care. A push toward paying for value with a focus on clinical outcomes, incentives, and mandatory reporting, has led to increased cost control efforts. The intent is to improve the quality and overall population health while reducing waste by changing how payment is received, and how healthcare is delivered.
Capitated care shifts the role of managing the amount...

Bonatch, Maureen, MSN, RN

When I met Dorothy, she was always counting. Her chapped lips moved nonstop as she chanted random numbers. She'd increase the speed, as if that would help her to reach the end quickly—but since the numbers didn't appear to be in any sensible order, this loomed before her like an impossible task. Her nonsensible counting seemed to be her manner of trying to keep pace with the nonsensible thoughts racing through her mind, and her eyes bore the agony of the marathon.

Acute Psychiatric Needs in The Emergency Department
Overview
Patients presenting with acute psychiatric needs to the emergency department (ED) have increased to nearly double the rate of a decade ago. This can create different challenges for nurses working in the ED. Without the development of an increased awareness to recognize the unique needs of a patient in an acute psychiatric crisis, it could result in patient’s being undiagnosed, increased safety risks for patients and staff and could ...

Long before the holidays arrive, we begin to mentally review what needs to be done to create the perfect holiday, or choose the perfect gift for our loved ones. Many of us develop unrealistic expectations on our time, money, and energy, of what the holidays should include. This is especially difficult for nurses since often the holidays bring longer hours, less staff, and more stress. Instead of enjoying the holiday season, we end up feeling guilty, frustrated and overwhelmed.
Months before t...

Population health management (PHM) refers to a concentrated holistic approach to improving the patient health outcomes of a group of individuals. These individuals are part of a larger group that could consist of people within a predetermined health system, a geographic area, those with a specific disease or ones sharing another defined characteristic. The move away from patient fee-for-service to a value-based model has made managing population health the focus for most Accountable Care Orga...

Anyone can develop Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), including families of victims and nurses themselves. It can be difficult to recognize PTSD since symptoms may not manifest until long after an event occurs, and because many people don’t seek treatment. Most nurses are aware of the risk of PTSD for their patients, but many haven’t considered that they may be at risk
Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is usually associated with active and retired military members, and although they m...

Revenue Cycle Management (RCM) refers to the process of identifying, collecting and managing the practice’s revenue from payers based on the services provided. A successful RCM process is essential for a healthcare practice to maintain financial viability and continue to provide quality care for their patients.
The move toward value-based reimbursement and more holistic patient care has required healthcare providers to take a closer look at the way they approach revenue cycle management. Poor...

Sometimes it may seem like we’re constantly reaching for the next step in our career ladder, but what happens when we reach the top? Or when the destination we’ve been striving for no longer looks enticing? Taking the time to slow down and assess if we’re going in the right direction, or to determine why our career seems to have stalled, might help us determine if we’re stuck in a career rut and how to get out of it.
After years of nursing school, and then choosing what seemed like the perfec...

The Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015 (MACRA) was updated by CMS to continue to move healthcare providers from fee-for-service payment, or volume-based, to value-based patient care. As a part of the reform, Quality Payment Program (QPP) policy reforms Medicare Part B payments for clinicians across the country, and is a major step in improving care across the entire health care delivery system. Clinicians can choose how they want to participate in QPP based on their practice...

Value-based reimbursement has healthcare providers striving to transform the way they deliver patient care by shifting from rewarding volume, as associated with a fee-for-service model, to value. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) plans to encourage providers to continue redefining their way of thinking so that by the end of 2018, half of traditional Medicare based payments should be linked with a value-based reimbursement model. This transition works toward the goal of bett...

Our goal is to ensure elderly patients are healthy enough to return safely home, but what happens once they get there and they’re home alone? Even if they’re physically able to care for themselves, many elderly patients are isolated due to physical limitations and reduced social interaction. This isolation can result in increased physical and mental health risks. Identifying risks and educating elderly patients and their families about available opportunities may help reduce their isolation.
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A diagnosis of primary immunodeficiency as a teenager, and later of autoimmune disease, didn’t discourage Ashley Hay, BSN, RN, from pursuing her dreams. Maintaining a positive attitude helped her circumvent professional roadblocks while managing chronic illness to craft a successful nursing career alongside, and away from, the bedside.
A DESIRE TO MAKE A LASTING DIFFERENCE
Ashley Hay has always loved writing. When the time came to choose a career path, she initially considered journalism but ...

Change is inevitable. This is especially true for the provision of healthcare. The desire to improve the delivery of quality care and provide the most accessible and affordable care that meets the needs of the patient and the provider, lead to the introduction of The Affordable Care Act (ACA). The implementation of the ACA resulted in changes in patient population demographics as an influx of previously uninsured individuals in the United States (U.S.) acquired healthcare coverage. This surge...