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What stories grabbed you in 2019? NC Health News most-read stories of the year

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What stories grabbed you in 2019? NC Health News most-read stories of the year - North Carolina Health News

What piqued your interest this year? We review which stories grabbed peoples' attention, got passed around and shared widely.

By NC Health News Staff Lessons from Abroad: How Europeans tackled opioid addiction and what the U.S. could learn from them. For years, NC Health News has reported on the drug-related deaths, diseases and losses that have resulted from the opioid crisis. Life expectancy in the United States has dropped for two years in a […]

rows of nurses in white coats sit facing a speaker

Nursing students ready to go to rural NC, but need more autonomy

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Nursing students ready to go to rural NC, but need more autonomy - North Carolina Health News

This year’s nursing advocacy day at the General Assembly was a display of the number and breadth of nursing practice in North Carolina.

By Taylor Knopf A sea of white coats descended on the state capital Wednesday as more than a thousand nursing students from around the state came to push lawmakers on some of the biggest health care issues of this legislative work session. The main talking points during the N.C. Nurses Association’s “2019 Nurses Day at […]

an african american man stands surrounded by women, he's looking at some papers

Advanced practice nurses press legislature for autonomy from MD supervision

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Advanced practice nurses press legislature for autonomy from MD supervision - North Carolina Health News

This year, the nurses have some powerful allies, and perhaps timing, favoring their quest for more independence.

By Rose Hoban Debbie Varnam runs a busy primary care practice in the Brunswick County town of Shallotte. The town is small enough that her 2,500 or so patients at Seaside Wellness make up a sizable portion of the town. Varnam says she’s also got a collegial relationship with other practitioners in the area, including […]

two women talking animatedly in a hallway near a bank of elevators

Nurses Make A Full Court Press for Regulatory Changes

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Nurses Make A Full Court Press for Regulatory Changes - North Carolina Health News

In almost every legislative session of the past decade, advanced practice nurses have made attempts at the legislature to change the way they are licensed and regulated. This year, they think it will actually happen.

By Rose Hoban A couple of years ago, Tom Bush was working as the “nurse of the day” at the General Assembly. It’s an honorary volunteer position, used to give health care practitioners (there’s a doctor of the day, too) a taste of the legislature, it also gives providers a chance for some one-on-one with […]

Often, patients who are readmitted after being sent home from the hospital return through the emergency room. Photo shows nurses rushing a patient on a gurney into a doorway.

MDs and RNs Debate Nursing Role at the Legislature

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MDs and RNs Debate Nursing Role at the Legislature - North Carolina Health News

Lawmakers say they’re ready to give the rules around nursing practice a vote. Is the health care community ready? By Rose Hoban Like so many political debates these days, the rules of engagement had been negotiated ahead of time. On March 8, the Joint Legislative Oversight Committee for Health and Human Services at the General […]

Navy nurses attending class, 1940s. Image courtesy US Navy

No Nursing Shortage in N.C., Unless You’re Rural

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No Nursing Shortage in N.C., Unless You’re Rural - North Carolina Health News

A legislative committee hears about how pockets of the state struggle to recruit and retain health care workers. By Rose Hoban As North Carolina pursues Medicaid reform, and as the health care system continues to evolve, the largest health care profession in the state needs to change with it. That was the upshot of a […]

Study Makes the Economic Case for Advanced Practice Nurses

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Study Makes the Economic Case for Advanced Practice Nurses - North Carolina Health News

A new study finds loosening practice restrictions on North Carolina nurse practitioners, nurse midwives and nurse anesthetists could save hundreds of millions annually. By Rose Hoban If lawmakers in Raleigh would undo some of the restrictions on nurse practitioners, nurse midwives, nurse anesthetists and other “advanced practice” nurses, it could solve the state’s primary care […]

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