Literature Review

WVU Medicine gave $25K in cash to hundreds of aspiring nurses. Did it work? Becker's Clinical Leadership; by Paige Twenter; 7/27/26 When WVU Medicine started handing aspiring nurses up to $25,000 in cash, the bet was that money for life’s expenses, not just tuition, would keep them in school. Early returns suggest it is. As of late July, the Morgantown, W.Va.-based system had signed 985 students to its Aspiring Nurse Program and expected to cross 1,000 within a month, said Jessica Huffman, DNP, RN, assistant vice president of system nursing services. The program, which launched in August 2023 at two sites before expanding systemwide, gives students their stipends upfront to cover living costs — a flat tire, a utility bill, groceries — in exchange for a three-year commitment to work as a full-time direct care registered nurse at the 25-hospital system. The premise, drawn from student surveys, was that money is what pushes West Virginia nurses out of school before they finish, not a lack of aptitude.

Physicians: proposed California rule threatens livelihood, providersHospice News; by Jim Parker; 7/28/26Some hospice medical directors contend that proposed emergency regulations in California represent a threat to their livelihood, as well as creating access risks for patients. The California Department of Public Health (CDPH) proposed the rules in June in an effort to combat fraud. Within the 143-page document, the sticking point for physicians is a requirement that, if finalized, would limit hospice medical directors to serving only one hospice. CDPH recently held an online stakeholder meeting regarding the proposal in which several physicians called on the agency to allow medical directors to serve as many as three hospices, or to eliminate the limitation altogether for at least some doctors.

The business case for supporting the growing population of caregiver-employees — and how to do it McKnights Senior Living; by Kimberly Bonvissuto; 7/22/26 Caregiving no longer is just a personal or family issue — it’s increasingly a workforce, financial and health issue — but employers occupy a unique position in their ability to make a meaningful difference in the lives of their employees, according to two new reports. New research from the Employee Benefit Research Institute and Greenwald Research finds that unpaid family caregivers face greater financial strain, lower retirement confidence and more concern about future retirement risks than Americans who are not unpaid caregivers. Care.com also has released new research focusing on the challenges of caregivers in the sandwich generation, who face simultaneous challenges of caring for aging parents while also raising children. 

Nursing philosophy: What it is and why it matters in BSN education Nevada State University; by RN to BSN; 7/23/26... A nursing philosophy is a personal statement of the values and motivations that guide a nurse’s practice. It is not a job description or a list of clinical competencies; rather, it is a reflection of what nursing means to the individual practitioner and how that meaning informs the way they show up at work. A well-developed philosophy of nursing typically addresses several core areas:

From Iowa City to the Rockies: How one social work graduate built a career on connection Iowa University College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, School of Social Work; 6/25/26 Since earning her bachelor's degree in social work from Iowa in 2010, Amanda Hebel has spent 15 years helping people navigate life's challenges—from hospice care to rehabilitation services across Colorado. ... Her senior year also brought her practicum placement in hospice care, and it’s where her education became a career. Having lost both of her parents before starting college, Hebel entered the placement with a depth of understanding that shaped how she showed up for patients from day one. The hands-on work—grief counseling, difficult conversations, navigating complex family dynamics—translated directly into the skills she'd carry into the workforce.

Hospitals confront nursing opposition to AI HFMA; by Rich Daly; 7/7/26 Health systems’ adoption of artificial intelligence to improve productivity increasingly is meeting opposition from their nursing staff. Nurse opposition to AI has become most visible in nurse strikes, where limits and guardrails on AI deployment for clinical and administrative uses have emerged. Sixty-five percent of hospitals reported using AI or predictive models integrated with their electronic health records (EHRs) in 2023, according to a recent study. But nurse distrust of the technology was seen in a 2024 National Nurses United survey of 2,300 registered nurses, which found that 60% of respondents did not trust their employers to prioritize patient safety when implementing AI.

How do senior hospital doctors perceive their role in supporting junior colleagues with navigating ethical issues in end-of-life care? BMJ Supportive & Palliative Care; by Sinead Donnelly, Simon Walker, John McMillan and Jean Hay-Smith; 6/29/26 Objectives: ... The aim of this study was to explore senior doctors’ experience of supporting first-year and second-year resident doctors including the strategies used.Results: ... The first theme, Context: ‘the job is brutal’, details the pressure on and vulnerability of both senior and junior doctors. The second theme, Support: ‘it is the human part we want to live, we also have the expertise’, encompasses what senior doctors do and would like to do more of to support junior doctors. Meeting junior doctors on a human level and role modelling self-awareness and reflection are the most effective ways of support. The lack of value placed on these ways of support is a source of frustration.

Are physicians and nonphysician clinicians interchangeable? MedPageToday's KevinMD.com; by Gus W. Krucke, MD; 6/24/26 ... Teamwork is necessary in medicine. But it is not equivalence, and shared work is not shared responsibility. This essay does not argue against team-based care or the work of nurse practitioners, physician assistants, and nonphysician clinicians. It argues against the unsupported conclusion that overlapping work, outcomes, and workforce pressure establish equivalence in training, judgment, and final accountability between physicians and nonphysician clinical providers.

Palliative care: ‘This part of medicine gives me the most meaning’ UCLA Health; by Mary-Rose Abraham; 6/16/26 Second annual summit gathers interdisciplinary team of providers ... UCLA Health’s second annual palliative care summit highlighted the specialty’s role in improving quality of life for patients living with serious illness and their families, supporting healthcare teams and advancing patient-centered care. The summit also addressed the importance of a culture of wellness as a hedge to workplace burnout.

Home care/hospice salary & benefits studies: participation now open LeadingAge; by Josh Moore; 6/8/26 Participation is now open for the annual Home Health and Hospice Salary & Benefits Studies, conducted in cooperation by LeadingAge’s partner Hospital & Healthcare Compensation Service (HCS), and LeadingAge is encouraging our members to participate.  The study is recognized as the standard for reliable and comprehensive compensation data, including management salaries, nonmanagement wages, fringe benefits, and other facility metrics. ... Last year’s Home Care Report contained data from 1,111 home health agencies and the Hospice Report had data from 1,091 hospice agencies.

Bridging the gap: a hospitalist-designed, nurse-driven palliative care model in a community hospital The Hospitalist; by Natasha Rai Morris, MD, MHA, CHCQM, CRCR, CCDS and Jessica Staton, MSN, MBA, RN, CCM; 6/1/26 ... [The] number of clinicians trained in palliative care is insufficient to meet the increasing demand for goals-of-care and advance care planning discussions. ... To address this gap, a 90-day pilot program was designed and implemented by a hospitalist and registered nurse care manager. The purpose was straightforward: expand access to early goals-of-care conversations, advance care planning, and appropriate hospice referral without waiting for a fully staffed specialty palliative team. ... In short, this model produced measurable documentation gains, earlier advance-care planning, and culture change toward goal-concordant care without requiring a full dedicated palliative team on site.

How AI’s growing role in nursing raises questions about safety, ethics, and human care: Penn nursing report cautions that AI systems may add rather than reduce costs and workflow burdensPenn LDI - Leonard Davis Institute of Health Economics; by Hoag Levins; 5/27/26 As artificial intelligence systems spread through hospitals and clinics, a growing debate is emerging over whether the technology will ultimately strengthen nursing care — or gradually replace parts of it. That tension is at the center of a new University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing report, “Artificial Intelligence and Nursing Science: Opportunities, Challenges, Implications, and Guidelines,” published in the May-June 2026 edition of Nursing Outlook.

BAYADA ranked on Forbes' Best Employers for New Grads list HomeCare News, Philadelphia, PA; Press Release; 5/27/26 BAYADA Home Health Care announced it has been named to Forbes’ America’s Best Employers for New Grads 2026, an annual ranking based on an independent survey of more than 100,000 United States employees with fewer than 10 years of work experience. BAYADA said it is the only home healthcare organization that made the list, ranked No. 116 out of the 500 companies recognized, spanning all industries. More than 2 million employer evaluations across a three-year period informed the final list.