Carole A. Anderson

The buck stops here

For a long time, Information Security (IS) was the baby of the Information Technology (IT) Department in an organization essentially because n o body else understood it. But after Enron, the advent of SOX and other legislations, it is becoming increasingly clear that the responsibility for IS reaches upto the Board of Dir ectors because of the concept of “Vicarious Liability” of top management for maintaining “Reaso nable Security Practices” in a Company.

Does every patient deserve a nurse

I n to a growing concern response over the loss of registered nurse posit ions in hospitals, the Amer ican Nurses Association has mounted a media campaign to alert the public to the fact that, if hospitalized, there is a high probability that they may receive the majority of their nursing care from a nursing assistant, not an RN. Is it true that every patient deserves a nurse? Does every patient need a nurse? One of the arguments put forth to support replacing RNs with assistive personnel is that RNs spend a large percentage of their time performing nonclinical duties and that if these duties could be done by others, fewer nurses would be needed. Furthermore, the assertion is made that not all of the care that patients receive requires the knowledge and skills of an RN. So, if unlicensed personnel can perform the less skilled clinical care, that further reduces the need for RNs. These arguments and the supporting data are convincing and difficult to counter, as is the need to reduce the costs of hospital care. But I continue to have