A new air quality study by a Pennsylvania environmental advocacy group found the commonwealth has the sixth-most smog-ridden air in the nation. State Rep. Ken Smith, D-Dunmore, reacts Wednesday to a report as Meredith Meisenheimer of PennEnvironment Research and Policy Center looks on. The air quality in the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre/Hazleton region is not as bad as other metropolitan areas around the state and the country, but the advent of natural gas drilling could contribute to a worsening of air quality in the long run, a spokeswoman for the environmental group said Wednesday. Read more.

In the op-ed, “Complacency Erodes Sharps Safety Gains,” published in the August 2011 issue of Hospital Employee Health, ANA President Karen Daley contends that preventable sharps injuries are still occurring too often, even 10 years after enactment of the Needlestick Safety and Prevention Act, and calls on health care professionals to create a culture of safety to minimize incidents. The Guest Editorial is on page 91. Link directly from the Bookmarks column in the left margin of the pdf. (Published here with permission from AHC Media.) Read more.

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Announcing the launch of an exciting new website, Nursing, History and Health Care (NHHC). This unique website provides a lens through which scholars, students, clinicians, journalists, policy makers, and consumers can understand the historical roots of issues and challenges faced by the nursing profession as it devised ways and means of delivering nursing care services to the American public. The site addresses a wide range of topics vital to comprehending and broadening our understanding of health care and nursing concerns, including the role of professional nurses, nurse shortages, workplace problems and public health issues. Read more.

Given the pervasiveness of social media, the American Nurses Association (ANA) has released its Principles for Social Networking and the Nurse: Guidance for the Registered Nurse, a resource to guide nurses and nursing students in how they maintain professional standards in new media environments. Read more.