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Show Poge Eight FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 1972 Sen. Moss Threatens Action to Halt Nurse Home Patient Abuse Bicycling Deaths and Senator Frank warned that he would seek legislative solutions if growing evidence continues to show that nursing home patients arc oversedated, and that drugs are dispensed by unlicensed personnel on their own initiative. In an article for Bedside Nurse magazine, the Utah Democrat declared that several studies indicate incidence as high as 50 per cent of drugs being administered in error in nursing homes. Several noted physicians have confirmed that there are loose drug controls and excessive use of tranquilizers in the nations nursing homes, he said. He blames inadequate drug controls primarily on doctor absence from the nursing home. Few homes have physicians in overall responsibility for patients he claims. In most, the care of patients falls to the nursing staff. This situation is particularly serious in regard to the flow of drugs by the homes. Normally, registered nurses are responsible for setting up and passing medications in nursing homes, said Sen. Moss. But most of their day is spent on administrative duty so they spend comparatively little time with patients. Thus, the bulk of patient care, including the dispensing of drugs, is left to unlicensed personnel. E. Moss Injuries a Crowing Concern in Utah Bicycling? Ride on, say more and more Utahns who have now not even Many physicians do see their nursing home patients switched to the two wheeled veonce a month, while most pre- hicle for cheap, clean and healthscribe care and medicine over a ful transportation. Although bicycling is now a phone. The telephone is becomto some of the states solution a more medical ing important instrument than the stethoscope. social problems, it is not without Many physicians neglect the its own problems. The tremennursing home and do not view dous growth in the use of the it as part of the medical con- bicycle has been accompanied by a similar increase in biking accitinuum, he declared. Senator Moss emphasized that dents, says the Insurance Inforphysician absence from nursing mation Institute. The injury and death toll from homes has become so widespread that it is now common practice cycling accidents is high. Two for doctors to sign death certifi- persons lost their lives and 331 cates of patients who die in the were injured as a result of 308 nursing homes without even see- bicycles in 1971. Five persons ing the bodies. The possibilities already have died in Utah bike for covering up foul play in such accidents this year. Statistics show that in most cases are obvious, he said. accidents the cyclist violates bike While affirming that nursing a law. This inattention or traffic homes today are far better than failure to yield the right of way they were several years ago, the accounts for the largest number Senator pointed out that the of d mishaps. In less than quality of care in most nursing of bike accidents, the motor homes across the nation is not vehicle driver violates a traffic yet at the level where evereyone rule or regulation. can feel comfortable in placing bike accidents generally Rural a loved one in each and every more severe. Though most are nursing home. accidents occur on city streets, Senator Moss asserted that this more than 50 per cent of the level must be achieved, and can fatalities and a percentage be achieved through a combina- of the serious large occur in injuries tion of proper legislation and the rural areas. tender loving care that consciBike riders should obey all the entious nursing personnel traffic laws and learn the safety precautions of bicycling. At the some time the Institute encourages motorists to look out for the bike rider. THE SALT LAKE TIMES College Job Outlook Still Good For Graduates Despite Rumors A college education still provides top job placement possibilities, despite loose talk of the uselessness of a college degree and Ph.D.s driving taxi cabs, according to G. Homer Durham, Utah Commissioner of Higher Education. If a college degree is useless, Utah statistics and national experience dont bear it out, Dr. Durham said, noting that the future for college graduates is good. Quoting the Manpower report to the President, Durham added that the employment of professional and technical workers has increased more rapidly than any other occupational group during both the 1950s and 1960s. The proportion of these jobs requiring a college degree will increase to a record high through 1980. Nearly two thirds of the workers in the professional, managerial, technical category will have college level training in 1980, he said. Durham explained that both national and local employment figures indicate that the unemployment rate for professional, managerial and technical workers is significantly less than for the rest of the labor force. Unemployment for those areas are well below the average rate for the entire work force in 1971 (2.9 per cent, compared to 5.9 percent). In Utah the unemployment rate of professional and workers averaged 1.6 Candidates Urged to technical percent as of July, 1972, comto a 6.4 percent average Obey Road Sign Laws pared labor force. The Utah Department of High- for the entire Utah 1.6 percent of the means This Governor Calvin L. Rampton are not acceptable this year and ways reminds all candidates for announced that a list of approved do not meet the national guide- office and all political party Utah workers with college de HUD Water and Sewer projects lines. We are in the process of workers of the Utah law governin Utah will be released by Sept. negotiating with DHUD to reach ing outdoor advertising. This 20. HUD officials from the Den- accord in the discrepancies and law prohibits signs along federal ver regional office met last week following a joint meeting in Den- , aid Interstate or primary high-- j with officials of the Department ver on Sept. 15, a mutually-agreeabl- e unless certain requirement decision will be had. . ways of Community Affairs and the is met. Governor, and, following a meetAmericas increasingly comAccording to Mr. Bruhn, the The statutory definition of a ing in Denver on Sept. 15, an grants are available to commu- sign is: Any outdoor structure, plex society has made the lawyer announcement of the approved nities for the development of light device, figure, painting, as indispensable as the dentist, projects will be made. public utility systems under the drawing, message, plaque, poster doctor or plumber. But unless or billboard or anything which attorneys modernize their pracAccording to William G. Bruhn HUD Water and Sewer Facilities executive director of Department Grant Program, including sani- is designed, intended or used to tices and eliminate inefficiency, of Community Affairs, the Sept. tary sewers, culinary water sys- advertise or inform. theyll price themselves right storm tems drains. Criteria or 20 date represents a delay for Landowners, candidates and out of the legal business, says local communities needing such employed in the evaluation and political workers are subject to a University of Utah law prorating of these projects include prosecution for signs illegally fessor. projects. A typical practitioner still emThe delay is a result of dif- compliance with local and area placed. of financial wide ability plans, If there are questions regard- ployers Abe Lincolns old fashferences between state and fedwith the compliance applicant, eral rating methods of determinsign regulations contact Mer- ioned methods, says Dr. Kline state health codes, better urban ing cer D. Smith, District 2 Outdoor Strong, director of the Utah ing priorities among federally to health hazard environment, assisted projects. The state priAdvertising Permits Officer at Law Research Institute (ULRI), and service and property, impact 3 a non profit research arm atin Salt Lake City. ority procedures were a result other financial factors. tached to the law school. The of an agreement worked out beResort's Park and Governor the with City resultant time loss, inefficiency tween HUD and the state last Meeting Roland been Mr. Bruhn have are passed on to the year, he said. Summer Concert One and wastage Undersecform of unnecesin the Canfield, Deputy Jr., We feel that we do have a Gordon Lightfoot and Leo public for DevelopCommunity Kottke will perform at Summer sarily high legal fees, ranging unique situation in Utah, and retary Kas-taniMike ment, HUD, Denver; for that reason, we had the opConcert One, Park City Resorts from $20 to $40 an hour, which of Director Community outdoor concert scheduled to- are difficult to justify in many portunity to establish our own RomL. C. and Denver; cases. By and large, lawyers are morrow at Park City. priorities using state criteria or Services, HUD Area Representative, ney, Canadian folk artist, Lightfoot, aware of this situation and want guidelines, which more realistic- Salt Lake City. headlines the outdoor concert at to do something about it. Until ally reflect our local neers rather than the federal ones, he added. the Utah resort 27 miles east of the ULRI system approach was The DHUC has indicated that Bank accounts are like tooth- Salt Lake City. Kottke, who developed, however, the lawyers in despite last years success with paste: easy to take out but hard performed one year ago to a were severely handicapped full house in Salt Lake, is return- not knowing what to do. the experiment, our priorities to put back. People have a right to adeing to Utah to appear at the Park City resort. The two artists quate legal counseling, but it is will each do his own show dur- threatened when quality lawyers JLULCB ing the concert which begins at are too expensive for the average citizen, and Professor Strong 7:30. Gates open at 6:30 p.m. GERALD R. HANSEN The stage for the concert will warns that if the situation is not Republican Candidate for be located outdoors between the corrected, it could lead to inSTATE AUDITOR Resorts base lodge and the base creased governmental intervenHansen in Jerry of the Pay Day double chairlift. tion in the legal profession. Dr. Strong believes the soluIncumbent County Auditor Seating is provided by the natLawyer ural amphitheatre formed by the tion lies in the Universitys new-Mature paralegal assistant program grass covered ski slopes surExperienced rounding the stage area. All seats similar to ones in dentistry, medicine and architecture. Develop VOTE FOR THE are reserved. and tested by U researchers unGordon Lightfoot accompanies QUALIFIED CANDIDATE himself on six and 12 string gui- der the auspices of the American Paid for by Hansen for Auditor Committee tars and is backed by Canadian Bar Association, it is the only one of its kind in the country and guitarist Rick Haynes one-thir- Governor Rampton to Announce Approved HUD Projects in Utah grees could be looking for jobs, only one fourth of the unemploy- ment rate of other classification. Employees in professional, managerial and technical occupation should have a distinct advantage over workers in the rest of the labor force even during a brief period of economic recession, according to Durham. Dr. Durham noted that in addition to employment opportunities for college educated workers, figures from the Bureau of Labor Statistics continue to show that the average college graduate earns considerably more in his lifetime than the average high school graduate $607,000 compared with $371,000, a difference of $236,000. This is not to say that a bachelors degree is required for all useful work. I view that diploma or certificate of proficiency (in vocational and technical educa-toiis as socially useful and necessary as the Ph.D. or M.D. Im strongly supportive of vocational and technical education, but Im concerned that we dont throw1 a damper on a college education because it is valuable. It would be a shame for a high school graduate with a college aptitude and ability to over look the opportunities of going to college, he said. He added that the key and clue for future college graduates is to be highly selective of their course work in terms of future job placements. It is going to be more difficult in the future to find jobs, if no demonstrable skills have been mastered, Durham said. n) Major Change in Legal Practice Developed at University of Utah 328-627- k, is now being studied by bar as- sociations and lawyers in some 23 states. High legal costs, ironically, do not hurt the poor because persons with low incomes qualify for support from legal aid societies and the government. The legally indigent are the small businessmen and middle class families who are not eligible for financial assistance and who can not afford a lawyer, he notes. The reason they cant, the crux of the ULRI approach, is that lawyers are prostituting their profession by being half lawyers, half clerks and half secretaries instead of practicing law on a full time basis, he says. Unlike paramedical and paradental systems, the paralegal program is not designed to alleviate a shortage of practitioners in that field; there is a sufficient number of lawyers and enough are being trained annually. Its objective is to assist lawyers in becoming more efficient and to better use their valuable time. In the paralegal program that someone would be a legal assistant, a highly skilled secretary with training in the use of specialized systems for handling such legal specialties as probate, rea estate, bankruptcy, divorce, corporation and collections. Traditionally, the only non lawyer work for a lawyer has been the secretary. However, the legal assistant would be able to assume much more of the responsibility in routine legal projects because of the use of the systems which are the unique development of ULRI. |