Scottish nurses call for improved staffing levels. In Scotland, as in many countries around the world, nurses feel the strains of caring for too many patients at once and fear that this work overload is compromising the care they offer their patients. In March, nurses called on the Scottish parliament to draft nurse staffing legislation; no laws have been proposed as of this writing. "Staff shortages demoralize nurses," stated James Kennedy, director of the Royal College of Nursing. "They join the profession because they want to care for people. No wonder so many leave when they realize that they will not be given enough time to provide that care."

The fight against HIV and AIDS worldwide. The Institute of Medicine has announced the forthcoming release of its recommendations on addressing HIV and AIDS, especially in the 15 resource-poor countries-most of them in Africa-in which 50% of the more than 40 million cases have occurred. The report, part of the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, also known as PEPFAR, makes eight core recommendations for addressing the problem, including the creation of a cadre of highly trained health care workers-the U.S. Global Health Services Corps-to be dispatched to HIV-ravaged countries to assist their governments in establishing AIDS treatment and prevention programs. The preliminary report, tentatively titled Healers Abroad: Americans Responding to the Human Resource Crisis in HIV/AIDS, is available online at http://www.nap.edu/books/0309096162/html.