The data collected was over four weeks, from May 11, 2015 to June 5, 2015. Ten hours days four days a week for a total of 160 hours. The average patient volume assigned to the nurse was 8-10 per day. The method of recording was checks made on a calendar with brief notations of the conversation between the nurse and the patient care technician. CHECK (C)
One Nurse, One Shift Shifting Perspectives In the nonfiction book The Shift registered nurse, Theresa Brown starts her story with “I'm hiding under the covers: Im afraid. Afraid of that moment when the rock slips and all hell breaks loose. For me, it was the patient who started coughing up blood and within five minutes was dead, just like that.” This is Brown describing some of the struggles she encounters on a typical shift as a nurse.
State-mandated nurse-to-patient ratios remains a controversial topic in healthcare. Sufficient nurse staffing is key to ensure adequate patient care, while scarce staffing effects patients’ safety and puts nurses at risk for burnout. Determining nurse-to-patient ratios in nursing facilities remains a challenge for the nursing profession. There are many factors to consider when determining staffing methods, such as cost, nurses’ satisfaction, patient outcomes and safety. Mandating ratios is one attempt at ensuring nurses’ workloads do not exceed what is needed for adequate patient care and safety.
The idea of shift work is a common one, but for nurses this is not a simple changing of staff during a certain time, change of shift signifies a time of purposeful communication between nurses and patients, in order to promote patient safety and best practices (Caruso, 2007). During this time, there is the possibility for this critical opportunity to relay important information to become disorganized by extraneous information, rather than concentrating on the needs of the patient (Sullivan, 2010). Often the patient is left out of the conversation, and is not a part of the process. Patients and families can play an important role in making sure these transitions in care are safe and effective (AHRQ, 2013).
(2010). Johnson (2015) and Evans et al. (2012) discuss the overall process of implementation of a bedside report along with outcomes. Johnson (2015) however, additionally highlights Lewin’s change model in the study. Friesen, White, and Byers (2008) reveal issues with different methods of report and their implications and Racco (2014) discusses the bedside safety check process.
NU 413 Week 9 Discussion Board Post student response to Katie-Lynn Fournier by Kathryn Moultrie Good afternoon Kathie, Enjoyed reading your post, and seeing how other organizations handle the operations of their facility and nursing departments. My biggest concern with improving quality care and patient safety issues in that, the responsibility is not ours alone, our Chief Nurse Executives (CNEs) and Director of Nursing (DON), and senior nursing management staffs to lead the journey Disch J. (2008). I find it overwhelming that the majority of the research literature (studies, surveys and reports believe nursing plays the pivotal role in changing the face of health care and improving quality care and patient safety.
Moreover, several studies have been conducted to examine the effects of low nurse staffing on patients hospitalization experiences, as well as its effect on nurse careers in the long run. A recent study by Frith, Anderson, Tseng, and Fong (2012) to explore the relationship between nurse staffing and medication errors, demonstrated that medication errors were higher in a cardiac care unit and non-cardiac care unit when staffing levels were lower. In addition, Frith et al. (2012) pointed out that medication errors increase by 18% for every 20% decrease in nurse staffing below the average due to failure to follow medication administration protocol As mentioned earlier, nurses perform the last and the most important step of medication administration. Thus, having adequate time to assess each patient efficiently and following the medication rights is critical to provide safe patient care and prevent errors.
Communication in nursing is known for its life saving success as well as its greatest flaw in poor patient outcomes. There is always room for improvement and when communication is carried out efficiently, healthcare professionals have reaped the benefits. However, there have been many instances in which nurses have had to learn the hard way of how detrimental communication can be to patient safety. Through research and reviews of literature, the topic of patient safety related to handoff communication among units is analyzed.
Being a nurse, comes a great reward and unlimited enhancement of career ladders and promotion. An organizations true values to their nurses is that they encourage everyone to expand their skills and capabilities. One example is encouraging to be a resource nurse. An interview of a resource nurse, where she elaborated the meaning of being a professional nurse, an advocate for patients and families, and steward of the health care system. What is your role as a health care team member?
Health practitioners possess distinctive scope of practice standards based upon distinctive skills, education and qualification levels. RNs are accountable to assess patients’ health problems and needs, develop and implement nursing care plans, maintain medical records and supervise ENs and AINs practice. Excepting the ENs’ abilities to assist intervene and evaluate patients health and functional status and administer prescribed medicines or maintain intravenous fluid, ENs and AINs are both have responsibilities to observe patients health status and report changes to the RNs, maintain ongoing communication with RNs regarding the patients’ health and functional status, assist patients with ADL and emotional support, and understand health information technology. Successive healthcare treatment is always associated with collaborated teamwork.
Kaidence Vaughn BSN 415: Sentinel Hospital Professor Yvonne Myette July 28th, 2023 Introduction As the charge nurse at Sentinel Hospital, I hold a critical and rewarding role in overseeing and coordinating the nursing staff and patient care. This position brings a mix of emotions, from a sense of responsibility and pride in contributing to patient care and unit efficiency to moments of stress and pressure in ensuring tasks are appropriately assigned and nurses are adequately supported. Open communication plays a pivotal role in this role, as I strive to maintain clear lines of communication with the nursing team, addressing their concerns, and providing necessary support to foster a cohesive work environment. In this reflective essay, I will delve into my experiences and the lessons learned concerning delegation, caseload management, and advocacy, as well as explore the positive impacts and potential areas for improvement in my practice.
Short staffing is one of the many challenges nurses encounter in the work environment. The impacts can be detrimental primarily to the patient’s outcome. To examine the effects of short staffing, research was conducted on 36,539 hospital inpatients to evaluate the amount of those exposed to an understaffed shift and how many patient outcomes resulted in a NSO (Twigg, Gelder, & Myers, 2015). NSO’s are nurse sensitive outcomes based on the nursing care provided to the patient. Patients exposed to short staffing had an increase of greater than one chance of NSO’s compared to patients not exposed (Twigg et al., 2015).
Large patient loads combined with a stressful work environment affects nurses’ abilities to provide quality healthcare. Patient safety should never be compromised. It is our responsibility to learn from research and improve our current nurse staffing ratios. Nurse staffing is key and affects all other outcomes. Without nurses administering the right treatment at the right time to the right patients, all other healthcare interventions are not effective.
Nurses play an essential role in the healthcare industry. The nurse workforce is made up of licensed nurses: registered nurses (RNs), licensed vocational nurses (LVNs) and licensed practical nurses (LPNs), along with nurse aides. Registered nurses are responsible for assessments of patients’ needs, development of care plans, medication administration, and treatments, while licensed vocational nurses perform specific care under the delegation of the registered nurses and supervisions. Nursing aides perform activities of daily living (unskilled attention) to the patient. Adequate nursing staffing is essential to both patient care and outcomes, also to the retention of nurses while inadequate staffing creates problems for both the patients and
Registered nurses are required to deliver wide-range nursing attention and treatment to all persons in a healthcare setup (American Nurses ' Association, 2000). Notably, they have to offer emergency care and guarantee the safe execution of treatment. It is mandatory for nurses to demonstrate a broad knowledge of the laws and regulations that are in line with their profession. Additionally,
