Appropriate staffing is one of the many factors that go into the quality of patient care. During my time on the observational floor the staffing levels have been consistent. Staffing included four Registered Nurses (RN), each caring for up to six patients and three unlicensed technicians caring for up to 12 patients each. The RN's on the observational floor take care of admissions, giving medications, continuous monitoring of patients as they are typically being transferred from the emergency room with a wide variety of health conditions, patient teaching and discharge. The technicians on the observational floor assist RN's as needed, assist with patient requests within scope of practice, draw blood for labs, take vital signs, take blood sugar
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They are responsible for ensuring a high level of care during their shift, evaluating other nurses and acting as an educational resource for the nursing staff. The charge nurse was effective in completing charge responsibilities. The effectiveness in a charge nurse comes down to communication, leadership, delegation and being a resource as needed. The RN designated as charge nurse on my shift was all the above. She assisted the nursing staff with admissions, discharges and assisted RN’s as needed while setting the overall tone for the shift while caring for one patient of her own. The charge nurse’s patient was an older adult that had Influenza type A. The fact that the charge nurse had a patient did not impact her role as a charge nurse because her patient’s illness severity carried a lower priority during this shift. Because of this, the charge nurse had ample time to focus on supervising and assisting the RN’s, non-licensed staff and patients during her shift as well as creating a charge nurse shift report detailing what is going on with each patient so that they can pass this information along to the next charge
They are responsible for ensuring a high level of care during their shift, evaluating other nurses and acting as an educational resource for the nursing staff. The charge nurse was effective in completing charge responsibilities. The effectiveness in a charge nurse comes down to communication, leadership, delegation and being a resource as needed. The RN designated as charge nurse on my shift was all the above. She assisted the nursing staff with admissions, discharges and assisted RN’s as needed while setting the overall tone for the shift while caring for one patient of her own. The charge nurse’s patient was an older adult that had Influenza type A. The fact that the charge nurse had a patient did not impact her role as a charge nurse because her patient’s illness severity carried a lower priority during this shift. Because of this, the charge nurse had ample time to focus on supervising and assisting the RN’s, non-licensed staff and patients during her shift as well as creating a charge nurse shift report detailing what is going on with each patient so that they can pass this information along to the next charge