In my preceptorship setting, I have noticed that management is not necessarily seen on a day to day basis although the managers have quite an impact on day to day operations. Whether or not the managers realizes it, their ability to manage and lead staff efficiently determines the staff’s morale and willingness to follow. I also noticed several nurses with strong leadership skills. All of the charge nurses in which I have come into contact with exhibit strong management and leadership skills. Most of the time in the surgical intensive care unit (SINU), the charge nurse takes on his/her own patients as well as organizing and delegating the unit’s activities. …show more content…
This form of delegation is similar to that of watching another’s nurse’s patients while he/she is at lunch. I have noticed some nurses delegate coworkers to help provide patient hygiene care and to help reposition patients. When I shadowed the ADON, CAT call responsibilities were delegated to the out of quota critical care charge nurse by the ADON. During preceptorship, the unit charge nurse has also delegated the CAT call responsibilities to other members of the critical care nursing …show more content…
The SINU has a total of twelve possible patient rooms. All of these rooms are private. The nurse staffing ratio is generally two patients to one nurse. I have not witnessed a one to one patient ratio, yet. With all this being said, the SINU typically requires six registered nurses when the unit is full. From my preceptorship experience, I noticed it is rare for the charge nurse to be out of quota; this has happen once out of eleven of my shifts. At the beginning of the shift, nurse is assigned to respond to all CAT calls and codes that occur during the shift throughout the hospital.
Since the majority of patients are considered too critical to transport in this unit, the majority of patient procedures occur at the bedside. Although when a patient has to be transported whether for a procedure or to a step down unit, the patient must be accompanied by a critical care nurse. If this nurse has another patient, he/she must delegate that patient’s care to another nurse who will remain in the