During my leadership rotation, I observed, shadowed, and interviewed Lorraine Leach, charge nurse of the 4 North Telemetry Unit at Saint Joseph Hospital in Fort Wayne. Leach has over forty years nursing experience and has had the opportunity to work in various health care settings on multiple units. In terms of the telemetry unit at Saint Joseph (St. Joe) hospital, Leach is in charge of overseeing patient care of all the 31 beds on the unit. On most days, all 31 beds are filled with patients suffering from heart disease with complicating conditions and/or patients with moderate to severe illnesses that needs constant assessment and evaluation. As the emergency department is always admitting new patients, it is rare that all 31 beds are not
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On the telemetry unit at St. Joe hospital, there are ideally 7 RN and LPNs staffed when all 31 beds are filled. This makes for a 4:1 nurse to patient ratio. These RNs have various responsibilities which include assessing patients and their conditions, administering medications as prescribed and understanding patient information in order to make critical decisions about care. The RN on the floor also has the responsibility to educate the patient on various interventions and what to expect upon discharge (Taylor, 2011). A patient care tech (PCT) is also stationed on the floor and is responsible for bed baths, feedings, vital signs, and toileting. Ideally, when all 31 beds are filled there should be 9 PCTs on the floor. On most days there are only 2-3 PCTs, making for a 10:1 PCT to patient ratio. One day out of the week students are also located on the floor. On this day, Leach is responsible for the assuring that the students have access to all resources needed and no errors occur during patient care. She also acts as the portal of information when students need help with a given task or do not understand how or why something is done. While overseeing patient care and assisting in nursing tasks is Leach’s primary job as the charge nurse, she is also responsible for dealing with physician orders, looking into patient and/or co-worker complaints, and working alongside caseworkers. She is in charge …show more content…
An interdisciplinary team is a group of health care members who help plan, provide, and evaluate patient care (Taylor, 2011). The members of the interdisciplinary team can vary, but most include a physician, registered nurse, radiology technician, registered dietician, physician therapist, occupational therapist, speech language pathologist, laboratory technician, pharmacist, case worker, and various forms of pastoral care. (Sommer, 2013). The responsibilities of these team members are complex. The physician is in charge of determining future plan of patient care whereas the pharmacist plays a role in assuring correct medications are available and delivered to the unit for administration. The speech language pathologist ensures the patient is able to speak properly and consume foods without risk of aspiration. Therapists are important in helping the patient to return to their best pre-hospital condition. For a physical therapist this means assisting the patient in regaining function of an affected body parts injured during surgery, trauma, or by the disease process as whole. The occupational therapist works to help the patient function in their home and perform essential activities of daily living (Taylor, 2011). As the charge nurse and member of the team, Leach works to ensure that all goals are accomplished and effective decision making is used (Sherman,
On the telemetry unit at St. Joe hospital, there are ideally 7 RN and LPNs staffed when all 31 beds are filled. This makes for a 4:1 nurse to patient ratio. These RNs have various responsibilities which include assessing patients and their conditions, administering medications as prescribed and understanding patient information in order to make critical decisions about care. The RN on the floor also has the responsibility to educate the patient on various interventions and what to expect upon discharge (Taylor, 2011). A patient care tech (PCT) is also stationed on the floor and is responsible for bed baths, feedings, vital signs, and toileting. Ideally, when all 31 beds are filled there should be 9 PCTs on the floor. On most days there are only 2-3 PCTs, making for a 10:1 PCT to patient ratio. One day out of the week students are also located on the floor. On this day, Leach is responsible for the assuring that the students have access to all resources needed and no errors occur during patient care. She also acts as the portal of information when students need help with a given task or do not understand how or why something is done. While overseeing patient care and assisting in nursing tasks is Leach’s primary job as the charge nurse, she is also responsible for dealing with physician orders, looking into patient and/or co-worker complaints, and working alongside caseworkers. She is in charge …show more content…
An interdisciplinary team is a group of health care members who help plan, provide, and evaluate patient care (Taylor, 2011). The members of the interdisciplinary team can vary, but most include a physician, registered nurse, radiology technician, registered dietician, physician therapist, occupational therapist, speech language pathologist, laboratory technician, pharmacist, case worker, and various forms of pastoral care. (Sommer, 2013). The responsibilities of these team members are complex. The physician is in charge of determining future plan of patient care whereas the pharmacist plays a role in assuring correct medications are available and delivered to the unit for administration. The speech language pathologist ensures the patient is able to speak properly and consume foods without risk of aspiration. Therapists are important in helping the patient to return to their best pre-hospital condition. For a physical therapist this means assisting the patient in regaining function of an affected body parts injured during surgery, trauma, or by the disease process as whole. The occupational therapist works to help the patient function in their home and perform essential activities of daily living (Taylor, 2011). As the charge nurse and member of the team, Leach works to ensure that all goals are accomplished and effective decision making is used (Sherman,