Nurse Rounding Essay

On one of my clinical days at San Ramon Regional Medical Center, my classmates and I all had the opportunity to be a student charge on the Med-Surg unit. As I have observed from my work place as well as at our clinical sites, charge nurses are the ones in charge of dividing bed assignments, solving conflicting issues among the staff, helping or coordinating with admissions, and keeping nursing care adequately delivered to patients. Charge nurses also do a lot more including signing doctor’s orders, resource or advisor for others, answering phones and call lights, rounding with doctors, and dealing with family members. I always viewed the role of charge nurse to help other nurses and make their loads easier. As I continue to be exposed to what their role truly is, my views changes through time and experience.

The role of a family nurse practitioner is a fundamental portion of the future of healthcare. The role is clearly not as understood by other healthcare professionals as needed which results in the disagreement if the role of a family nurse practitioner is even required for primary care. As people are getting older, the need for medical professionals that can provide patient care to our ever growing population increases. The need for the role of family nurse practitioners will grow too. The role of the family nurse practitioner, the ability of the FNP to be able to transition into their role.

Safety is an essential factor in the creation of the healing environment and this is dependent on the role of the caregiver and the patient when it is possible. “Safety is a basic component of professional nursing and Caritas Processes. Safety concerns affect all of the nurse’s activities related to supporting, protecting, and correcting the environment for healing at all levels, To feel safe and protected is a basic need” (Watson, 2008, p. 13). Many factors impede the safety of patients in a healing environment such as Risk of falls, Pressure ulcers, and close calls. Ford’s literature (as cited in Woolley et al, 2012) found that “hourly rounding resulted in a 52% reduction in call light use, giving nurses more time to provide patient care and prevent patient calls” and in Bourgault et al.’s study conducted in 2006 (as cited in Woolley et al, 2012) “expected outcomes of hourly rounding included increase

The purpose of this article is to discuss appropriate nurse staffing and staffing ratios and its impact on patient care. Although the issue is just not about numbers as we discuss staffing we begin to see how complex the issue has become over the years. Many factors can affect appropriate nurse staffing ratios. As we investigate nurse staffing ratios we can see the importance of finding the right mix and number of nurses to provide quality care for patients.

The project made use of the Nursing Teamwork Survey. This study design was meant to measure teamwork as demonstrated by nurses in patients’ settings. The national teamwork survey concentrates on the teamwork demonstrated by the nurses in their work

In an article published by Applied Nursing Research the authors point out that nurse staffing is related to patient outcomes, “lower levels of RN staffing are associated with higher rates of OPSN (Outcomes Potentially Sensitive to Nursing) in both medical and surgical patients treated in hospitals, U.S. Medicare, and other publically available administrative data” (Duffield et al., 2011, p. 245). The writer of this paper researched 5 relevant articles regarding the relationship between nurse to patient ratio, morbidity, and mortality, every article related similar information. “A systematic review of 102 studies concluded that increased RN staffing levels are associated with lower rates of morbidity and mortality” (Ball, Murrells, Rafferty, Morrow, & Griffiths, 2013, p. 2).

The results of the study showed that significant increase in patient satisfaction scores, decreased call light usage, and reduction in patients fall rates. One-hour rounding shows higher satisfaction than two hour- rounding. Hypothesis supported the study because the research shows rounding can reduce patient call light usage (Meade, Bursell, Ketelsen , 2006). The theoretical framework that forms the basis of the research is that consistent nursing rounds can meet the basic needs of patient and ultimately reduce call light use and [pic]improve management of patient care while also[pic] increasing [pic]patient satisfaction and[pic] safety.

Determining nurse-to-patient ratios in nursing facilities remains a challenge for the nursing profession. Two main staffing methods that are currently used in most nursing facilities are staffing by patient acuity using patient classification systems and staffing by mandated nurse-to-patient rations. Each method has an impact on patient outcomes, safety and overall satisfaction determined from different articles and studies done on each staffing method. There are pros and cons to each staffing methods. Nursing facilities look at many of these pros and cons when determining staffing methods that are used, cost, patient outcomes, nursing satisfaction and

A manager should make sure that the resources that are provided to the staff are useful, effective, and helpful. The manager should ensure that they have the adequate amount of resources and tools in order to complete there work and job. When it comes to the issue of nurse staffing ratios, the manager has the responsibility of making sure that the unit is staffed to meet the demands of the patients and there level of care, or acuity (GCU, 2011). Utilizing there skills in leadership, quality care, people and communication can all be of benefit. Leadership skills, such as leading by example, are necessary for nurse managers. Quality care skills can be beneficial to gather the necessary data and provide adequate staffing to promote and improve overall performance. People skills are used to interview new employees and hopefully increase staffing

When the project is a proven success, the hospital should consider implementing hourly rounds instead of odd-hour rounds. Employee satisfaction contributes to satisfied customers. Hourly rounding promotes high-quality patient care to improve patient outcomes; this is vital in healthcare delivery today (Studer, 2007).

Inconsistent nurse-patient ratios are a concern in hospitals across the nation because they limit nurse’s ability to provide safe patient care. Healthcare professionals such as nurses and physicians agree that current nurse staffing systems are inadequate and unreliable and not only affect patient health outcomes, but also create job dissatisfaction among medical staff (Avalere Health, 2015). A 2002 study led by RN and PhD Linda Aiken suggests that "forty percent of hospitals nurses have burnout levels that exceed the norms for healthcare workers" (Aiken, Clarke, Sloane, Sochalski & Silber, 2002). These data represents the constant struggle of nurses when trying to provide high quality care in a hospital setting.

We also implement hourly rounds and we do it very similar to your facility. Nurses and techs take turns and while rounding we make sure to address the 3Ps (pain, potty, and position). Also before we leave the patient’s room we asking a key question “is there anything else I can do for you before I leave?” this really makes a big difference. On the other hand, we are making from the hourly rounds one collaborative effort, because it is not only limited to nurses and CPs, but we getting everyone involved, physicians, MSWs, PTs, OTs, speech therapists, dietitians, etc. Everyone is accountable and responsible for our patients’ care and wellbeing. This has absolutely had a positive outcome in patient’s safety and satisfaction by not only meeting

Hourly rounding contributes in several key areas to achievement of high levels of patient satisfaction, including quality of care and patient safety. This puts patients at the center of care by building on the fundamental aspects of care, which are so important. Thus by checking in on patients in wards regularly to see whether they are comfortable and have everything they need can produce a number of positive results. Nurses

B. Explore how nursing (caring) is expressed in Christensen's (1990) nursing partnership model. I will include

Tucker et al. and Olrich, Kalman and Nigolian (2012) both noted that it would be beneficial to have a unit champion and additional staff training. Olrich, Kalman and Nigolian noted that there were nurses that floated to the floor that were not trained in the hourly rounding process, while Tucker et al. had nurses who were questioning why the project was implemented. This could explain why some of the nursing staff felt that the study was introduced as a punitive measure. Tucker et al. also identified that providing a clear purpose for the research study may have led to a