When you or a loved one require care in a hospital, do you know if the system is able to deliver the care you deserve? Can staff adequately respond to your needs?
- Do you know how many hours your nurse has worked that day?
- Do you know how many other patients your nurse is caring for besides you?
- Do you know if your nurse’s workload can be properly managed?
You should ask these questions because the consequences are real. Imagine yourself as Patient #2 in this nurse’s actual account of a recent shift.
Nurse: “I received a patient assignment at beginning of my shift at 1500. I was made aware at 1500 I would be accepting a transfer from our medical floor. Due to many complexities, I was not even able to leave my first patient’s room until 1800. I felt my other patient did not receive the care he should have.”
