Come Play the Build a Better Hospital Game!

[UM Review RN]

OK nurses. You're it. Name just one way you'd build a better hospital. The only rules are:

expense is not an object

and

HIPAA and JCAHO have already given us carte blanche to all of it.

I'll go first. I want to be able to monitor confused patients by looking at the screen of my PDA as I do other tasks.

[zenman]

Cut down on the meetings for nurse managers and have anyone who is an rn have to work the floor at least 3 times per month once for each shift and not as charge nurse. make them experience reality for a change. Also all executives should be trained as nursing assistants and make them work the floor as well.

Let me remind you that many managers have "been there, done that" and probably have not forgotten the reality that staff experience. In turn, the managers have a "reality" of their own that staff might need to experience to appreciate.

[Foxfour]

How about giving the nurse a choice of a $100/incident (out of the MD's pocket) or a cattle prod up their *** when they talk to us like we are stupid.

[edeverges]

I really like the idea of having managers on the floor, to remind them a) what it's really like, and b) exactly how much time all that paperwork takes to complete. Time that, oh I don't know,could be spent caring for patients!

I'd also like a tagging system, like anti-shoplifting devices, that could be attached to confused patients, so you can tell when they leave the floor.

thanks i liked your reply, but there are devices available, i.e., alarms that can go off if a confused patient gets up, also wander guards that are a type of bracelet the wandering (alz/dementia) patient wears and when they get within a few feet of an exit, the exit locks. of course the alarm is expensive and can be overridden - it get me upset when i go into a facility and i find that the administrator has not been on the floor in a very long time. once they are on the unit they can immediately spot the types of problems that exit and at least address the most immediate issues.

[BeenThereDoneThat74, MSN, RN]

let me remind you that many managers have "been there, done that" and probably have not forgotten the reality that staff experience. in turn, the managers have a "reality" of their own that staff might need to experience to appreciate.

true, yet it sometimes seems that they have forgotten. and i do agree with the reality of management... i think we all should take a walk in each others shoes...

[talaxandra]

there are devices available, i.e., alarms that can go off if a confused patient gets up

Yeah, I know - and I would love to see them here!