Build Your Own Hospital Unit project (help?)

Nursing Students Student Assist

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Hi there. I am in my last semester!! (cue hallelujah chorus) For my Leadership class our professor has asked us to design our very own patient care unit. We have to come up with a budget and staffing and decide what type of unit, i.e. ER, ICU, Med Surg floor....etc. Thankfully it's a group project and we've begun to try and start gathering information from the TX Nurse Practice Act & just searching journals for info on budget (crossing my fingers). I just thought I'd come here and see if anyone had any bright ideas as well. Thanks!

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Specializes in Ortho, Case Management, blabla.

coffee maker and free donut dispenser in the breakroom please

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Massage chairs at the nurses station

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Specializes in Critical Care, ED, Cath lab, CTPAC,Trauma.

hufflebinks is serious.....Lets help them out....what is your budget? How many FTE's are you allowed or are you allowed to set that? Is the design of your unit subject to the budget as well? How about equipment necessary for the unit to function? Do you need to figure the budget for that as well?

http://www.orientpoint.com/FTE.htm

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Hahahahaah! Those are somel things I hadn't even thought about, november and science!! Esme, to be honest we also have to create our own budget. Our professor hasn't given us anywhere to start from so we feel a little lost. We have to decide what kind of unit to build and go from there I guess. We do have to set our own staffing guidelines. We are basically starting from nothing.

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Specializes in School Nursing.

Wow- we had a similar project in leadership but we had to create a webpage for our unit.. budgets weren't part of it so we had a lot of license to play around. Do you have your choice of any kind of hospital unit or even an independent clinic? I'd consider having LVNs and PCT to keep your budget well. If you decide on a non-profit maybe you can eliminate profit margin from the budget altogether?

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Moonchild, yes, we have freedom to do non-profit or stand alone ER or whatever. It's a little overwhelming not having written guidelines to at least have some sort of framework to start with! I like your non-profit idea and also the LVNs and PCTs.

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Specializes in Critical Care, ED, Cath lab, CTPAC,Trauma.
Moonchild, yes, we have freedom to do non-profit or stand alone ER or whatever. It's a little overwhelming not having written guidelines to at least have some sort of framework to start with! I like your non-profit idea and also the LVNs and PCTs.

While that is a good idea remember...some states strictly limit the LPN practice and might not be an effective usage of funds.

The difference between profit and not for profit is tax status with the federal government. For profit pay taxes not for profit does not....however they need to, by law, set aside monies/profits for equipment purchases and upgrades to the facility.

If she gave you an unlimited budget you can go xrazy. Do you need to know costs of equipment? How long do you hae for this project? I would call around to various facilities that are associated to your school and ask if you can set time aside to interview with a manager and get the inside scoop.

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Esme, thank you soooooo so much for the input. It's truly invaluable. very good point about LPNs. I'm not certain our budget is unlimited. I will ask my prof. This project is one of those all semester long things. It'll be due sometime in mid-to late-April. I have encouraged my team mates to register on allnurses and come have a look at this thread. Thanks again.

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Specializes in Critical Care, ED, Cath lab, CTPAC,Trauma.

check on the details and come back I will help with what I can.

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Specializes in NICU, PICU, PACU.

Budget is hard! For example, our unit just purchased 40 new Drager isolettes to the tune of over half a million dollars, without the options we want yet! You also have to research salaries. This will be hard but fun!

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Specializes in ER.

I think the place to start is to decide what unit you want. There are different standards that go with each unit. A med-surg nurse takes on more patients than a stepdown would and an ICU takes on less. An ER can be divided into a quick-care side and a main side where the quick-care nurse usually gets slammed. If you can figure out what unit you want and how many beds, then it will make staffing decisions easier.

Each unit also has different staffing decisions too like others have mentioned. If you have an ER, do you want to have a paramedic and a respiratory therapist? What about paramedic versus patient care tech? Unit clerk or will you buy software to ensure doctors enter their own orders? What about a phlebotomist?

If it is a stand alone ER, will there be a separate budget for the ancillary services like radiology and lab or will that fall under you too?

Honestly, this project sounds kind of nightmare-ish in my opinion. It sounds too broad.

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