Do you think?

[cchateauneuf]

Some questions I have been wondering lately;

1. Do nurses both experienced and inexperienced feel there is enough support for new nursing graduates?

2. Who is ultimately responsible for a patient developing a pressure ulcer?

--Just curious!

[emtb2rn, BSN, RN, EMT-B]

Homework? If so, what do YOU think?

[Been there,done that, ASN, RN]

The support any new grad receives depends on the culture of the facility they hire into.

The responsibility for the development of pressure ulcers will be shared betwen every licensed nurse through out the patients admission.

[CWONgal]

I don't know if your questions go hand in hand from a real life scenario? I can tell you with root cause analysis we look through the medical record to see if the pt was appropriately assessed within 24 hours if admission, documentation regarding nursing interventions such as turning, offloading, etc. Nutritional status and how much intake the person has, length of time in surgery, PUP dressing applications, Braden scores, the whole gamut. If we look at your documentation and you didn't document your interventions and a person developed a PU during your watch the proverbial finger would be pointed at you. Now, for the first statement...care plans and assessments have built in tools that pretty much detail what interventions should be implemented. If a PU happened under your "watch" you really don't have much of a leg to stand on. If I am reading into your first question I would say support is typically there for the asking...if there is something you need clarified there are nurses who are more than willing to mentor.

[nstack1228]

1) It all depends, in my unit alone our night shift is a lot more laid back/people friendly while our day shift has the "drown on your own" mind frame unless you are friendly with certain people. Why I love working on nights where I do.

2) It is on all the nurses/techs that have had the patient nad haven't been moving them around to stop the development of that ulcer

[Esme12, ASN, BSN, RN]

Welcome to AN!

Is this for school?

[HouTx, BSN, MSN, EdD]

Sounds like homework but I'll play

New grads have either too much or too little 'support' - depending upon who you ask. That's the way it has always been & probably will never change.

I actually attended a really interesting NDNQI related research forum a few years ago in which a nurse researcher presented a compelling argument that pressure ulcers were more indicative of underlying patient health than a reliable indicator of the quality of nursing care. Basically, you can't prevent PUs in some patients, no matter how much nursing care they receive. Very controversial at the time... and still is, I think. Inadequate nursing care certainly contributes to the development of some PUs, but it's not always so clear cut.

[SwansonRN]

1) there certainly was for me, but I think it varies in every situation. I also think new grads need to put forth a certain amount of effort themselves in order to get the resources they need. No one should be expecting to get spoon fed.

2) everything CWON said. I think it is a multidisciplinary responsibility, but when it comes time to play the blame game nurses are the easiest to target.