Functional Nursing?

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Specializes in cardiac, med/surg, home health.

Our "money man" has cut nursing to bone. Nurse to patient ratio's 6&7:1 and one tech for 20 patients!!!!

By crunching numbers and work studies, I made a proposal and it was accepted and now I am scared that I made a deal with the devil--

I agreed to have each nurse take eight patients with her own multi functional tech. This tech, in addition to regular duties will do phlebotomy, ekg's,and can do any "clean" procedures that are taught at home, such as simple wound care, straight caths, etc. The nurse and tech would share the same schedule and would truly be a team.

The tradeoff? At 24 patients, we would call for four nurses, two techs. At 22 patients, we call for three nurses and one tech. Now we call for three nurses and three techs.

If my 8 hour techs do not choose to transfer to another floor, I will have to hire an additional 9 full time techs for my floor.

HAS ANY BODY DONE THIS? WHAT DO YOU THINK?:trout:

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Specializes in Med-Surg.

The techs will love it, the nurses probably won't. I worked with a similar schedule and having 8 patients was extremely difficult even when I had a tech assigned to just me. Passing meds, doing treatments, doing teaching, discharging, admitting, charting, etc. for 8 patients is too hard.

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Specializes in cardiac, med/surg, home health.

Tweety--I agree; however, What else can I do? If I cannot change the nurse to patient ratio, at least giving them a tech has to help. Currently, our techs do vital signs, beds and baths, I&O's and fingersticks. So I am expanding their scope quite a lot.

I came off the floor less than a year ago and still am a nurse more than a manager. Do you see any alternatives?

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