encouraging team work

[litbitblack, ASN, RN]

I am a charge nurse on a busy 28 bed med surg floor and we are extremely short of staff on one block more than the other. Normal staff for my block is one charge 6 lic and no techs. My question for ideas is: does anyone know of any teamwork ideas that could work to maybe lighten the load so everyone could benefit. My hospital has started using the hourly rounding and ect to increase the press ganey scores and ect but that doesn't help when everyone is so busy with there own patients that just the normal stuff gets overlooked like baths. How do I stuff let alone help with the others." We are losing good nurses (alot are new) because of the staffing issues and they are tired of working there butts off but still hearing "we have to increase our scores". As charge nurse the other nurses don't see me helping because I am helping everyone and some days maybe a couple nurses in particular. We are going to continue to lose more nurses until something is done. Management is aware and working on it, offering bonus' for working more shifts ect. but patients are still complaining about call lites and baths are not getting done. I was thinking when we didn't have a tech maybe assigning 2 nurses together for that day to help each other with baths that way some team work would be there and maybe encourage some more on there own. What do you guys suggest. Our manager is very aware and spends just as much time on the floor as everyone else. thanks

[Dolce, RN]

If the floor is full with 28 patients and 6 nurses that means each nurse has 4-5 patients and the charge has none. I realize there is no tech, but that is actually pretty decent staffing, in my opinion.

An idea you could try would be to assign nurses to one another to be teams. They are primary for their own patients but then cover for each other for breaks, walking patients, baths, etc.

[locolorenzo22, BSN, RN]

This is funny....I work as a tech, and while I understand the scope is different....I can bath someone in 20 mins...tops. Those patients that want to be set up, ok, then I set you up, do your back and any area you can't reach first, then we get you set up the rest of the way, call me back when you're done....

I routinely have 11-18 patients who range from self care to total care....and all my total cares get cleaned up when they have to be...if I don't have the time for a bath...

However, more info is needed...How heavy are these patients....can they not do ANYthing for themselves?....can you block out 1 hr out of shift for nurse to say..ok, if dr. so and so calls, I'll come but otherwise I'm busy...can they get medpasses down to have that hour...can someone jump in....can you as charge have 30 mins to at least knock one out for someone who is extra stressed...are we talking days or Pms......etc.

[litbitblack, ASN, RN]

If the floor is full with 28 patients and 6 nurses that means each nurse has 4-5 patients and the charge has none. I realize there is no tech, but that is actually pretty decent staffing, in my opinion.

The charge is responsible for 28 pts. And yes I do help with baths, pts in trouble, calling labs to mds, family complaints, cont of care rounds, hourly rounding on pts, all the iv pushes for the floor, cosigning all the charts after i do an assessment because the majority are lvns. blood transfusions if needed. Aswering call lites cause the nurses are in there rooms. We routinely do not have a tech. majority are med surg pts right now mainly pneumonia. elderly, nursing home pts....Some nurses just take care of thier stuff and nothing else.

[tracel1]

what hospital or area you work at because i go through the same thing @ at my hospital. i work in dowtown baltimore city/ maryland general. i work @ a small community hospital where the resources are lacking. we have 0-1 tech, they allways pull the techs if we have 2. we work hard and we hear stuff like patient scores need to go up. i am a new nurse near a year of experince. the new grads are stARTING TO LEAVE due to this enviroment.

[loriangel14, RN]

....Some nurses just take care of thier stuff and nothing else.

Where I work this would earn you a trip to the manager's office. It is a basic expectation that we work together, answer each others bells, no one EVER sits if others are working, and we constantly help each other with heavy pts and complicated dressings that take two sets of hands.Baths are first priority and the charge is on the floor working a huge amount of the time.