hourly rounding

One the first night duties I did as a 4th year student I learned a valuable lesson. anyone can die. Was seriously concerned about pt in bed 1 and was constantly in and out to her overnight. the pt in bed 3 was for discharge in the morning and I was not too concerned about her. Because pt 1 was in the bed by the door I would do what i had to do with her and leave. I knew the pt in bed 2 was ok because she was texting. Went to plug in the Dinamap at the wall socket opposite bed 3. Looked at the pt and she was dead. Full resus attempt failed. It taught me to check on ALL my pt every hour and I am one of those annoying nurses with a torch shining it on there chest to see if it is rising if they are asleep and not snoring!

A family member complained about me checking on her brother so much.........manager had my back and said that it was better to annoying him and make sure he is living than not to annoying him and leave him dead in the bed! that shut her up!

hourly rounding is not a bother for me and on the ward I work on now we split it between the 3 night staff so you only end up doing it once every 3 hours. Plus you are usually in and out more than you think. When you go to empty a hourly urine output or hand an anti biotic you check your pt is breathing and in bed. It is something that you are doing without noticing until managment declare that it has to be done hourly there is uproar! You are already doing it I'd say.

Something I did regularly when I worked nights and as mentioned if I was going into a bay to do something would cast my eye over everyone only took a couple of mins. You knew which ones needs keeping a closer eye on but casting eyes over everyone doesn't hurt.