How to Increase Moral on a Bone Marrow Transplant Unit

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Specializes in Bone Marrow Transplant/Hematology.

I work on a Bone Marrow Transplant unit in Illinois. I love the unit but we do not function as a team. Our unit is a 20 bed unit. 10 beds are dedicated to Bone Marrow Patients, and the other 10 are Bone Marrow/Hematology patients. The dedicated Bone Marrow side has a max of 3 patients per nurse and can have anything from floor to ICU patients. The Bone Marrow/Hematology side can have anywhere from 3-5 patients.

It is a difficult unit to staff for. Nurses are in different stages of getting certified in chemotherapy and ICU training. The idea is that nurses work on both sides, but some select nurses are always on the dedicated Bone Marrow side due to favoritism.

I am looking for ideas on how to rotate nurses effectively between sides. Also, how can we increase the sense of teamwork on our unit. It is split into cliques. I feel that part of this is because when the charge nurse makes the assignment, they have to take into account who is chemotherapy certified, who is ICU trained, and the skill level of each nurse. Ideally we have have 6-8 nurses depending on acuity of patients.

Any input would be greatly appreciated. I am also a research nerd, so if anyone knows any articles related to increasing teamwork/moral between nurses, I would love that as well.

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