Is the NURSES STATION REALLY a Pateint Care Area?

[showbizrn]

I know

I understand

that OSHA, JCAHO

all else in the land

have designated the Nurses' Station

as a Patient Care Area

which gives them plenty of areas

for NURSING CARE REPRIMANDS.

I'm just asking

for food of thought

IS THE NURSES' STATION REALLY A PATIENT CARE AREA?

'Cause that's one regulation

I'm not sold on or bought.

What do YOU think?

IS THE NURSES' STATION REALLY A PATIENT CARE AREA?

(Please your GENUINE thoughts/feelings---NO JCAHO, OSHA or Dept of Health regs----we ALL know them---I think;)

If you had it your way...)

[NurseCard, ADN]

Heh, heh, I like you.

Anyway, probably with all of the things such as medications, lab samples, charts... plus when i worked psych, we really DID do a lot of things with patients right at the nurses station such as take vital signs... with all of those things going on right at the nurses station, I would have to call it a patient care area, yeah...

Plus, the nurse's station is just so OPEN, you know? It's... RIGHT THERE in the same area as where there is so much patient care going on.

[Roseyposey]

Our nurses' station is enclosed, not visible to the public (unless the doors are open), but is considered a patient care area. I have to admit, though, I am glad no food is allowed in the area because it is very busy with doctors and charts and such all the time and we tend to be slobs - I can see a computer getting coffee spilled all over it. Of course, the no food or drink policy only seems to apply to the nurses and not the doctors.

[Ruby Vee, BSN]

as far as i'm concerned, since there are no patients in the nurse's station, it is not a patient care area!

[AprilRNhere]

I can only state my opinion about where I work..but out nursing station is not a patient care area. We don't do anything for patients there- ever. Unless you count directing visiting family towards the OB area. Our station is set back away from pt rooms which are down the hallways accross from the station. We don't have a no food/drink policy which I love. BUT- that said....noone ever eats there during daytime hours and only drinks from closed containers. Late evenings and night shifts do....but we're discreet. We want to be viewed as professionals.

[leslie :-D]

i LOVE having pts near the nurse's station.

working w/the dying, there are times i cannot give them the 1:1.

some are very fearful, others are acutely confused.

so i assist them to a comfortable recliner, and roll them (and all their iv's) near me, where they can see me, and i sit near them as i chart.

i.

love.

it.

leslie

[lovingtheunloved, ASN, RN]

On my unit, absolutely. I have several residents who routinely sit with me while I chart. Usually the screamers or fight pickers. I have one lady who truly just needs human contact, so she sits with me and puts sugar packets in a box. Plenty of HIPAA protected info at the nurses' station, but my residents are too confused and/or vision impaired anyway. Whatever makes them happy.

[Riseupandnurse]

Well, ok, if a patient's confused I guess it would be ok to have them in the nurses' station, but I really don't think it should be a patient care area. Too many HIPPA protected postings, reminders from management about what we're not doing great on, conversations with doctors about privileged information, and sometimes you just want to see what another nurse thinks about your patient care situation or simply vent a little. I think the nurses' station should be where the nurse can do business. One thing I really don't like is when family members come up and bang on the glass with requests and messages. I don't know who they are or whether what they want is something the patient should have, and it takes me a while to sort out who their nurse is. They need to use the call lights! (I guess I just vented a little.)

[bethin]

working w/the dying, there are times i cannot give them the 1:1.

some are very fearful, others are acutely confused.

so i assist them to a comfortable recliner, and roll them (and all their iv's) near me, where they can see me, and i sit near them as i chart.

I agree that at times like this that it is. But, I do not allow the walkie talkies to come into the nurses station because they see they're nurse and think they can get their pain meds quicker if they go directly to the supplier. In those cases, I consider it a HIPAA violation because we keep old charts in the back, there are dr's orders laying around, etc. And we have had A&O x3 pt's ask "what's that?" as they point to a dr's order. Our nurses station has only one opening and it opens in the back where nurses and dr's sit down to chart and eat. This is the area where we keep the old charts. Then there's a doorway that opens up to the 'main' station where the charge nurse and unit coordinator sit along with current pt's charts.

Now, I will put a habitual bed climber in a g-chair and push him or her into or near the nurses station. I think they like the hustle and bustle. Not once have they ever caused a problem. Most of them fall asleep amongst the ringing phones, the call bells going off, the yells for a nurse, etc. Odds are those confused pts won't remember what they hear or see 5 mins after they hear or see it.

[Scrubby]

I would not consider the nurses station a patient care area because i don't believe it's appropriate to bring patients into this area, where other patients confidential information is kept.