Nursing team

sweetielin · Dec 16, 2006

i have never done anything other than team nursing. at my hospital, the rn is usually responsibly for the ivs, initiating care plans, admission assessments. the lpn is responsible for all po/pr/sc/im meds, dressings, accuchecks, tube feedings, breathing treatments, checking night work,and whatever the cna is too busy to get to. several duties are shared and done by whoever sees the need to be done such as inserting foleys and ng tubes, trach care and suctioning, charting, updating care plans, admissions. lpns do frequently help out by flushing peripheral ivs, hanging fluids, sometimes hanging ivpbs. rns help lpns by giving pain pills, checking night work. they will do some of your accuchecks or dressings if you get behind. our shift works well together and we have the mentality that it doesn't matter who does it, just that it gets done. our supervisor comes to the floors and helps out whenever possible. i have heard a lot of nurses say they hate team nursing. i can see where it would be bad if you had a nurse that didn't pull their weight. luckily, we don't have that problem. also, the teams help other teams. we will respond to call from each other's patients if their nurses are too busy. if one team is overloaded, the other team will jump in and ask what needs to be done. if everyone pulls their weight and works well together it can be a great thing.

AfloydRN, BSN, RN · Dec 17, 2006

We frequently go back and forth between team nursing and primary care. We got rid of all our LPN's and in doing so eliminated team nursing.