Obtaining Supplies School Project

[bdershimer9]

I am doing a project that finds out if there is a barrier for nurses trying to obtain supplies in a timely manner. Whether it takes them too long to get what they need to assist the patient or if they are able to do so in because supplies are readily available.

[KLHollis]

I will say that my response is somewhat conditional- during the day supplies are pretty available but evenings and weekends end up being difficult sometimes.

[K+MgSO4, BSN]

For what?

An IV?

A routinely performed procedure on your ward?

Something abnormal to your ward?

You need to explain more. My ward is well stocked with things that are relevant to the patient cohort but things that we don't perform routinely are not readily available. E.g. there is a dedicated paracentesis trolley that is stocked and stores on the shelves as well. However if you wanted to do an LP you would struggle with gathering the relevant supplies as we don't stock LP needles, specific specimen jars etc.

[nrsang97, BSN, RN]

No we don't always have the needed supplies when I need them. The mental health unit never has what we need for a rapid response. We also have floors that share an EKG machine. It's frustrating. On Tuesday night I went to a unit to start an IV and could not find one single alcohol swab.

[AceOfHearts<3]

Most of the time we have what we need. It’s very frustrating when we run out of basic supplies and it appears the supply person isn’t doing their job properly. It’s irritating to have to search for a new pulse ox or call a million times when we need more masks or gowns for an isolation room. Sometimes the linen cart doesn’t get refreshed and we run out of gowns and wash clothes. It’s pretty hard to give meds through an NG tube without a syringe or clean a patient up if there is no soap. These are things we use on a regular basis everyday and we should never run so low that we run out- we normally have plenty to spare because they are basic items in the ICU.