Primary nursing - what is it?

[ZZTopRN, BSN, RN]

I am at a psych hospital and I heard the charge nurses talking about primary nursing. They don't appear to know anything about it, but someone said that it was good nursing system. Anyone know anything about it? Mainly psych?

mv

[Gompers, BSN, RN]

I don't work in psych, but I'm guessing that primary nursing is the same all over the hospital...

Basically it's a way to have continuity of care. Each patient has a primary nurse who almost always is assigned to that patient when he/she works. It's sometimes a hassle if your nurses work a mixture of 8 and 12 hour shifts, but it's worth it. Some units assign primary nurses, others let the nurses choose who they sign up for. Don't know how other units do it, but in our NICU you can only have one primary patient, and each patient can only have one primary nurse. We also have associate nurses, who are assigned to that patient on shifts when the primary nurse isn't working, to have even greater continuity.

I don't know how well it works on a floor where patients are short-term, but in an environment where patients stay for long periods of time it's a good thing for both the patient/family and the nurse. In psych I can see it being very beneficial in terms of gaining the patient's trust by having such continuity and routine.

[Farkinott, RN]

i work in a specialised unit and having patients as a primary nurse means you should know as much as you possibly can about them. This means their meds, bloodwork, xrays, ecgs, care plan etc. You (hopefully) know their history pretty well and know what thee future healths needs will be. Additionally you should hve a fir idea of their social situation.

If anything concerning your "primary" patients needs to be acted upon or a care plan changed then you should be consulted. In light of things, if you go on days off or holidays etc then you need to allocate someone to take over your patients so that important cares don't slip thru the net.

It's a big responsibility but it is a good way of looking after long term clients who have constant health care needs.

[ZZTopRN, BSN, RN]

i work in a specialised unit and having patients as a primary nurse means you should know as much as you possibly can about them. This means their meds, bloodwork, xrays, ecgs, care plan etc. You (hopefully) know their history pretty well and know what thee future healths needs will be. Additionally you should hve a fir idea of their social situation.

If anything concerning your "primary" patients needs to be acted upon or a care plan changed then you should be consulted. In light of things, if you go on days off or holidays etc then you need to allocate someone to take over your patients so that important cares don't slip thru the net.

It's a big responsibility but it is a good way of looking after long term clients who have constant health care needs.

Thanks guys:

I thought that it was probably something like you were talking about. I wonder how well it will work with psych patients in my unit who are reallly not long term patients, but are just there to be stablized.

Thanks

mv