chris5720

Here.I.Stand, as for my experience in patient care I've worked in process and systems engineering and development for multiple organizations. As for my knowledge and experience on a floor/unit level, I'm not very familiar with the general consensus among nurses and those staffed on the floor. Thus, why I'm trying to understand the workflow of a unit by reaching out to those who do have more knowledge than me through outlets like forums, and coworkers. Also, the "brain-fog" possibility came about due to repetitive mistakes by those on the floor at my institution. Whenever questioning others about why those mistakes were made, the main point between those questioned revolved around issues with handling stress and workflow. Due to the issues at hand, and answers to questions, I've found the central issue to be memory and forgetfulness. Which is not a surprise from a psychological stand point. Psychologically, it has been proven that the effects of stress on cortisol levels and the mind do decrease one's ability to remember information. As a follow-up question, if more staffing is not currently a possibility, what do you believe could resolve issues with stress among patient care staff?

JKL33, thank you for clarifying. You are right, it is feasible but it is not preferred. It has been made clear to me that my institution is not trying to employ more nurses for shifts, if possible. Thus, the reason why I've gone in search of different methods to help ease the workflow. Also, what are the practices that you've suggested in the past? What do you believe is best to optimize patient satisfaction while limiting the stress of our staff?

Here.I.Stand, with these precaution signs are they intuitive and secure? Is anybody able to change the precautions on the door? Is there any security measures to keep others from tampering with the precautions on the sign?

Here.I.Stand, it's not the identification that I believe is stressful. I agree that memorization such as room numbers is quite easy and common sense. However, with the added stress of a patient care environment, it can cause memorization to suffer from the continued stack of daily requirements and workflow. If you do not believe new technology or cues are needed to ease memorization and decrease forgetfulness, what do you believe can limit the stress of a patient care environment on employees?

JKL33, I completely understand your premise. I definitely agree that more employees on a shift would solve a lot of the issues we and many others face in the industry. However, from a business and management perspective, that is not a feasible solution for our current time and environment. What I'm trying to understand is what causes stress or discomfort on nurses during their shifts. What are issues that cause mental or physical distractions and hindrances? I'm looking to update our technology so that our staff is not overworked, and to create methods of easing the stress of having to manage a large amount of data for all the patients being cared for in a given unit's environment. I also agree that a lot of administrator and management "solutions" most commonly do add more problems. That's why I want to understand from those who work in that given environment what the real issues are in their workflow. I want to avoid the generic and stereotypical effect of administrators adding more problems.

Flatline, not a marketer. I'm just trying to gather information from all ends to help the workflow at my employed location. I'm trying to see if my problem is an actual problem faced by others at other institutions. That way I can rank the need for the new workflow I hope to use to help our nurses and doctor's in their daily work.

JKL33, thank you for your honest feedback. To elaborate on the project/problem I'm working on, I'm trying to lower the stress of our staff through easing their mind with visual cues and reminders. My goal is to implement new technology that makes it easier on staff to remember patient details. Thus, limiting the stress of memory on an individual. Where do you believe I'm missing the premise? What would you define as the problem that should be the main focus? Also, I'm not planning on spending my life solving this issue. I'm just reaching out to as many individuals with experience that I can, to help optimize the workflow at my employing institution.

Brownbook, thank you for your detailed response. My background is in management information systems and electrical engineering. I primarily work in healthcare systems engineering and process optimization. I have bachelor degrees in software, computer, and electrical engineering. With a specialization in neural networks and artificial intelligence. I created this thread to help with a process decision at my employing institution. I'm trying to lower the stress of nurses and optimize the flow of our floor's workflow. Thus, I'm focusing on cues that can ease the stress on the minds through lowering the amount of information needed to be remembered or known by caring physicians. In response to your answers, the numerical room identifiers are like you said, quite rudimentary. However, I am focused on the precautions side of the room identifications. In many hospitals there are still signage and documents that notify nurses and doctors of precautions to take when entering a patient's room. Displaying the precautions is not a HIPAA violation due to the fact that precautions focus on both the patient and staff safety. Thus, I'm wondering how often those visual cues added to a nurse or doctor's experience. In your experiences, did you pay attention to those cues? Did they accomplish their goal? If they did not accomplish their goal, what limited the cues' success?

As a nursing prospect and student, I was wondering what the common issues with identifying rooms and patients are in the workplace. From a psychological stand point humans are innate to missing cues in high stress situations. Stress causes anxiety which can cause mistakes and confusion. To overcome these anxieties, devices like notes, or psychological reminders can be implemented. However, in a data heavy and personalized environment it is very common to miss information or misinterpret information. Especially in distinguishing a patient. In such a high paced and dynamic environment where time and service is key, what makes it hard in identifying patient rooms? What makes it hard to distinguish the medical precautions that are to be taken when entering a patient's room? What indicators, or visual cues make it easier in distinguishing specific patient rooms?