Question about assignments

Question: do you feel that as an ICU nurse, the most acute patients should always go to the most experienced nurses, or do you feel that acuity should be rotated regularly to maintain homogenous competency amongst staff. If you have any articles from AACN regarding this please send them my way. 

[JBMmom, MSN, NP]

In my unit as people come off orientation we try to not give them patients that are the sickest until they've at least become more comfortable. However, with staffing as it is now we've often only got 1-2 experienced nurses out of six on any given night. Everyone has to learn at some point, but we do try to provide the best care possible, which ends up looking different on any given shift based on overall acuity, staffing levels and the skill sets available. Wish I had some data for you. 

[Queenofthesouth24]

JBMmom said:

In my unit as people come off orientation we try to not give them patients that are the sickest until they've at least become more comfortable. However, with staffing as it is now we've often only got 1-2 experienced nurses out of six on any given night. Everyone has to learn at some point, but we do try to provide the best care possible, which ends up looking different on any given shift based on overall acuity, staffing levels and the skill sets available. Wish I had some data for you. 

We have an about 1/3 with <1 year, 1/3 with 2-4 years (me), and 1/3 with 5+. I'm just concerned that I'm losing my skills, because if you're not exposed to high acuity for a year  at a time, you use those skill.