Responsibility

[rossman59]

Scenario: The patient was signed out of the unit by an activity staff for an activity/party at the Assisted Living Facility of the same Hospital.The patient ambulates via wheelchair. The patient refuses to go back to the unit after the activity was over.Who will be responsible for the patient's safety and welfare while the patient was out of the nursing unit?

[Shannon Up]

Tricky :) Does your facility have a written policy?

[FLArn]

I would say that in the absence of written policy to the contrary, it would be the person who signed him/her out of the unit to the activity. Our sign out sheets specifically state that the person signing the patient out is responsible for him until he returns to our unit.

[neuroms]

As long as the client is still at the same hospital, I'd say the entire staff should be responsible. If the client is having anxiety about returning to his/her unit, then the rest of the staff shouldn't abandon the party that signed the client out but work as a functional team of providers to help the client resolve the issue in a positive way.

[tyvin, BSN, RN]

If she was signed out by staff then it's the facilities responsibility. This means that staff works together to get the resident back to the facility.