Sitter Roles Defined

[chanprit]

In the hospital where I work we utilize Sitters, also known as Observation Assistants, very often. I am wondering what type of training other hospitals provide for their Sitters. Do the Sitters go through general hospital orientation and then receive further instruction as to duties involved? Do other hospitals provide different levels of Sitters (CPR only) vs. Sitter Techs (CNA certified)? How do nurses view the Sitters, do they find Sitters helpful? Do nurses feel that Sitters do not do enough? What is the charting requirements for your Sitters? How does your hospital cover Sitter breaks and/or lunches (meaning if there are several sitter cases on one unit, who covers for the Sitters during their lunch breaks, which at 30min per Sitter could be up to 5-6hr. to cover in a day.)?

These are a lot of questions because there doesn't seem to be a lot of research or information that covers this area.

[Sour Lemon]

Observation Assistants? OK.

Our sitters are CNAs or nurses ....just CNAs or nurses assigned to one patient instead of a group of them. They are extremely helpful. The are covered by other nurses or CNAs for their breaks.

I worked for one hospital that utilized agency sitters. They were worthless and did nothing but hit the call light when the patient tried to get out of bed. This could be every five minutes (or even more frequently). They were not supposed to touch the patient and were typically obnoxious people, in general. There was very little point to having them there.

[NewEnglandRN16]

Our sitters are either sitters only or can be PCAs. They use a 15min checklist and record on that. PCAs will cover their breaks. Our sitters do not do any patient care unless they're a PCA. They sit bedside and are not allowed electronics, tv, food, music, etc.

[chanprit]

Thanks, that's basically how our sitters are. Just trying to see how sitters are handled in other areas.

[Here.I.Stand, BSN, RN]

I worked for one hospital that utilized agency sitters. They were worthless and did nothing but hit the call light when the patient tried to get out of bed. This could be every five minutes (or even more frequently). They were not supposed to touch the patient and were typically obnoxious people, in general. There was very little point to having them there.

That is one expensive bed alarm system.

[BeckyESRN]

Our sitters were always PCAs, usually the supervisor would assign sitter based on which PCA had most seniority and rotate from there. The other PCA or nurse would cover breaks, but we never had more than 2 or 3 at most. The sitter would do all of the patient care for that one patient-with help when needed-, but all vitals, blood sugars, ambulating, ect. They were required to document in the computer every 15 minutes and the PCA in that assignment had to document every hour, as well as the nurse documenting hourly. There was no extra training, just expectations laid out in the PCAs' job description. When we had a PCA/sitter from our floor, it was great, but occasionally they would pull someone from a different unit and those ones were generally not helpful at all.

[remotefuse]

Our sitters are either sitters only or can be PCAs. They use a 15min checklist and record on that. PCAs will cover their breaks. Our sitters do not do any patient care unless they're a PCA. They sit bedside and are not allowed electronics, tv, food, music, etc.

This is very similar to my facility as well. The if the sitter is not a CNA they will not touch the patient which can get pretty annoying. At least with a CNA sitter, they will take them to the bathroom, do vitals etc. When sitting, the sitter is not supposed to be on their phone. Im not too thrilled with the sitters we use. I've had sitters fall asleep multiple times, have their headphones on and not pay attention the patient, and I even had one sitter leave while I was passing a medication. I looked up and thought that maybe they went to get water or bathroom break, but 20 min later, I had to call my charge.

[Tishreni]

I currently work as a sitter through registry as a cna.The job is fairly simple.You do everything the cna does but with only 1 or 2 patients.Our responsibilities vary by hospitals but it's pretty much the same in one concept..We're caretakers and are responsible for reporting all updates on the patient.I won't get into sitters sleeping because I do see a lot of that all the time.I kindly remind people that our licenses are on the line and if something happens to the patients,we could up for major law suits!