We've been having a lot of issues with things happening just before or just after shift change and neither of the nurses feeling like they should be responsible for taking care of paperwork, calling families, etc.
Some examples...shift change is at 1400 on weekends...technically, the 0600-1400 nurse is supposed to stay until 1415 (the shift is actually 0545-1415). So if a resident resident returns from the hospital at 1330, it seems to me that the day shift nurse should handle the assessment and re-admit paperwork...I guess that only applies when either I or one ofthe other nurses is the day shift nurse...every other nurse somehow manages to pass the paperwork off to the evening shift.
Another example...during the week, shifts run from 0545-1815 and 1745-0615. A nurse was walking out the door at 1830 when she saw one of the residents (a very confused resident with MULTIPLE elopment attempts) walking across the parking lot. So...she brought the resident back inside and told the charge nurse what happened. The charge nurse informed her that since she found her it was her responsibility to handle the paperwork. (The extensive 10 pages of paperwork, mandated by corporate policy).
In the first case, the administrator thinks the oncoming nurse should have taken care of the readmit...in the second she agrees that the nurse who found the resident should have taken care of it. Doesn't seem right to me.
We don't have a DON right now and the responsibility for her duties are being shared by me and the most experienced charge nurse. We have agency RNs who take care of out RN coverage.
The charge nurse and I are meeting with the administrator tomorrow to work this out (along with a few other bugs in our system) and I want to have a good logical plan. She says it doesn't make sense that I would take care of the paperwork for a resident coming back at the end of my shift but I won't take care of an elopement at the end of my shift. It seems like two different things to me.
Sometimes being a team player can help..If one shift does not finish, the oncoming nurse will have to help..Nursing is a 24 hour thing, a lot of things happen...
Our policy states that if a hospital return or new admission arrives a half hour before the end of the shift then the next shift takes care of it.(it does NOT matter who you are-the policy applies to everyone) The receiving nurse gets a set of vital signs and settles the resident in and that's it.....30mins is not enough time to complete all of our mandatory assessments,body check and orders along with any thing else that may still need to be done. You can't rush through that stuff.... Our administration believes any nurse on any shift is as capable as any other and since it is a 24 hour facility the oncoming shift needs to be ready to pick up the ball.We are not going to get OT for something like an elopement or a fall.We all have lives of our own to get to after shift.The charge nurse was wrong-she had the day shift nurse clock back in and do the paperwork on the elopement? And rack up OT? No way... The nurse was off the clock-no different then a housekeeper or a visitor as far as the paperwork goes. IMHO Seems that neither the charge nurse nor the administrator are considering the 2 most important factors involved here -resident safety and money....
To me the oncoming nurse should handle the responsiblity..The nurse who is coming off already worked an 8 hour day and she is ready to go home...The oncoming nurse has 8 hours to complete the work..
Specializes in LTC,Hospice/palliative care,acute care.
To me the oncoming nurse should handle the responsiblity..The nurse who is coming off already worked an 8 hour day and she is ready to go home...The oncoming nurse has 8 hours to complete the work..
Bala Shark
573 Posts
Sometimes being a team player can help..If one shift does not finish, the oncoming nurse will have to help..Nursing is a 24 hour thing, a lot of things happen...