Staffing Methods: A Case Study

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How do staffing methods relate to risk management? Staffing methods can play a large role in risk management. For instance, if there is not enough staff to take care of patients, it can be a very dangerous situation. The nurse will not be able to give the type of patient-centered care that each deserves. There is an increased for medical errors when the unit is understaffed and the nurses are overwhelmed. If the unit is overstaffed with nurses, it can be an issue too. However this issue involves finances. It can cause a negative variance in the budget. According to Yoder-Wise (2014), “Nurse managers must make skilled staffing and scheduling decisions to ensure that safe and cost effective care is provided by the appropriate level of caregiver” (p. 275). What is the staffing system where you work? I work on a telemetry unit. The staffing system on my unit is a mix of team nursing and primary nurse hybrid partnership model. We have a charge nurse or clinical coordinator that assigns a group of patients to a registered nurse. The registered nurse manages the care of 4-6 patients with the help of a personal care tech. Instead of a team leader, care is directed by the bedside/staff nurse. The bedside/staff nurse provides the care for all of …show more content…

For example, at the hospital where I work, the ICU nurses care for two patients at a time. These patients are critically ill and require the nurse to have more direct and one on one care. They practice case method nursing care. However, in a nursing home, they may utilize the functional model of nursing, which has each member of the care team performing specific tasks within their scope of practice. According to Yoder-Wise (2014), “There is no perfect method for delivering nursing care to groups of patients and their families. Based on the variety of settings and sizes of organizations, no one model addresses all needs” (p.

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