At the VA Northern Indiana Health Care Center in Marion Indiana on unit 2C, the most common diagnosis is schizophrenia. Most patients have been there for many years and several only know this place as home. On this unit, there is a charge nurse, a med nurse, and four other staff members that participate in the care of the veterans.
The charge nurse is in charge of communicating special needs to appropriate staff, designating the emergency pager to A duties, updating care plans, monthly skin assessments, assigning safety environment and cleaning checklist, assigning BM checklist, TMS as time allows, assisting with dining room and veterans as needed, educational groups, passing cigarettes, tour of duty complete and sign, crash cart check, updating recovery treatment plans, restraint and restriction notes, tape report, and reminding team members to pass pagers to next shift. The med nurse oversees receiving
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report, signing for medication keys, taking assignments from charge nurse, administering treatments as ordered, administering scheduled and PRN medication, educational group, accuchecks, weekly notes, time and date all meds and treatments opened, restocking med cart for next shift, printing missed meds and discrepancy report at beginning and end of each shift, and interacting with veterans.
The A duties staff member is responsible for carrying the pager, listening to the report, EOC round q30, patient count at designated times, reporting missing patients to UNC, hygiene cart every morning, changing linens on Wednesday, showers, nail care, passing out nourishments, supervising dayroom, answering door, reporting changed in condition to RN, cleaning day room, and interacting with veterans. 1B and 2B duties staff members listen to report, EOC rounds q30, assist with AM ADLs, supervise dayroom, escort veterans to smoke times, showers, nail care, change incontinent veterans q2hrs, unit activities, answer door, personal hygiene, report changed in condition to RN, make sure ADL and BM sheet is complete, and interact with
veterans. C duties staff members are responsible for listening to report, EOC rounding q30, take AM and prn V/S, shower, nail care, passing out nourishments, unit activities, checking O2 tanks, answer door, oral hygiene prn, reporting changes in veterans to RN, emptying laundry, checking ADL and BM sheets, and interacting with the veterans. There are many safety measures taken at the Marion VA. One safety measure is locked units. This helps ensure that no veterans wander and get lost. Another safety factor I observed was locked cabinets. This ensures the veterans cannot get ahold of anything that could hurt them or anything that is breakable. There is also safety feature like break away curtains to prevent hang points. The unit has therapy groups such as kinesis therapy, gardening group, and they also get to go out to the community for extracurricular activities. The goal of these groups is to maintain independence and normal daily actives. The medication administration process was very interesting and very safe. The medications have a bar code and the patients also have a barcode on their wristband. The med nurse scans the patient and then the medication. The medication will not scan it will if it is the wrong medication. It will also pop alerts on the screen like, check blood pressure or partial dosage. This system helps reduce error and increase patient safety. I did not witness any patient education, but I am sure the med nurse is knowledgeable on all medications and would answer any questions. Some of the veterans are very forgetful and some education would be pointless due to their lack of understanding from their illness.
When I am older I would love to be a Nurse Practitioner, I enjoy helping people when they are sick and taking care of them. Another reason I want to be a Nurse Practitioner is because my sister is also a Nurse Practitioner.
The nurse needs to recognize the limitations of each staff member and learn what assignments are within the scope of their practice and what are tasks that need delegation. Delegation is defined as a complex process that requires clinical judgment and final accountability for patients’ care (Weydt, 2010). An assignment is defined as “giving someone else a task within his/her own practice and is base on job descriptions and policies” (NCSBN, 2005, p. 1). The Board of Registered Nursing (BRN) and the Board of Vocational nursing & Psychiatric Technicians (BVNPT) website, lists what duties the RN and the LVN can legally do and is within their scope of practice, this is called the ‘nurse practice act’. A nurse assistant personnel (NAP) or Unlicensed Assistive personnel (UAP) may perform different tasks depending on the state that they reside in, but most include tasks that are considered activities of daily living (ambulating, hygiene, grooming)(NCSBN, 2005). The LVN can perform tasks that the nursing assistant can do, as well as other tasks which include: medication administration (oral, subcutaneous, intramuscular), simple dressing changes, wound care, suctioning, catheter insertion, drawing blood from a patient, and starting an IV and intravenous fluids. IV and blood draws are dependent on the LVNs certification, competence, and
o Type of healthcare worker: Nurse practitioner o When this type of work entered the market: The medical profession of nurse practitioner was developed in the mid 1960s. The job of nurse practitioners grew from implementing work from primary care physicians into that of traditional nurses. o Reasons for creation and growth: In the late 1950s and early 1960s, increased specialization amongst physicians was taking place, which led to many doctors exploring other avenues of medicine, resulting in a large shortage of physicians practicing primary care. This left many rural and inner city areas with very limited access to medical care.
The first step to understand your role as a CNA is to know the difference between a hospital setting and a nursing center. Hospitals provide emergency care, surgeries, and laboratory testing. They care for people of all types of ages and all scenarios. Hospital patients have three types of illness: acute, chronic, or terminal. Acute illness is a sudden illness from which someone is likely to recover. Chronic illness is an on-going illness which there is no known cure. Terminal illness is an illness or injury from which a patient is expected to expire. On the other hand, long term care centers are designed to meet the needs of people who no longer can care for themselves but do not need hospital care. These people are called residents upon their entrance. Care centers provide residents with the right medical, nursing, rehabilitative, recreational, and social services. Nursing centers meet the needs of all kinds of residents from alert, oriented, confused, short term, life long, mentally ill, terminally ill, to persons needing complete care. Besides the differences hospitals and nursing centers have similar standards. They must protect and promote patients or residents rights. Both require high quality care, and a clean and safe setting. The Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act ...
Growing up, I was never really sure what career would fit best for me. I didn’t know which direction I was going to take and I always ended up pushing it aside because truly, it scared me. Coming into high school, I ended up with multiple injuries – I sprained my left ankle twice and my right ankle once; I also ended up spraining my elbow. This all happened through cheerleading and lacrosse. I was continually going to the hospital and started to realize what my passion was – being in the medical field. My passion for being in the medical field grew even more when my brother married his girlfriend, Yuko. She happened to be a nurse, as well as my other brother who worked as a physical therapist. Though I didn’t know what field I necessarily wanted to go into, and I still am a little conflicted, I knew my heart was in the medical field. One that I’ve specifically looked into recently has been emergency room nurses.
Licensed practical nurses (LPN 's) fill an important role in modern health care practices. Their primary job duty is to provide routine care, observe patients’ health, assist doctors and registered nurses, and communicate instructions to patients regarding medication, home-based care, and preventative lifestyle changes (Hill). A Licensed Practical Nurse has various of roles that they have to manage on a day to day basis, such as being an advocate for their patients, an educator, being a counselor, a consultant, researcher, collaborator, and even a manager depending on what kind of work exactly that you do and where. It is the nursing process and critical thinking that separate the LPN from the unlicensed assistive personnel. Judgments are based
We are not only responsible for patient care, but we are also included in many other roles. Before nursing school, I thought that the main responsibility of the nurse is to take care of patient. During nursing school, I learned that patient care was not the nurses known just for. We took many general courses and nursing course work to prepare ourselves to be an educated member. For example, it was required to us to take microbiology, anatomy, leadership, professionalisms, etc to help us to become a better nurse and have a foundation base of education. We give patient care in the hospital, but we are also provider of care. We use the nursing process to help and make decision for our patient. Our decisions are based on critical thinking, clinical reasoning, and accountability. We are hold accountable for everything we do and based on our judgment to provide care to the best of patient’s benefit. We are also known for our role as a manager, designer, and coordinator of patient care. I plan and coordinate patient’s care based on their health care needs. In clinical, my patient has a Foley catheter, I will know to plan and implement Foley care to help with personal hygiene and preventing infections. It is important to make decisions based on priorities, time, and resources. As nurses, we need to know how to delegate and ask for assistance when needed. For example, I needed help to ambulate my patient who has a total knee replacement, I then ask
I chose a career as a medical assistant because of the rewards I knew I would experience on a daily basis. Seeing a patient smile because I have helped them understand, or just making them feel comfortable with their visit, is just one of the many perks of my job. Upon graduating from an accredited college such as The College of Health Care Professions (CHCP), I now work for one of the most reputable hospitals in my area. Within two short years of committed studies, I obtained my associate of applied science degree, and then went on to obtain my certification as a medical assistant. There is nothing I have found more fulfilling, strong, secure, or rewarding then choosing to become a medical assistant,
Prioritizing care is one of the first things that nurses learn in their career. Prioritizing requires critical thinking whether it comes to discharging a patient, caring for a patient, or delegating a task to a LPN or CNA. As the charge nurse they must look at the whole picture and not just the tasks that need to be done. The charge nurse is the one makes the assignments for the individual nurses, so if there happens to be a float nurse from a different department they might give them the patients with the lowest acuity depending on the nurse’s experience. The charge nurse must know which patients could be discharged if there was an emergency to arise or not enough hospital beds for those patients who need to be admitted. For example, the nurse is not going to recommend someone who came in with a heart attack; they would most likely recommend someone who is two days post op and is being discharged to a rehab facility in a couple of days. It is the charge nurses duty to make that everyone providing great and safe care to the patient.
Physician Assistant is a career choice that entails various specialties and flexibilities that attracts many. Those who desires a path to practice medicine as soon as possible, PA 's lateral mobility allows that to happen. Compared to medical school, PA school requires less time and amount less debt. As the population grows and chronic diseases spreads, The future projection of PA is growing faster than the average careers.
Charge Nurse is a registered nurse responsible for the management of a patient care unit. The primary purpose of the job of a Charge Nurse is to provide direct nursing care to the patient, and to supervise the day-to-day nursing activities performed by nursing assistants. Such supervision must be in accordance with current federal, state, and local standards, guidelines, and regulations that govern the facility, and as may be required by the DON (Director of Nursing) or Nurse Supervisor to ensure that the highest degree of quality care is maintained at all times. As a Charge Nurse, they are delegated the administrative authority, responsibility, and accountability necessary for carrying out the assigned duties.
Although those tasks are not done at the same time by each nurse who has a specific patient, it requires clear communication and making an effort for the benefit of other team members. For example, a hand off report is very important so that the continuation of care from nurse to nurse can transition smoothly with each shift. That means that each nurse should make an effort to gather all pertinent data about the patient’s status, orders or procedures to anticipate, and anything that will help the nurse coming on to provide good care without having to jump through hoops to figure out what was done and what should follow. The other way in which nurses help each other is by maintaining their documentation as clear and thorough as they can. Not only does it paint a picture of where the patient is at that moment, but it also provides a safety net for legal
A leader is described as a person who guides others and has authority and influence over others. They work to influence others into meeting certain goals. There is no right or wrong definition of a leader and there is no recipe that ensures effective leadership. Successful leaders have a good balance of vision, influence, and power. Leaders gain their authority from their ability to influence others to get the work done; because of this, anyone has the potential to be a leader. (Finkelman. 2012, p15)
Saying that you are a registered nurse is a broad statement. Registered nursing is a job that has many aspects. Registered nurses work in many different settings and they carry out many different routines. As a registered nurse you could be exposed to many different opportunities. My goal is to be a registered nurse but, I need to learn a lot. Becoming a being a registered nurse requires a lot of hard work and effort but, if I focus on my goal I will be able to achieve it.
This section describes the role of the occupational health nurse in the workplace and also improves the management of health and health related problems in the workplace. Occupational health nurses can also contribute significantly to sustainable development, improve competitiveness, job security and increase profitability in institutions and communities by addressing factors related to the health of the working population. By helping to reduce poor health professional health nurses can contribute to increased profitability, organizations' performance and reduced health care costs. Occupational health nurses can also help to reduce health needs, through prevention of disability and social exclusion, and to improve rehabilitation services at work. As well as to protect and promote the health of the working population and to promote social inclusion (Baranski et al., 2014 ).