Nursing qiaulity of care is one of the primary concerns for all nurse managers. Nurse managers are required to track events like falls, bed sores, incidences that involve patients and chart them to reflect on a monthly graphical data. This graphical data indicates quality of nursing care.
But nursing staff have different opinions about using these measures as indicators of quality of nursing care. The following are a few comments from facebook users: –
Karen Randall Bumgardner I don’t think there is any way to prevent falls, some patients are determined not to stay in bed no matter what we do. That being said, I think that the current staff rations are VERY poor! One nurse can’t be responsible for 50 patients at night with only two CNA’s to help. It’s not fair to the residents or the staff, who do everything they can to prevent these things and never succeed. Also, those CNA’s are the heart and soul of nursing. Without them, a nurse is merely a nurse. It takes great TEAMWORK to pull together and make a great nurse. Pay the CNA’s more, they deserve it and will work harder!
Regina Barner I am neutral. Can certainly be both. Try working long term care with nursing hours minimum requirement in Pa is 2.7 hrs/day!!! That being said there are some pts who can fall rite in front of you and I can always tell when my residents are entering the end of their lives. They develop open areas. The key is to have preventative measures in place from the get go. Have your aides’ vigilant with reporting etc.
Kevin LuAllen Ohhh NO. Tell the damn nurses managers to hire more Nursing Help. ” CNA” help so we nurses can Nurse, instead of doing it all. Having as many pt’s as we have with barley enough help to run a hot dog stand. Patient care starts suffering from higher up. Not at the bedside. We can only so much in 12 hrs.
Linda Bell Poor staffing. And we should not be held accountable for pre-admit health. Poor nutrition and mobility causes decubitus and poor skin integrity. Doesn’t happen overnight government and insurance companies have found ways not to pay their bills.
Larry L Smith I agree! I do think a key to prevent both is both instruction and proper staffing levels. Pressure ulcers are totally preventable, but unfortunately, not all falls can be prevented, as some patients tend to be compulsive and try to rise suddenly.
Crystal Scheiferstein I disagree. There are some patients no matter how many times you turn them and no matter what measures you take, develop pressure sores. And there are patients that you can sit and watch for hours on end and as soon as you step away to take care of other patients will fall. I think that pressure sores and falls are an indicator of lack of staffing.
Nicole Ferris Keefe I believe it indicates that nurses are overwhelmed by the patient to nurse ratio; and documentation; and numerous phone calls to doctors that they can’t possibly do quality patient care! Leading to patient safety issues! Let us do our job, not everyone else’s to!!!
Alyson Hope pressure sores can be avoided easily enough but like others say, you need good staffing levels to deliver decent nursing care and no matter how many nurses you have on duty, if a patient is determined to walk/mobilize when they are unable to do so independently then you’re gonna get falls that is no one’s ‘fault’.
May Jane Carinal I agree that these may indicate poor nursing care but at some point, these kinds of incidents were not avoided because of the fact that there are no enough ratio of NURSES to a certain ward… and not all the time nurses are with the patients. Significant others of the patients also play an important role in giving care..They should work hand-in-hand with the health team especially with the nurses and doctors…So that good nursing care will be rendered to the patients…
Angélica Maria Zeledón Baca You have to look at the whole picture. Is it a sudden jump in falls per month, or is there suddenly more pts with pressure ulcers ? Also, falls can be prevented to some degree with medication, altering of the environment, providing the resident with something to keep them occupied, often even some education. Nursing interventions are designed to bring the rates down. This applies especially if it is one particular resident/patient with a sudden increase in falls per month, or a new pressure ulcer.
Pressure ulcers can be prevented with 2/24 turning, but also an air/water mattress with the appropriate pressure setting, and also some tweaks with meds.
Regardless of what anyone says, the people we look after should be looked at as unique individuals, not a number nor a percentage on a report.
What is your take about falls and pressure ulcers as indicators of nursing quality of care? Leave a comment please
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