Page 179 - Essentials of Nursing Leadership and Management, 5th Edition

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166 unit 2 | Working Within the Organization CikguOnline
interruptions every 5 minutes.Patient-care managers— helps identify patients who must be without food
nurses—seem to be interrupted every minute. or fluids (NPO) for tests or surgery, those who
Interruptions need to be kept to a minimum or elim- require 24-hour urine collections, or those who
inated, if possible. Closing the door to a patient’s require special cultures. The information need not
room may reduce interruptions. You may have to ask be written or entered repeatedly if stickers are used.
visitors to wait a few minutes before you can answer Everyone talks about the amount of time wasted
their questions, although you must remain sensitive by physicians,nurses,and other clinicians in looking
to their needs and return to them as soon as possible. for such things as patient charts, equipment, and
There is nothing wrong about asking a col- even patients. Erica Drazen, vice president of First
league who wants your assistance to wait a few Consulting Group in Lexington, Massachusetts,
minutes if you are engaged in another activity. suggested using more sophisticated wireless tech-
Interruptions that occur when you are trying to nology, similar to the car tracking systems used by
pour medications or make calculations can cause law enforcement.Tiny transmitters can be activated
errors. Physicians and other professionals often from a central point to locate the items or individ-
request nursing attention when nurses are involved uals. Using electronic medical record systems
with patient-care tasks. Find out if an unlicensed decreases the amount of time spent looking for
person may help. If not, ask the physician to wait, patient records. By using approved access codes,
stating that you will be more than glad to help as health-care personnel can obtain information from
soon as you complete what you are doing. Be cour- anywhere within the institution. This also mini-
teous, but be firm; you are busy also. mizes time spent on paper charting.
Categorizing Activities Automating Repetitive Tasks
Clustering certain activities helps eliminate the Developing techniques for repetitive tasks is simi-
feeling of bouncing from one unrelated task to lar to finding the fastest method, but it focuses on
another. It also makes your caregiving more holis- specific tasks that are repeated again and again,
tic. You may, for example, find that documentation such as patient teaching.
takes less time if you do it while you are still with Many patients come to the hospital or ambula-
the patient or immediately after seeing a patient. tory center for surgery or invasive diagnostic tests
The information is still fresh in your mind, and you for same-day treatment. This does not give nurses
do not have to rely on notes or recall. Many health- much teaching time. Using videotapes and pam-
care institutions have switched to computerized phlets as teaching aids can reduce the time needed
charting, with the computers placed at the bedside. to share the information, allowing the nurse to be
This setup assists in documenting care and inter- available to answer individual questions and create
ventions while the nurse is still with the patient. individual adaptations. Many facilities are using
Also, try to follow a task through to completion these techniques for cardiac rehabilitation,preoper-
before beginning another. ative teaching, and infant care instruction.
Computer-generated teaching and instruction
Finding the Fastest Way guides permit patients to take the information
Many time-consuming tasks can be done more effi- home with them. This can decrease the number of
ciently by automation.Narcotic delivery systems that phone calls requiring repetition of information.
deliver the correct dose and electronically record the
dose, the name of the patient, and the name of the The Rhythm Model for Time Management
health-care personnel removing the medication are Navuluri (2001) looked at time management in
being used in many institutions. This system saves terms of a Rhythm Model—a PQRST pattern:
staff time in documentation and in performing a Prioritize, Question, Recheck, Self-reliance,Treat.
narcotic count at the end of each shift. Bar coding is By prioritizing, you can accomplish the most
another method used by health-care institutions.Bar important tasks first. Questioning permits you to
coding allows for scanning certain types of patient look at events and tasks in terms of effectiveness,
data, decreasing the number of paper chart entries efficiency, and efficacy. Rechecking unfinished
(Baldwin, 2002; Meyer, 1992). tasks quickly helps you to manage your time
Efficient systems do not have to be complex. efficiently. Self-reliance allows you to know the
Using a preprinted color-coded sticker system difference between events that are within your