In celebration of nursing week (May 6 to 12, 2016), to help nurses in their vital role ensuring the safety of patients, two keys should be remembered:
#1 – Nurses Should Spend More Time with Patients
The current hospital-patient care environment does not allow nurses to spend their time where they are needed most, at the patients’ bedside. A time and motion study of 767 medical-surgical nurses in 36 hospitals found that only 7.2% of their time (31 minutes during a typical 10 hour shift) is spent with the patient performing tasks, such as assessing the patient and reading vital signs. During a 10 hour shift, the study found that nurses’ time was spent in numerous activities, as shown in the chart below:
#2 – Nurses Should Have the Tools Needed for Patient Care
Preliminary results of a survey the Physician-Patient Alliance for Health & Safety conducted found that nurses want:
- Patient monitors that are wearable and wireless (79 percent).
- A single monitor multi-parameter device that measures all current physiological monitoring parameters (67 percent).
- Monitors that are interoperable (45 percent).