Nurses ARE the security net!

The theme of this 12 months’s Nurses Week focuses on safety – “Safety culture – it starts with YOU.” Many of us immediately take into consideration patient safety, and that is the way it needs to be – patients come first. We know that hospitals could be dangerous for patients resulting from hospital-acquired infections, medication errors, slips and falls, and increased stress resulting from lack of sleep. Due to our 24/7 presence, nurses at all times acted as guardians and guided our patients to discharge with none complications.

ANA defines a security culture “as one by which core values ​​and behaviors – resulting from the collective and sustained commitment of a corporation’s leadership, managers and employees – emphasize safety over competing goals.” It’s a terrific concept, but not every hospital has implemented it.

Of course, staffing have to be key – how can nurses perform one in every of our most significant functions – assessing and monitoring patients – when there are too few of us to spend time with patients? How can we prevent pressure ulcers and support recovery of strength and mobility if there are too few of us to securely help patients walk? Patients who’ve been out and in of hospitals – “experienced” patients – know that nurses are the important thing to recovery. I discovered this in an article published within the Nineteen Seventies:

However, a real safety culture must include our individual commitment to safety. The 12-hour shift has come under criticism as mounting evidence shows it just isn’t the very best solution for nurses and patients. (We discussed this issue within the March 2014 News article in relation to fatigue, in addition to on the AJN blog, Off the charts.) Shifts often last more than 12 hours, often without breaks; and a few nurses may fit extra shifts, working 4 or five days in a row on 12-hour shifts. I do not work in a hospital, I work in an office, but when I’m meeting deadlines and dealing 10-12 hour days, after 4 days my brain is fried and I do know I’m not considering as clearly as I should. I could be afraid of this type of fatigue, having to manage medications and make critical decisions when lives are at stake.

We know that nurses have been involved in automotive accidents (within the February 2014 issue of the magazine reported nurse who died on the best way home) and have been involved in near accident situations on the best way home from long shifts – my sister, a former ICU night nurse, at all times parked her automotive when stopped at a traffic light after she finds it, she falls asleep and drives through an intersection on her way home.

Therefore, during Nurses’ Week, handle your safety and that of your patients.