Question for PDSA nurse's re rota's?

Re: Question for PDSA nurse's re rota's?

daisy — Mon, 02 Apr 2012 21:37:37 GMT

thanks for all the replies, due to the fact its a charity run clinic, more staff isnt a viable option im afraid, which is 1 of the reasons the consult nurse is covering other areas in the afternoon

the main reason i think Marks's idea is worth looking into is that the 2 op's nurse's should hopefully be free to help with the discharges and so the kennel nurse should be free to spend time with the in-patients, like Steph i am a firm believer in holistic nursing but time constraints do not always allow this :-(

it is a simple solution which may help alleviate the problem but took a fresh pair of eyes to point it out!

Re: Question for PDSA nurse's re rota's?

Steph Worsley — Mon, 02 Apr 2012 20:39:58 GMT

Oh I completely agree with you, I was just trying to point out why starting discharges at 4pm may not work, in an ideal world the ops nurse would discharge the patients as they have dealt with the surgical side of everything. If surgery is finished by 4pm then they can be doing the discharges while the kennel nurse can concentrate on the nursing care of all the in patients,

Re: Question for PDSA nurse's re rota's?

Mark Hedberg — Mon, 02 Apr 2012 20:10:06 GMT

I absolutely agree with you in all respects - having worked in a TP and working in a VN college, I have every respect for the work nurses do. Just remember that if time and staffing are an issue, solutions need to be found. Obviously if your solutions work for you that's great. If a practice has insufficient staff or insufficient time, we can either adjust the nurse population or the nurse schedule of work.

If hiring a nurse or receptionist is on the cards, great! Problem solved. Otherwise the practice needs to look for mutually beneficial solutions so the kennel nurse spends the maximum possible time with patients, and the discharge patients go out the door - further reducing the kennel nurse's load. Only Daisy really knows her situation - all we are offering is advice.

Re: Question for PDSA nurse's re rota's?

Steph Worsley — Mon, 02 Apr 2012 18:58:51 GMT

No I know they aren't going to get better quicker if you stand in front of their kennel staring at them, however nursing care is NOT just about giving medications, they need TLC, tempting to eat, baths, brushing, exercising, just spending time with them which makes them happier patients which can make their stay in the hospital a much better experience all round.....holistic nursing!

Re: Question for PDSA nurse's re rota's?

Mark Hedberg — Mon, 02 Apr 2012 07:33:53 GMT

True, they aren't gone - but if they've been given essential medications, at this point you don't need to stand in front of their cages staring at them. They won't get better faster. ;) Other work can now go on, such as the kennel nurse assisting with discharges without the pressure of untreated or unmedicated patients waiting for nursing. Teamwork! :)

Your results may of course vary. But if we solve the underlying problem (no time to give treatment to patients) then we're all happy. I do see you point, of course - which suggests getting additional part time reception cover on, freeing a nurse off reception cover. Another good solution!

cheers, Mark

Re: Question for PDSA nurse's re rota's?

Steph Worsley — Sun, 01 Apr 2012 22:53:41 GMT

but surely inpatients don't go away when discharges are being done, they are still going to need medications/nursing care while discharges are happening or at least in my experience this is the case, especially if there are critical care cases in. yes sometimes they can happen but if the practice is so busy neither of the op nurses can do the discharges then kennels nurse is going to be busy as well.

yes OP said kennel and consult nurse were different people but also consult nurse changed to dispensary and reception cover in the afternoon so therefore is not free to do discharges either which is where I am guessing this problem stems from which also prompted my comment that cramming them into less time is going to cause more problems

Re: Question for PDSA nurse's re rota's?

Mark Hedberg — Sun, 01 Apr 2012 22:06:37 GMT

Well, if the person doing discharges can't help with inpatients, you can have the discharges start later - original post said that kennel and consult nurse were different people, i seem to remember. So 2 people doing the work means work gets done faster.

with inpatients safely done, discharges can go on without problems.

It's only one of many solutions - you can also hire another person, or do a time analysis to see if time is being wasted during inpatient treatments. (if some task takes extralong time, investing in cpd or practice to do it more efficiently, for example. Or maybe too many inpatients are being taken on.)

alternatively, if this is a new problem, find out what changed to cause the problem.

Re: Question for PDSA nurse's re rota's?

Steph Worsley — Sun, 01 Apr 2012 21:52:26 GMT

I don't see how moving the start of discharge time to 4pm will prevent inpatients not getting the attention they require, surely they will get less attention between 4 and 6 than they do now as the number of discharges will be squished into a shorter length of time, or is there something I'm missing?

Re: Question for PDSA nurse's re rota's?

Mark Hedberg — Sun, 01 Apr 2012 20:53:25 GMT

Glad to be of service! :)

Re: Question for PDSA nurse's re rota's?

daisy — Sun, 01 Apr 2012 20:12:31 GMT

now that is a bloody good idea mark

Re: Question for PDSA nurse's re rota's?

Mark Hedberg — Sun, 01 Apr 2012 19:28:23 GMT

How about rescheduling discharges to start at 4pm?

Re: Question for PDSA nurse's re rota's?

Jeniflower — Sun, 01 Apr 2012 17:13:53 GMT

This was the EXACT problem when I worked within a PDSA hospital.

How about booking disharge appointments for the consult nurse to eleviate the pressure from the kennel nurse?

Also.... ops nurses spending an extra 10mins or so with a patient in the kennels when they are in recovery before moving onto the next case.... or VCA doing this if you have one free?

Just a couple of thoughts...