Surviving the Nursing Shortage
By: Source: AARP Bulletin Today Date Posted: 2003-07-14 10:43:36
Do your homework. If you have a choice of hospitals (and many patients don't), check out their nursing staffs in advance. How many patients does each registered nurse oversee? In asking hospitals about their nurse-to-patient ratios, be sure to specify RNs, as the "nursing staff" includes other personnel.
Don't go it alone. With the shortage of nurses, it's all the more important to have a trusted family member or friend at your side during a hospital stay—and to act as your advocate with the nursing staff as well as with doctors.
Have key information handy. This includes a detailed and up-to-date list of your regular physicians and current medications, along with insurance information and relevant elements of your medical history.
More Info on Surviving the Shortage
The National Patient Safety Foundation (NPSF) offers some free facts sheets and other publications. You can get them online or by contacting the NPSF at 515 N. State St., Chicago, IL 60610, (312) 464-4848.
Keep a notebook at your bedside. Make it a habit to write things down, from the names of nurses and other staff members to notes about new medications, symptoms or changes in your condition. (If you're in no condition to keep notes, have your advocate do it.) You can also maintain a running list of questions for your doctors and nurses and batch nonurgent requests. If family members and friends are staying with you in shifts, keeping notes is a good way to share information and make sure signals don't get crossed.
Check and double-check. If a hospital staffer gives you new oral medications, adds anything to your intravenous fluids or wheels you away for a test or procedure, be sure he or she has checked your ID bracelet. "If you suddenly see a big pink pill and you've been getting little blue pills," says Karen B. Haller, vice president for nursing and patient care services at the Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, "speak up before you swallow."
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