As we get less people in the hospital there's less time to hold them. I think nurses in oncology will feel the same-less time to be able to hold their hands and talk about death. That's going to be lost. Northwest Hospital in north Seattle monitors all units where the hospital introduces mixed teams, said Irene Artherholt, vice president for clinical services. We felt it was important to listen to patients and nurses.
Patient brochures contain satisfaction surveys, which are analyzed quarterly.
In addition, Northwest has developed several tracking systems over the past four years for monitoring and recording truthful patient opinions, Artherholt said. For many patients, unlicensed personnel such as aides and orderlies responded more quickly to patients' immediate needs such as helping them to the bathroom or moving their beds, she said. Many RNs at Northwest initially found it difficult to integrate the unlicensed personnel into their work routine, Artherholt said. In response, the hospital trained the RNs to delegate duties in order to free them up for higher-skill tasks. The magic that has to happen is to integrate this unlicensed personnel so that the RN can focus on things they were trained to do.