Time Management and Staffing
This type of staffing schedule assigns nurses based on how sick the patient is and how much nursing care they require.
What is acuity-based staffing?
This term describes an event that could have caused harm but did not reach the patient.
What is a near miss?
This federal health insurance program primarily covers people age 65 and older.
What is Medicare?
These are non-medical factors like income, housing, and education that influence health outcomes.
What are social determinants of health (SDOH)?
This digital record system stores patient documentation, lab results, and clinical information.
What is the Electronic Health Record (EHR)?
A patient expresses concern that they do not fully understand the risks of a procedure they consented to. The nurse stops the process and asks the provider to return and explain the procedure again.What patient right is the nurse protecting?
What is informed consent?
This staffing component considers how many patients are on the unit at a given time.
What is a patient census?
The framework that evaluates healthcare quality using structure, process, and outcomes.
What is the Donabedian model?
This government program provides health insurance for low-income individuals and families.
What is Medicaid?
In systems thinking, the level where direct patient care occurs (ex: bedside nursing).
or
In systems thinking, which level is most affected by major decisions made
What is the microsystem?
Virtual follow-up appointments after discharge are called what?
What is Telehealth?
A nurse notices that a patient who speaks limited English is struggling to understand discharge instructions. The nurse requests a certified medical interpreter before continuing education. What professional nursing role is the nurse demonstrating?
What is patient advocacy?
When a nurse groups multiple tasks together during one patient visit (for example giving meds, doing an assessment, and repositioning the patient at the same time), they are using this time-management strategy.
What is clustering care?
This quality improvement cycle acronym for PDSA is
What is Plan, Do, Study, Act.?
When nurses speak to lawmakers or participate in policy discussions to influence healthcare decisions, they are practicing this professional role.
What is nurse advocacy?
When a healthcare team includes nurses, physicians, pharmacists, and social workers working together toward patient goals, this model of care is being used.
What is interprofessional collaboration?
A hospital introduces a new policy, but the staff are not shown how to use it. What should happen before the policy starts?
Staffing training
Emergency response in the U.S. typically follows this order of authority. (think levels)
What is local → state → federal response?
One reason nurses strike or advocate for change is unsafe staffing, which can lead to this common outcome in nurses.
Or
__, __, __, and __, can commonly read to what
What is burnout or increased errors?
An unexpected event involving death or serious injury requiring immediate investigation is called this.
What is a sentinel event?
A nurse ignores mandated safety regulations, and harm occurs. What legal consequence could result?
What is loss of accreditation?
This concept refers to ensuring everyone has a fair opportunity to achieve their highest level of health.
What is health equity?
When clinicians become desensitized to alarms due to too many alerts, this patient safety risk occurs.
What is alarm fatigue?
This organization provides disaster assistance and recovery support at the federal level.
What is FEMA?
A medical-surgical unit has 26 patients, a 1:5 RN ratio, and the charge nurse carries no patient load. How many RNs are required for the shift?
What is 7 RNs?
A patient is in the operating room and the surgical team is preparing to begin the procedure. Before making the first incision, the surgeon asks the entire team to pause. They confirm the patient’s name, check the consent form, verify the procedure being performed, and confirm the correct surgical site together. What patient safety practice is the team performing?
What is a surgical time-out?
A nurse finishes her shift and texts a friend about an interesting patient she cared for that day. In the message, she includes the patient’s name, diagnosis, and a photo of the patient’s monitor screen showing their vital signs. The friend is not involved in the patient’s care and is not a healthcare worker. The nurse sent the message using her personal phone through a regular messaging app instead of the hospital’s secure communication system. What policy did the nurse break?
What is HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act)?
Medicare uses this system to pay a fixed flat fee based on the patient’s diagnosis. If the hospital spends less than that fee, they keep the profit; if they spend more, they lose money.
What are diagnostic-related groups?
This is the “highest level” of the nursing model. This occurs when a nurse doesn’t just see a high heart rate on a screen, but uses their experience to decide why it is happening and how to fix it safely.
What is wisdom?
A patient recently diagnosed with hypertension is told to follow up with a clinic within two weeks. However, the patient explains that the clinic is only open during normal work hours, and they cannot attend appointments without missing work and losing income. Because of this, the patient delays scheduling the visit.
What type of barrier to care is affecting this patient?
What is a structural barrier?