The model of nursing care
In this instance, I observed a group of nurses working in the primary care department. In this particular case, there was a team consisting of three nurses, one of whom was the leader. Upon talking to these nurses, I found out that they decided to divide their responsibilities based on their competencies, and the most experienced nurse was their leader, who supervised new staff members and helped with complex cases.
This approach enabled them to attend to all patient needs, for instance, one of the observed nurses, was responsible for administering medication to the patients, while the other aided them with physical care, such as baths. Although these nurses occasionally performed different tasks, the day I was able to observe their work, and in most cases, they were responsible for a predefined set of tasks, which helped me understand that they used the team nursing care model.
The scholarly resource related to the nursing care model
In this case, the nurses used the team nursing model as the main approach to assigning tasks and delivering care in this unit. Dickerson and Latina (2017) state that the complexity of nursing work is a result of reprioritizing tasks shift by shift, which may lead to difficulties. In this article, the authors describe The Transitional Care Unit (TCU), which implemented the discussed model due to the high turnover of staff. Other issues included a large number of newly hired nurses, impaired morality and work satisfaction of the nurses, and increased complexity of patient cases. According to Dickerson and Latina, this model “utilizes the diversity of skills, education, and qualification level of the entire staff” (p. 6).
Collaboration and shared responsibility are the primary elements of this approach, which ensure that nurses can support each other and distribute the day to day work efficiently. The article by Dickerson and Latina (2017) is well-written and contains valuable information about the specifics of the team nursing model, issues that can arise as a result of it, and best practices.
The scholarly resource related to a different nursing care model
A different care model that I was able to observe in a practical setting is the Synergy Model. Amenudzie, Georgiou, Ho, and O’Sullivan (2017) wrote an article discussing the successful implementation of this model in a hematology unit. The authors used a tool to measure important patient characteristics, such as case complexity, predictability, and stability of the individual. The core competencies of the nurses were assed as well, to match the patient characteristics with the skills and knowledge of the nursing personnel. The benefits of this model are the fact that it helps empower nurses by providing them with an opportunity for professional development, and the improved care that is a result of matching patient needs and nurse competencies.
The implementation of the different nursing care model
The Synergy Model is a more complex approach when compared to the team care nursing model. It can be used to improve patient care by leveraging the best and most developed skills and capabilities of nurses. Similarly to Amenudzie et al. (2017), The American Association of Critical-Care Nurses states that this model can be used to improve patient care because it focuses on patient needs and the alignment of the competencies that medical professionals have (AACN Synergy Model for patient care,” n.d.). Hence, these needs are the core element of work, which should help address patient care gaps and improve satisfaction rates.
Conclusion
Through this assignment, I learned that there are different ways of organizing the nurses’ work within a need. The approaches discussed above helped me understand that efficiency of work and the workload can be distributed effectively, by focusing on a nurse’s best skills and adjusting his or her tasks based on this information.
References
Dickerson, J., & Latina, A. (2017). Team nursing. Nursing, 47(10), 16–17. Web.
Amenudzie, Y., Georgiou, G., Ho, E., & O’Sullivan, E. (2017). Adapting and applying the Synergy Model on an inpatient hematology unit. Canadian Oncology Nursing Journal, 27(4), 338–342. Web.
AACN Synergy Model for patient care. (n.d.). Web.