What happened?
Rupert has a dual role working in the PICU and Transport team. He finds it difficult to get to know all the nurses and their level of competence on the unit as it’s a large team and there’s a high turnover of nursing staff. After working in the Transport team for a while, Rupert returned to the unit. He was having a difficult time settling back into the routine on the unit.
-
Rupert needed to put in an intravenous cannula but the equipment had been moved since Rupert's last shift on the unit.
-
Rupert asked a consultant colleague, Howard, where they were. Howard said that Rupert should know where they were and continued on his way. He’d asked Tom but he also didn’t know where the cannulas were kept.
-
Rupert liked to work closely with the nurses but wasn’t always aware of what was an appropriate task to give them according to their skill set.
-
Sally, an Advanced Nurse Practitioner, overheard this and decided to help Rupert – she showed Rupert where the cannulas were now kept and talked him through the skillset of the current nursing team
And then?
-
Rupert is unaware of the nursing staff competences. He feels unable to allocate appropriate tasks to them which means he has to spend longer explaining things.
-
Initially Rupert felt this slowed down patient care, but soon came to appreciate the benefits of getting to know the nursing team, helping to develop their confidence, and creating a good team dynamic.
-
Rupert then decided to always take time to talk with the nurses he was on shift with.
-
A pre-shift brief helped his and the whole team’s situational awareness of who was working with each patient and the additional nursing support.
-
This made Rupert feel more at home and a part of the team.
How to improve
-
Clear, up to date information is required on the unit so that all staff can find equipment quickly and easily. This will help those with split roles but also those new to the unit.
-
A briefing for those new or returning to the unit would be beneficial.
-
It is helpful when teams work together across disciplines, that roles, experience, and more recent challenges are explicitly shared. Consultants and nurses are able to work more coherently together when they have a good team dynamic and feel at ease with each other.