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have 1 nurse recovering his patients in 1 assigned area. "Our docs like
knowing which beds and nurses are assigned to their patients. It takes
a lot of the confusion and mystery out of things," says Ms. Hunt.
Her GI staffing formula: 3 nurses per doc — 1 in the room, 1 in prepping and 1 in recovery. Add a dash of teamwork, and the schedule will
hum without making patients feel they're on an assembly line.
"Work as a team," says Kristine Bedford, RN, BS, clinical director of
the Endoscopy Center of Marin in Greenbrae, Calif. "If the recovery
room is less busy and the pre-op needs help, then help out, even if it's
only to get a warm blanket for the patient. While one patient is changing, we interview the next. While that one is changing, we're starting
the other's IV. Any way we can, we utilize our time. When it's slow,
RNs file."
Ms. Hunt schedules 4 techs per day: 1 works in the reprocessing
room all day, 1 turns over procedure rooms 1 and 2, 1 turns over procedure rooms 3 and 4, and 1 rotates between prep and PACU, making
and moving stretchers, walking patients to the bathroom and getting
them juice.
At the Harbin Clinic Endoscopy Center in Rome, Ga., procedures
are scheduled every 30 minutes for 2 endoscopists, from 7:30 a.m. to
11:30 a.m., and from 1 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. The staffing model depends
on the type of anesthesia being administered, says Nurse Manager
Bobbi Freeman, RN, CGRN.
On conscious sedation days, there are 2 admit nurses (1 for each
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O U T PAT I E N T S U R G E R Y M A G A Z I N E O N L I N E | F E B R U A R Y 2013
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