Priority Guide Towards Patients Bedside

Often times , nurses tend to visit the bedside of their patient not fully prepared  for what is to come. Hence the need t for guiding priority  on how to get the best experience out of patients care. During shift change, it is often seen that patients are wholly handed over to the next shift nurses and not in bits, however, in prioritizing patients care, there is a great need to prepare in bits for the best care outcomes. Here are five tips on how to prioritize when visiting  patients bedside. 

1. Remind yourself the patients health condition

   When preparing for a patient care, the first thing to come to mind should be the patient medical condition or procedure performed on the patient. You need to ask yourself some question like: What is medically wrong with my patient? why is he here in the hospital? why is he not moving? etc..... these question keeps going on and on. This is because most manifestation and patients behaviour is based on the underlined medical issues. Asking these questions will help you to recall the best way to attend to each patient. 

If you are new to the ward and do not know much about the patients condition or you are new to the patient's condition, maybe this is the first time you are meeting such a case, then this is time to READ up the condition and make some researches. In fact reading about a patient condition gives the nurse opportunity to learn new trends in caring for patients with same condition in future. Finally, reminding yourself about your patient's health condition prepares the nurse psychologically before approaching the patient bedside and this gets the nurse ready for any questions and reactions from the patient.

2. Explore the Patient Folder  

  Forming the habit of looking through the patient folder is a great quality every nurse must embrace. This means that looking through the patients folder either before care or occasionally is a key to knowing your patients information and history present and past. The folder contains the charts, prescriptions, discontinued drugs and cares, vital signs and diets in some cases.

Hence it is a great deal the a nurse tasks his/herself with looking through the patient folder each time they are about going to the patients bedside. Lets say 5 minutes before visiting the patient, make it a priority to glance through the patient's charts to know what is required of you when you find yourself finally facing the patient. This will help you to prepare the patient for examinations if any, know cares to avoid and ones to give, drugs to administer etc.. The folder helps the nurse to arrange for patient needs before heading to the bedside of the patient.     

3. Revisit Patient's Care Plan 

Where care plan is used, it is very important to look through the patient's care plan this is part of the charts but we decided to take it separately because of it's importance in care delivery.

A nurse need to read through the patient's care plan which is a vital document outlining the procedure and cares patient had received , the care the patient is currently receiving, the duration of care,  the care schedules and the effectiveness of the care planned out for the patient. This plan help the nurse to determine if there is need to make adjustment to the patient routine care plan and or to continue with the current prescribed procedures.

The care plan allows the nurse time to think through every steps and procedures he/she need to give to perform on the patient during his/her periods with the patient, this also help the nurse prepare an organized approach towards the patient bedside.

4. Join the Rounds.

 in some setting s Nurses Round is not practiced , but  wherever it is practiced, it is advised that a nurse in the ward should join the rounds. A nurse should endeavor to join the round (Nurses or Physicians) ward round. This gives the nurse an in-depth knowledge of the patient's general well being, through rounds a nurse can get motivations to learn more about a particular condition and research more on that. Round can also help a nurse to learn from his/her seniors in the field and this demonstrate commitment and builds confidence in a nurse especially newly qualified nurses and goes a long way in building a long term career foundation. Joining the Rounds should be a habit as it takes the nurse through all the patients in the ward a summarized fashion in an active learning process.

5. Engage your Patients  

A nurse caring for a patient need to always find time to spend with the patient and engage the patient through discussions. This will help the nurse to get the patient's views and opinion about the nursing care they are receiving. This helps the nurse to evaluate his/her work and also nurse-patient relationship. The patient at the center of the care will always be the most important person in the hospital therefore, their opinion/views about their care must be valued.. This will help the nurse to know where the patient expects improvement and where they are satisfied with. Engaging the patient will also help the nurse to make a first step foundation towards building a strong nurse-patient relationship which will create a friendly working environment for both parties. Engaging the patient will serve the nurse as a self evaluation processes which will in turn minimize error and improve patient satisfaction as well as nurse confidence.

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