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Nursing Manual Safe Practice Considerations Nurses will frequently be asked to give health care advice on people for whom they do not provide direct nursing services. The staff may be instructed to seek health advice about specific individuals whom the RN may or may not have experience or prior knowledge.When asked about an individual that you do not provide direct nursing services for, you need to elicit enough information so that you can safely guide the staff as to what to do and/or who to call for further assistance. Mistakes can be made when the RN has only partial knowledge, leading to an incomplete understanding of the problem. Another step that may be appropriate is to refer the staff to an appropriate agency policy, being clear regarding what you are doing. Make sure that you document the facts surrounding the call. Staff should always be empowered to use their own judgement regarding when to call 911 if they believe someone is gravely ill. Not calling 911 and deferring to others in the agency to make that decision via phone calls will waste valuable time in getting the person emergency care. What you cannot do, under nursing practice law, is to leave the situation without ascertaining that the staff either have an answer, or someone to access who can answer their question. As you are aware of risk to the person's health, you must take an action. An agency may want an RN to be exclusively a "phone advice nurse," where she/he would only consult via phone. This can be a dangerous practice as the RN is removed from the day to day workings of the home, does not have knowledge of the staff competence, or the individual's history and current health status. |
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