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The role of the senior health care worker in critical care
Author(s) -
Ormandy Paula,
Long Andrew F,
Hulme Claire T,
Johnson Martin
Publication year - 2004
Publication title -
nursing in critical care
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.689
H-Index - 43
eISSN - 1478-5153
pISSN - 1362-1017
DOI - 10.1111/j.1362-1017.2004.00070.x
Subject(s) - workload , staffing , flexibility (engineering) , nursing , accountability , health care , quality (philosophy) , medicine , business , computer science , philosophy , epistemology , political science , law , economics , operating system , statistics , mathematics , economic growth
Summary • This article identifies that the introduction of the support worker role in the critical care team facilitates flexibility when organizing and managing patient care • Qualified nurses' time can be used more effectively, enhancing the quality of the patient care delivered • Aspects of the qualified nurses' workload in critical care can be shared and delegated successfully to unqualified staff • It is our view that staffing levels in critical care environments need to be reviewed with more flexible working practices to meet the current and future demands of critical care • There is a need for national consensus amongst qualified nurses to clarify and define the role of the support worker and develop a critical care competency framework to standardize training • To ensure proficiency, adequate training and appropriate accountability, support workers require regulation by a nationally recognized body