North Shore Hospital report - New Zealand Doctor

Opinion 07HDC21742In relation to the five patients in this report, she acknowledged that it was fair toconclude that in these cases in 2007, the caring parts of nursing, ―the acts of kindnessthat make the difference‖, were missing.StaffingThe Service Manager (Medicine) reported that staff vacancies at North Shore Hospitalcontinued to be significant. In the third quarter of 2007, there was a 50% vacancy inthe Resident Medical Officer service. This led to teams being ―patched‖ on a day-todaybasis, with house officers filling in for other teams.Duty Nurse Managers advised that the workload pressure on the nursing service wascompounded not just by a shortage of nurses, but also by the skill mix of experienced,junior, and casual staff. With team nursing, experienced nurses are expected to havetheir own caseload, support and monitor junior and casual staff, and takeresponsibility for all the patients in their zone or ward. There continues to be a highnumber of casual, part-time staff, which leads to lack of continuity. This meansnursing staff have to prioritise and be task-focused to keep their patients safe. Nursesthen have no time to build therapeutic relationships with their patients, which leads tolack of job satisfaction and disillusionment.April 2009 39