Università degli Studi di Modena e Reggio Emilia
Corso di laurea in infermieristica - Sede di Modena
| Thesis Title | Senior nurse and process nurse: organizational models to manage the overcrowding of emergency room |
|---|
| Name | Piccinini Giulia |
|---|
| Supervisor(s) | Minozzi Cinzia, Bellifemine Mauro, Grasselli Stefania |
|---|
| Academic Year | 2021/22 |
|---|
| Thesis type | Non research thesis |
|---|
Abstract
Today, overcrowding is a phenomenon that causes troubles in most emergency rooms (ED) at an international level. This is a phenomenon that sees the presence of a series of adverse events involving both the healthcare professionals who work there and the users. Several strategies have been proposed at national and international level to tackle the problem. Among these proposals the process nurse emerges, he/she assumes different names and roles based on the context in which he/she operates. The aim of this paper is to propose two strategies in order to reduce the time spent by patients in the ED. The figure of the Senior nurse has been introduced at the Civil Hospital of Baggiovara (OCB), while the figure of the process nurse has been introduced at the Santa Maria Nuova Hospital in Reggio Emilia. The senior nurse acts in the post-triage phase ensuring a prompt taking care of the patient and the implementation of diagnostic-therapeutic-assistance pathways (PDTA) during the waiting phase preceding the medical examination. The process nurse, on the other hand, is a figure dedicated more to logistics, because he/she has the situation of each patient in the ED area under control, thus succeeding in managing the premises and in guaranteeing excellent collaboration with all the operational figures in the area. This figure acts from the post-triage phase up to the patient's discharge/recovery. In the phase preceding the medical examination, he/she has the possibility of implementing PDTA. Finally, from the analysis of data collected from recent studies on the two figures of nurses, it has been highlighted that the senior nurse can lead to a 30-minute reduction in waiting times, while the trial nurse can help to keep waiting times unvaried, despite the increase of the number of accesses. As emerged, the presence of these two figures can lead to a reduction in the process and staying times in the ED.
