Code Blog on Working Part Time

The author of the Code Blog had an interesting post recently.  She commented that working only every other weekend, she was beginning to feel out of touch with some aspects of patient care, to the point that she actually refused a patient assignment because she didn’t feel like she was up to the task.

I commend her standing up for patient safety and making sure that a patient who needed more care was moved to a nurse with more regular experience.  How many other nurses would have muddled through and hoped for the best just to get to the end of their shift?

Does Part Time Nursing = Part Time Knowledge?

If makes me wonder how the current job market with nurses working part time to fill in after being away for a time is affecting patient care.  As more nursing positions are opening up, what is to stop agencies from filling nurses in positions for which they aren’t qualified or are unsure of their skills?

I believe this is a problem that is likely to continue and get worse, along with nurses getting put in situations with too many patients to care for and working too many hours to make decisions safely and consistently.  Have any of you seen problems like this in your facilities?

What would you do?

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