Professional RNs Completing Non Nursing Tasks
Discussion question:
Why do you believe professional RNs are still completing so many non nursing tasks?
Directions for response to peer:
Peer responses should add something new to the discussion. Do not just say ‘good posting’ or make nonspecific suggestions/comments. Ask questions to further clarify the discussion at hand.
Peer Discussion #1:
I believe so many professional RNs or Nurses are still completing so many non-nursing tasks because they know as a Nurse that we are all one team. I am speaking for myself being a LPN I do whatever it takes to make sure our patients are getting the care that they deserve by meeting all their needs at hand to help them , being their advocate the voice for our patients because when it comes to caring for patient, we are all one team, we all need one another to give each patient the care that they need. Secondly, Professional RNs or Nurses we don’t want to burn out our non-nurses and by helping with non-nursing task it will assist with keeping a happy and functional shift that will continue to work together to make sure each patient is getting the optimal care they need and deserve from the staff. Lastly, when taking on tasks for my department I put myself in the equation what if I was the patient , how would I want my nurse to be towards me. How would I want my nurse to respond in certain situations even though it may not be an RN task? When we as nurses come to realization why we became a nurse completing non-nursing tasks will become second nature.
Peer Discussion #2:
It is always better for nursing to know the nonnursing tasks because some places do not have UAP to work. There are many reasons for that. The facility can be very cheap and do not want to spend too much money, or they are under budget. This is the reason clinical is important for nursing students to learn nonnursing tasks in case they find themselves in that situation. However, some facilities have RN, LPN, and UAPs, but the RN still do the nonnursing tasks for many reasons. They can be short of staff, or the UAP can be busy with another patient. One there is one thing in common in nursing, we all work for the profit of the client. We know each of us has our own duty, but we can help each other to give outstanding care to the patient.
Sample Paper
Peer Responses
According to Palese et al. (2019), non-nursing tasks are conditions where the clinical nurses’ complete tasks below their practice scope, counting housekeeping responsibilities, providing or reclaiming food trays, transporting non-critical clients, completing administrative work and filling in forms and charts. Non-nursing tasks generally lead to undone nursing tasks, causing the highest degree of job frustration among specialized nurses. That’s why the effects of nursing management roles overlapping and the work completed by specialized nurses below their level of skill require acknowledging and re-organizing where support services must be engaged and proficiently used.
There are several reasons I believe that professional RNs still are completing so many non-nursing tasks, one reason being using reviews and the cost-cutting measures, all of which have improved the flexibility required from the nurses. Another reason is changes in the staff mix and declines in the number of the nurses’ aides, which have improved incidences of non-nursing tasks (Grosso et al., 2021). For instance, when the units are understaffed for porters and housekeepers, their responsibilities are estimated to be completed by registered nurses who may learn it’s normal to complete these responsibilities, therefore leading to a continuing phenomenon. Also, I believe that professional RNs still are completing so many non-nursing tasks when protecting clients’, expressing their will to satisfy clients’ needs through keeping an affirmative atmosphere in the team in situations where the responsibilities are in danger of being uncompleted. In addition, there is the fact of dealing with unanticipated clinical events’ expressing improved workloads necessary to manage the unpredictable clinical-based conditions. Besides, professional RNs still are completing so many non-nursing tasks due to being pressed by organizational culture’ because they are expected to complete all actions and be flexible (Grosso et al., 2021).
References
Grosso, S., Longhini, J., Tonet, S., Bernard, I., Corso, J., de Marchi, D., & Palese, A. (2021). Prevalence and reasons for non‐nursing tasks as perceived by nurses: Findings from a large cross‐sectional study. Journal of Nursing Management, 29(8), 2658-2673. https://doi.org/10.1111/jonm.13451
Palese, A., Gnech, D., Pittino, D., Capretta, F., Cossalter, O., Tonet, S., & Grosso, S. (2019). Non-nursing tasks experienced by nursing students: findings from a phenomenological interpretative study. Nurse Education Today, 76, 234-241. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nedt.2019.02.005
Discussion #1
Your discussion is quite informative. Non-nursing tasks are conditions where the clinical nurses complete tasks below their practice scope, counting housekeeping duties, transporting the non-critical patients, completing administrative work, and filling in the forms and charts (Palese et al., 2019). Nurses play numerous non-nursing parts, below, above, and in horizontal points, both outside and inside other health care specialists’ roles, mostly following their felt moral duty to provide the best to their clients, organization’s request to nurses, and printing of the nursing education. Consequences of non-nursing tasks include missed nursing care, nurses’ views of wasting time, burnout, and job frustration. Looking at these consequences keenly, they are negative. Therefore, nurse managers are required to find a way to avoid non-nursing to improve transactions completed by their staff’s day in and day out for excellent healthcare outcomes.
References
Palese, A., Gnech, D., Pittino, D., Capretta, F., Cossalter, O., Tonet, S., & Grosso, S. (2019). Non-nursing tasks experienced by nursing students: findings from a phenomenological interpretative study. Nurse Education Today, 76, 234-241. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nedt.2019.02.005
Discussion #2
Thank you for your reply. I agree with you that it’s always better for nursing to identify non-nursing tasks since some places don’t have UAP to work. According to Grosso et al. (2021), the concept of non-nursing tasks, identified first in 1961, is attracting new attention among the researchers as these represent from 35 to 62 percent of nursing shift time and carry adverse consequences for both the clients and nurses. Nurses are called to be flexible in completing several interventions outside their practice and education, significantly eroding care provided and leaving the clients’ needs unmet. When nurse students know the consequences of non-nursing tasks, they have the potential to ensure patients’ needs are met. That’s why it can be concluded that clinical experience plays a significant role in this case as it can enable transition between the student and specialized, working nurse where students experience what it is really like on the job seeing whether it aligns with their benefits before committing to a particular nursing emphasis or the clinical setting. Therefore, nurses should try to avoid non-nursing tasks and help each other as well provide outstanding care to patients.
References
Grosso, S., Longhini, J., Tonet, S., Bernard, I., Corso, J., de Marchi, D., & Palese, A. (2021). Prevalence and reasons for non‐nursing tasks as perceived by nurses: Findings from a large cross‐sectional study. Journal of Nursing Management, 29(8), 2658-2673. https://doi.org/10.1111/jonm.13451
