The key to saving more Covid-19 patients? Offload the clerical work.
In the Covid-19 crisis, much has been said about the need for equipment like ventilators and PPE. But we also have a shortage of nurses. In a short video, Truth director Sandy Summers proposes that we get the most out of the nurses we do have by reinventing the hospital workflow. The medical assistants who now perform clinical tasks should instead ease nurses’ heavy administrative burdens. That shift would free nurses to provide more direct care, including ventilator care and time-consuming infection control procedures.
In the 60s as a new graduate, I worked in a hospital where a nursing assistant, or two, was assigned to me. I made out a list of duties for the assistant. I was free to do what I thought to be the needed nursing duties and my assistant(s) relieved me from doing non nursing work. I had forgotten this. It certainly makes sense to resurrect this model.