Apparently there exists a belief that nurses can work 24 hours straight for 5 days and still be responsive to provide care? How is that physically possible? When have nurses become firefighters?
Firefighters have a bed in the fire station and can close their eyes and sleep with no obligations until that SIREN goes off and slips into their boots and helmets and out to save lives within 2 minutes. They can be at work for 5 days continuously for 24 hours. During the day, they perform the routine activities and at night they have their guilt free sleep.
If a patient requires a home nurse at night, it usually means the patient is completely dependent on others for basic care. Home nurses at night are obligated to turn the patient every 2 hours to prevent bed sores, to suction and maintain an open airway for tracheostomy, to help prevent pneumonia and aspiration risk during continuous feeds, to monitor for signs of falling blood sugars at night for the complicated diabetic, to be awake and responsive to walk the patient to the toilet, to provide comfort and orientation to the confused patient with dementia, to look for non-verbal signs of pain and discomfort for those who are unable to talk.
Home nurses who shift every 12 hours are ready to be engaged in delivery of care and are prepared to respond to any crisis that may arise. This is how Enayati Home Nursing practices and delivers it nursing service.
Home nurses prefer to work 12 hour shifts and are starting to refuse and flee from 24 hour shifts. At a recent interview a candidate shared her experience of how she loved caring for her previous patient “I had to keep slapping my face to stay awake on the second day” She was unable to sleep during the day and night as the patient care required her to be attentive at all times.
Home Nursing Care is a specialized skilled professional, who have the confidence and protocol to provide nursing care in remote destination. They use their skills in communicating with their colleagues and Nursing Supervisors and tapping into the policies and procedures to guide their practice. Home Nursing is the future and only those strong and supported will be able to render a service that families can see positive outcomes.
We salute the firefighters and their standby commitment.
Enayati practices a 12 hour shift policy to ensure patient safety. For those patients that need 24 hour care, 2 nurses are rotated each 12 hours to ensure a smooth handover and transition.