When Henry uses team nursing as a care delivery system, he and his team need to assess the priority of care for a group of patients, which of the following should be a priority?
A. Each patient is listed on the worksheet.
B. Patients who need the least care.
C. Medications and treatments required for all patients.
D. Patients who need the most care.
Correct Answer: D. Patients who need the most care.
In setting priorities for a group of patients, those who need the most care should be the number-one priority to ensure that their critical needs are met adequately. The needs of other patients who need less care can be attended to later or even delegated to assistive personnel according to rules on delegation. The ability to prioritize and manage time is vital for any successful nurse, whether a novice or expert.
Option A: Clinical judgment and prioritization of patient care are built on the nursing process. Nurses learn the steps of the nursing process in their foundational nursing course and utilize it throughout their academic and clinical careers to direct patient care and determine priorities.
Option B: In unfamiliar situations, patient prioritization should be approached as a structured process, highlighting risk factors that may contribute to a decline in the patient’s condition and potential interventions that can reduce the risk of adverse outcomes (Jessee, 2019).
Option C: Seasoned nurses are able to pull from their depth of knowledge and experience that allows them to act deductively and intuitively when prioritizing patient care.