Which of the following statements shows the nurses understanding of primary nursing?

Question

a. "Primary nursing involves planning and directing of patient care over 24 hours.".
b. "Primary nursing involves care for 48 hours or more.".
c. "Primary nursing involves one nurse planning care for the patient.".
d. "Primary nursing is the only method of care used today.".

Answer 1

C
In primary nursing, the fragmentation between shifts and nurses is eliminated because one nurse is accountable for planning the care of the patient around the clock. Primary nursing is not the only method of care used today. Functional nursing is when nursing care is broke into a series of tasks performed by many people, which results in a fragmented, impersonal kind of care. Frag-mentation of care caused patient problems to be overlooked because they did not fit into a de-fined assignment. In team nursing, groups of patients are assigned to a team headed by a team leader, usually an RN, who coordinates the care for a designated group of patients. In primary nursing, a nurse plans and directs the care of a patient over a 24-hour period. This approach is designed to reduce or eliminate the fragmentation of care between shifts and nurses because one nurse is accountable for planning the care of the patient around the clock. In a patient-focused care system, the patient comes into contact with fewer people, and the RN, who is familiar with the patient's plan of care, supervises the delivery of care. This model also moves RNs to a higher level of functioning because they are now accountable for a fuller range of services for the pa-tient.