(Solved) - Chapter 18 Assignment: A Chief Nursing Officer’s Dilemma

(Solved) - Chapter 18 Assignment: A Chief Nursing Officer’s Dilemma

Question

A Chief Nursing Officer’s Dilemma
You are the chief nursing officer of County Hospital. Dr. Martin Jones, a cardiologist, has approached you about having an intensive care unit/critical care unit (ICU/CCU) nurse make rounds with him each morning on all of the patients in the hospital with a cardiac-related diagnosis. He believes that this will probably represent a 90-minute commitment of nursing time daily. He is vague about the nurse’s exact role or purpose, but you believe that there is great potential for better and more consistent patient education and care planning.

Audrey, one of your finest ICU/CCU nurses, agrees to assist Dr. Jones. She has always wanted to have an expanded teaching role. However, for various reasons, she has been unable to relocate to a larger city where there are more opportunities for teaching. You warn Audrey that it might be some time before this role develops into an autonomous position, but she is eager to assist Dr. Jones. The other ICU/CCU staff agree to cover Audrey’s patients while she is gone, although it is obviously an extension of an already full patient load.

After 3 weeks of making rounds with Dr. Jones, Audrey comes to your office. She tearfully reports that rounds frequently take 2 to 3 hours and that making rounds with Dr. Jones amounts to little more than “picking up his pages and being a personal handmaiden.” She has assertively stated her feelings to him and has attempted to demonstrate to Dr. Jones how their allegiance could result in improved patient care. She states that she has not been allowed any input into patient decisions and is frequently reminded of “her position” and his ability to have her removed from her job if she does not like being told what to do. She is demoralized and demotivated. In addition, she believes that her peers resent having to cover her workload because it is obvious that her role is superficial at best.

You ask Audrey if she wants you to assign another nurse to work with Dr. J

Answer

Question1
Yes, I agreed with Dr. Jones' plea to settle the disagreement since, despite his arrogance,
he contributes much to the institution.
Question 2:
Audrey is a nurse, and nurses, like other professionals, are bonded by a common set of
behaviors, beliefs, and attitudes that benefit a professional atmosphere (Ozeke et al., 2019).
Question 3:
The amount Dr. Jones earns is irrelevant in my judgment to evaluate Audrey's request
because healthcare is primarily about providing better and safer customer service. As a result,
regardless of how much Dr. Jones makes for the institution, his quality and communication skills
with the customer would influence my decision-making toward his request.
Question 4
Given that Audrey delivered her request humbly, I would advise her to initially hang onto
her job for a little longer while I evaluate both assertions. However, this would provide me ample
time to research the best option.
Question 5
People must occasionally undergo a rough route to achieve a goal, but the means may
only sometimes justify the destination, especially when disrespect is involved. This is to imply
that, while Dr. Jones has always benefitted the hospital, he must be courteous to all of his
colleagues because their function, in general, is to care for patients. For instance, his comment,
"The least you can do is offer the nursing aid I am asking for. If you are unable to satisfy this

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little request, I will be obliged to investigate a more competitive institution," demonstrates that
he is striving for fame rather than patient care.
Question 6
In this scenario, I would enable Dr. Jones to have a more extended role in resolving the
issue and continuing to make the hospital more competitive since the hospital is a company at the
end of the day.

References

Ozeke, O., Ozeke, V., Coskun, O., & Budakoglu, I. I. (2019). Second victims in health care:
current perspectives. Advances in Medical Education and Practice, 593-603.