Blogs

stocking supplies in critical rooms

By Vicki Sawczuk posted 07-30-2018 06:08

  
Hello,
I am currently working in a level 2 trauma center. We are struggling with routine stocking responsibilities of the department and the critical rooms. We do not have a position for a stocking person. To date we have had the night shift staff responsible for primary stocking, with the understanding that all shifts are to assist. This has not been successful. 
Does anyone have ideas for a process to share the responsibility and accountability of the tedious but essential task of stocking. 
thanks in advance for your help
Vicki D
2 comments
62 views

Permalink

Comments

Cassandra Dengler
10-13-2018 02:42

Hello,

I work in a small 11 bed ED (level 3 trauma designation) with 2 trauma bays. We do room checks on day shift and on night shift, just like Sherri mentioned. It is all of our responsibility to get it done, but if we get super busy, the Charge nurse will usually do it.  If we have a trauma code or a code blue, it is the expectation that the primary and possibly secondary nurses on that code restock what they used in the code.

Sherri Campbell
08-12-2018 13:59

​Vicki,
This is always a challenge. It really is culture change. At my facility we have a check list. It is done by both the dayshift and night shift, no questions asked, it is an expectation and safety check when working in the trauma bay. If you are not doing the check list, you may no longer be working in the trauma bay. It is a safety check for the patients. We have 5 trauma bays. Our check list is approx. 5 pages long. Experienced staff can get it done in 1/2 hour, new staff 1-2 hours.

One of the valuable things is that it also teaches nurses where everything is located. I can literally tell someone exactly where to locate an item, from one end of the bay to another. Also every bay is almost completely identical to each other. Find a staff member or leader that is willing to champion this task, but leadership in the ED needs to support and back that champion.