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The original was posted on /r/newzealand by /u/nastywillow on 2024-09-27 04:51:03+00:00.
Quote Hire way more cleaners, porters and healthcare assistants.
That's it.
Yes, we need nurses and doctors, but they are expensive and difficult to recruit.
BUT nurses and doctors spend huge amounts of time doing jobs that don't require a medical or nursing degree. If they did not have to do all this extra work (that could be done by someone else without the massive investment that is medical/nursing training) they would be free to do the work that only they can do.
I am an emergency doctor. When I see a patient, here is the sequence of steps:
Call patient from waiting room
Clean cubicle/trolley because there's only 2 cleaners for the whole department.
Take the medical history and examine the patient.
Gather the equipment needed to take bloods/perform a bedside ultrasound scan/test a urine sample from around the department because the only HCA is needed to care for an elderly patient.
This involves walking to several different areas and usually balancing a full sharps tray on the (expensive) ultrasound machine.
Take the bloods/test the urine because the nurse is helping a patient eat (again because the one and only HCA is needed for another patient)
Do the bedside ultrasound scan
Send the bloods - this means walking to the other side of the department to put them in the chute. (Because the only porter is bringing a critical patient to CT)
Book the patient an x ray
Write my note
Realise it's been 15 minutes and the patient still hasn't had their x ray which I feel is urgent (the porter is still overrun with patients needing emergency CT scans)
Bring the patient to X-ray in a wheelchair.
Finalise the plan of care and move on to the next patient.
If we had enough cleaners, porters and healthcare assistants, the sequence would look like this for me:
Call patient from the waiting room
Take the medical history and examine the patient
Perform the bedside ultrasound scan
Let the nurse know which bloods the patient needs.
Book the x ray
Write my note
Finalise the plan of care and move on to the next patient.
I am an expensive and finite resource. It is a poor use of resources to have me cleaning a cubicle or gathering equipment when there are patients waiting to see me.
I do all this work with a smile on my face because I know everyone in the department is doing their absolute best, but if there were more people to do the non medical tasks, the medical stuff would happen much more quickly and efficiently.