Clustering Our Care

I know we’ve all heard about “clustering our care” as nurses until we’re blue in the face, but I’m here to testify that it really is important. It both respects our patient’s time as well as saves us time. I have found that something as simple as stopping to think about what I need, such as bathing supplies, full set of linens, towels, wash cloths, and shampoo cap, to accomplish my goal (bathing my patient and changing their linens) before I enter my patient’s room helps cut down on the number of trips I make between my patient’s room and the stock room. Patients will also appreciate your forward thinking because numerous trips in and out of a patient’s room can be disruptive to family visits and patient sleep.   

Stopping to think and plan takes only a few moments and saves you and your patient minutes.