II. Staff Related
The specific needs of various patient populations should determine the clinical competencies required of the nurse practicing. Role responsibilities and competencies of each nursing staff member should be well articulated, well defined and documented at the operational level (Aiken/1994). Registered nurses must have nursing management support and representation (first-line manager) at both the operational level and the executive level (nurse executive) (Aiken/1994). Clinical support from experienced RNs should be readily available to those RNs with less proficiency (McHugh et al./1996). The following nurse characteristics should be taken into account when determining staffing:
- experience with the population being served
- level of experience (novice to expert)
- education and preparation, including certification
- language capabilities
- tenure on the unit
- level of control of practice environment
- degree of involvement in quality initiatives
- measure of immersion in activities such as nursing research which add to the body of nursing knowledge
- measure of involvement in inter-disciplinary and collaborative activities regarding patient needs in which the nurse takes part
- the number and competencies of clinical and non-clinical support staff the RN must collaborate with and supervise