Posted 12 April 2016 - 11:46
Posted 12 April 2016 - 11:46
News
Online calculator shows nurses how hard working they are
Nurses draw 90 curtains, burn 1,044 calories, hold 27 patients’ hands – and smile 160 times in a 40-hour week
Nurses will walk 14 miles, burn 1,044 calories, apply disinfectant or antibacterial hand gel 107 times and hold 27 patients’ hands in a 40-hour week, according to a new survey.
Findings from an online calculator allow nurses to see what they do in their working week. The calculator is available on the website of nursing agency Medicare First Nursing.
More than 100 nurses from England and Wales from a variety of specialisms were asked questions such as 'how many care plans do you write on an average working shift?' and 'how many times an hour does something make you smile?' for a survey which produced the statistics.
A nurse working a 40-hour week would also write 30 care plans, draw 90 curtains, smile 160 times and positively affect 59 people. But they would only be able to take ten toilet breaks – one every four hours – and drink seven cups of coffee.
Nurses can enter different hours for their working week into the calculator to see what they are likely to be doing over that period.
Staff nurse Fiona Wilson from St George’s University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, said: ‘Seeing all this data together makes me feel a huge sense of achievement. It might be a good idea to show non-nurses this too for them to compare their day to one like mine. It is so easy to concentrate on the negatives when I get home from work and think about how tired I am.
‘To look at the results of the calculator and realise that I will have affected so many people’s lives in a good way, from just holding their hand to the more serious side of things, it gives me a real sense of having made a difference. I almost forget that I’ve only had one coffee since the beginning of shift.’
A Medicare First Nursing spokesperson said: ‘The calculator is a great way to showcase what a hardworking bunch nurses really are with some up to date facts and figures. We hope that nurses will use the calculator and that lots of conversations will be generated around the results.’
Click here to use the calculator.