Question

6. On a July weekend, Mrs. Allesfertig, nursing supervisor of the whole hospital, discovered that the intensive care unit (ICU) was seriously under- staffed. She pulled two nurses with previous ICU experience off other floors to bring the unit up to strength in view of the extreme level of acute care needed. On the following Monday, Dr. Bestknabe, with overall responsibility for the ICU, closed the unit to further admissions until the staffing had been worked out on a permanent basis. Should the new staffing policy give the nurses authority to refuse to admit patients when the staff is not sufficient to handle them? (In some hospitals, nurses have this authority.) Can any policy take precedence over the profes- sional judgment of trained ICU nurses?

Answer 1