The Intensive Care Unit (ICU) and the Emergency Department (ED) are critical departments in the healthcare system. These departments are critical in determining a patient's life or death. Personnel and administrative structures in departments are critical to their success and productivity. The purpose of this article is to identify the similarities and differences in staffing requirements and patient rights in both ICU and Emergency departments in the healthcare setting, as well as how they affect the quality of healthcare delivery. An intensive Care Unit is a fundamental unit of healthcare that sophisticated equipped, staffed with professional practitioners and is a self contained department of a hospital that is specifically dedicated for the handling and management of patients with conditions that have potential of threatening their lives. This department requires staff that can provide specialized expertise and those that is highly skilled in medical and patient management. In many intensive care units, the nurses are required to provide emergency responses and outreach services besides the bedside care of their patents (Vincent, 2013).
The general staffing requirements for an intensive care unit include medical staffing that is made up of a director who has sufficient and relevant experience in healthcare provision, teaching of other close medical staff, administrative experience, research, outreach and audit of care. The nursing staff and patient ratio required by each intensive care unit is dependent on variables like the total number of patients in each unit, severity of the patents admitted and the policies that govern each unit. The nursing staff required for ICU should be 1:1 for ventilated patients and 1:2 for lower acuity patients. The nurse in charge of the ICU ought to have a post registration ICU qualification. Additionally, ancillary and allied health staff is required to form part of the intensive care units (Small, Burke & Collins, 2015).
The staffing requirements of an ICU are determined by factors such as the designated level of the ICU, size of the department, function and the case mix of the hospital that it serves. The quantity of the staff for critically ill patients requires the resources and expertise. Each ICU must have a registered medical director to take over the operations of the facility. The medical directors of the ICU must have appropriate training and orientation and must be competent in the provision of advanced life support. They also need access to varied specialized consultants who play appropriate and designated roles in the medical setup (Small, Burke & Collins, 2015).
The emergency departments equally play a vital role in healthcare. Staffing in this important healthcare department should be properly designed to ensure nursing and medical staff satisfaction. A mix of skills should be considered for the emergency department staff. They typically include supervisory personnel, registered nurses, physicians and nursing assistants. The supervisory personnel should be made up of medical director in charge of larger and smaller emergency departments. The registered nurses should be assigned to triage if the average number of patients is at least four patients per hour. One nurse should each be assigned 15 minutes in the triage. In less busy occasions, the nurse should be assigned to triage patients but not triage desk.
Having the right number and mix of nurses, physicians and support staff in the emergency department ensures staff and patient satisfaction. Proper staffing also ensures medical legal safety and cost effective care. There are strategic and tactical drivers that determine the efficiency of emergency department staffing. These drivers include patient volume, patient length of stay, physician capabilities, patient safety and the level of service anticipated by the patient and staff (Small, Burke & Collins, 2015).
The staffing requirements of both ICU and emergency department require staff that has relevant medical expertise and experience. In both cases, medical directors registered nursing practitioners and other medial professionals are needed. The differences arise in the line of qualification and relevance of training. ICU staff requires training in that line of duty and so is the emergency department staff (Vincent, 2013).
Patient Rights
The rights of patients in a medical setup often have very insignificant variance, as these rights are universal and should be applied across board. The patient's rights are the basic rules that govern the conduct of operations between the medical caregivers and the patients as well as the relevant institutions that support them. Many people do not realize or understand their rights in the healthcare setup whether in the ICU or the emergency department. Some of the basic rights for the patients who seek emergency care in the emergency department include access-screening exam whether or not they can finance the medical incentives provided. The patient rights in both ICU and emergency departments is extensive and can exist between medical practitioners and caregivers, patients and the hospital, insurers, the laboratories and other related affiliates (Arthur, 2016).
In both departments, the medical facilities should provide screening examinations to the affected patients, whether the patients in question have acute or severe symptoms. The hospitals also need to give a stabilizing treatment. The treatment must be given to every patient whether in the ICU or in the emergency department prior to the transfer of the patient to another medial facility (Arthur, 2016).
In the event that the hospital do not have the capacity to offer the required medical services, the patient have a right to be transferred to other medical facilities as long as the physician has certified in writing the benefits of the transfer of the patient. The hospital does not have the right to deny any patient treatment on the basis of race, religion or ethnicity. Patients with critical conditions such and HIV/AIDS can also not be denied the needed medical care based on their health condition. Patient rights are guiding principles that ensure that the patients get access to quality medical care irrespective of where they have been admitted for care. Both the emergency and ICU patients have similar rights in regards to healthcare access (Vincent, 2013).
Conclusion
The quality of healthcare provision by a medical practitioner is best determined by the familiarity of the caregiver with the conditions of coverage in the respective field of care. Different healthcare department vary in structures and operations and this must be effectively understood in order to render quality services the patients. The staff requirements for both ICU and emergency department vary. The variances in qualifications come about in areas of specialty in practice. The rights of patients cut across the board and are similar in both emergency and ICU departments.
References
Arthur, J. (2016). Lean Six Sigma for Hospitals: Improving Patient Safety, Patient Flow and the Bottom Line, Second Edition.
Small, E. M., Burke, A. L. J., & Collins, K. L. (February 01, 2015). An Investigation of Psychology Staffing in Australian Metropolitan Acute Public Hospitals. Australian Psychologist, 50, 1, 86-94.
Vincent, J. L. (2013). Annual update in intensive care and emergency medicine 2013. Berlin: Springer.
