[Verified Answer]: Study Julie Savoy is 31-year-old…

Study Julie Savoy is 31-year-old registered nurse and has recently returned to nursing. She has been working for 6 months on a surgical unit for cardiovascular patients. Julie works nights from 12 midnight until 8:00 am. Upon arriving to work, she learns that, due to several sick calls, the staffing for the night will include her, one other registered nurse who is a new graduate and has been on the unit for less than a month, and a nursing assistant to care for 18 patients. Six of the patients were just transferred from the critical care units the shift before. Julie becomes very concerned about the fact that the staffing ratios are less than the minimum required and that both she and the other nurse are relatively new to this area. She asks to speak to the nursing supervisor and voices her concerns. The supervisor is sympathetic but says that Julie has to carry on and serve as the charge nurse since she has not been able to get other staff and the hospital is bulging at the seams with patients. Julie is very apprehensive. She knows this situation is not right and that patient care will be compromised, but she does not know what else to do or where else to go to get help at this time. Call lights are buzzing; she hears a patient calling out Nurse! Nurse! and a hospital attendant tells her that a patient has pulled out his I.V. Julie is torn about what to do. When Julie gets off work, she goes home, but cant sleep because of worrying about what happened on her shift. She feels frustrated and alone and feels somehow inadequate. She had listened to patients complaining on and off all night about the lack of responsiveness from the nurses and one mans wife had told her she was incompetent and uncaring and that management would hear about this the next day.