A situation in which a registered nurse is unable to provide quality care to his/her patients/clients. An understaffed unit is an incident.

View:  Staffing Assignment Report Form

Any time the floor or unit is understaffed, you have a duty to make that known. Use an Incident Report/ Quality Assurance form and/or the Staffing Assignment Report. An understaffed unit is an area of liability, a risk that needs to be brought to the attention of the manager.

From a liability perspective, you need documentation that each level of the organization was aware of staffing difficulties.

• Tell your supervisor or nurse manager.
• Make copies for yourself and the Local 141 representative.
• Give a copy to your manager or risk management..
• Send a copy to Local 141.

We then notify Nursing Administration. This is the only proof that you recognized and reported a potentially dangerous situation to the hospital administrator who is responsible for solving it. If it’s not documented, it didn’t happen.

Staff Nurse Liability

• Liability is always shared between the staff nurse and supervisor.
• When working on understaffed units, you do face an increased possibility of liability.
• Floating to an area with which you are unfamiliar will incur a higher risk of liability.
• Much of your liability depends on whether or not you prioritize your tasks appropriately.

Supervisor Liability

• Supervisors will share liability for patient injuries.
• They also share liability if they knowingly float individuals to areas outside their competentcy.
• Supervisors have a duty to help understaffed units by obtaining additional staff, pitching in to help, and they should make frequent visits to understaffed units.
• All nurses, whether supervisory or not, need to be careful and cognizant that they will remain liable for all tasks attempted, completed, and omitted.

Institutional Liability

• The hospital remains liable for the behavior of it’s employees