ICU nurse floated to PCU with 5 patients feels overwhelmed and unsupported by management, who prioritize a whiteboard update over urgent patient care needs.
Existing hospital protocols and management practices fail to account for real-time patient acuity and workload, leading to conflicting priorities between administrative tasks and direct patient care. No tool or system is in place to dynamically communicate workload or prioritize tasks, causing frontline staff to feel unsupported and overwhelmed.
Workarounds Described
- Nurse verbally prioritized tasks in head and was interrupted by multiple requests (dialysis transport, tele battery replacement, bed alarm)
- Nurse attempted to defer conversation with manager to later time due to workload
Implied Software Gaps
- A task prioritization and delegation tool that auto-assigns non-clinical tasks (like whiteboard updates) based on staffing and acuity
- A communication platform that allows nurses to flag overload and request immediate assistance without leaving patient care
CareLoad Balancer
CareLoad Balancer is a real-time staffing and workload management platform for hospital units. It visualizes patient acuity, task load, and available resources, allowing charge nurses and managers to dynamically reassign tasks and support overwhelmed staff. Unlike static staffing ratios, it uses live data from EHRs and nurse inputs to ensure safe workloads and prevent burnout.
- Real-time acuity scoring per patient and nurse workload index
- Task delegation and escalation feed to alert charge nurses when a nurse is overwhelmed
- Integration with EHR to auto-populate critical labs, orders, and pending tasks
- Mobile app for nurses to quickly signal distress and request help
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