Nursing Care Models Overview

Traditional Nursing Care Models

• Complete Patient Care: Nurses assume full responsibility for all patient needs, commonly used in critical care and hospice settings.
• Functional Nursing: Each staff member performs specific tasks for multiple patients, often utilized in mass casualty events or long-term care.
• Team Nursing: Led by an RN, a team of nurses and assistants provide patient care, emphasizing delegation and communication; prevalent in medical-surgical units.
• Primary Nursing: One nurse coordinates comprehensive care for a patient throughout their stay, with an associate nurse supporting when needed.
• Nursing Case Management: A nurse oversees healthcare delivery across various levels, focusing on cost is efficacy and patient outcomes.

Nontraditional Nursing Care Models

• Patient-Focused Care: A model where the nurse leads a team of caregivers from various disciplines to better coordinate care.
• Practice Partnerships: An RN collaborates with an LPN/LVN or unlicensed assistive personnel for total patient care.
• Nonclinical Model: UAPs perform non-clinical tasks, either independently or paired with an RN.
• Integrated Model: Aims to relieve RNs of non-nursing duties, allowing them to focus on direct patient care while UAPs provide both direct and indirect care.

Contemporary Nursing Care Models

• Professional Nursing Practice Model: Promotes RN autonomy and effective communication, essential for magnet hospitals.
• Differentiated Nursing Practice Model: Tailors care recruitment based on RNs' education and expertise, essential for high-quality care across settings.
• Clinical Nurse Leader Model: CNLs, prepared at the master's level, coordinate and evaluate care from an interprofessional team.
• Synergy Model for Patient Care: Aligns patient needs with nurse competencies for optimized care delivery.
• Transforming Care at the Bedside: Focuses on improving the nursing work environment to enhance quality care through reliability and teamwork.
• Patient- and Family-Centered Care: Encourages partnerships among patients, families, and healthcare teams to collaboratively plan and evaluate care.