Question: Avoiding Crises Some people always seem to manage by crisis. The following scenarios depict situations that likely could have been avoided with better planning. Write down what could have been done to prevent the crisis. Then outline at least three alternatives to deal with the problem, as it already exists.

? It is the end of your 8-hour shift. Your team members are ready to go home. You have not yet begun to chart on any of your six patients. Neither have you completed your intake/output totals or given patients the medications that were due 1 hour ago. The arriving shift asks you to give a report now.

? You need to use the home computer to write your midterm essay, which is due tomorrow, but your mother is online doing the family's taxes, which must be mailed by midnight. The taxes will likely take several additional hours.

? Your computer hard drive crashes when you try to print your term paper, which is due tomorrow.

? An elderly, frail patient pulls out her IV line. You make six attempts, over a 1-hour period, to restart the line but are unsuccessful. You have missed your lunch break and now must choose between taking time for lunch and finishing your shift on time.