Nursing Documentation and Healthcare Practice Test

Functional nursing focuses on dividing tasks by function and assigning them to different team members (for example, RNs, LPNs, and aides performing specific duties like medications, bathing, or vital signs). This setup can be very efficient and cost-effective in busy settings because work is standardized and staffing is allocated to tasks rather than to a single patient. But because care is organized around completing tasks rather than following one unified plan for each patient, care tends to feel fragmented. Patients interact with multiple staff who perform separate duties, and there’s less continuity and individualized attention as no one nurse coordinates all aspects of the patient’s care.

Other models emphasize more holistic coordination and personal attention. Team nursing still groups staff to care for patients but with a focus on coordinated teamwork; primary nursing designates one nurse as the care coordinator for a patient across shifts, enhancing consistency; total patient care assigns one nurse to handle all aspects of a patient’s care during a shift, maximizing individualized attention but increasing cost and workload.