A community nurse has a full workload and cannot see all patients. What is an appropriate step?

• A. Refer all patients to other agencies.
• B. Create a plan.
• C. Ignore the overflow.
• D. Increase visits by overtime.

Answer: (B)

When a community nurse has a full workload and cannot see all patients, the best step is to create a plan to manage the remaining cases. This means quickly prioritizing who needs urgent attention, who can be scheduled for later, and what tasks can be delegated or rearranged. A plan sets a clear sequence, timelines, and resource use, ensuring patient safety and continuity of care even when constraints exist. It also helps avoid unsafe shortcuts and burnout by organizing the workload rather than pushing for more hours or offloading everyone to external services. Referring every patient to other agencies isn’t practical for all cases; ignoring the overflow risks patient harm; and relying on overtime is unsustainable and doesn’t establish a process for prioritization and coordination.