Which nursing model has licensed and unlicensed staff performing specific tasks for a large group of patients or during mass casualty events?

• A. Functional nursing model
• B. Primary Nursing Model
• C. Team Nursing
• D. Case Management

Answer: (A)

In high-volume or mass casualty situations, care delivery focuses on getting essential tasks done quickly for many patients. Functional nursing does exactly that by dividing tasks among staff rather than assigning a patient to one nurse for all care. Licensed nurses take on tasks that require professional expertise (such as medication administration and certain clinical procedures), while unlicensed assistive personnel handle routine activities (like bathing, feeding, turning, and basic observations). This specialization speeds up care and allows a large number of patients to receive necessary interventions in a timely way.

Other models emphasize continuity of care or team-based collaboration for individual patients or defined groups, but they aren’t as efficient for rapidly processing large patient loads or during mass casualty events. The functional approach is the most practical choice when the priority is throughput and broad task coverage across many patients.