All Entries Tagged With: "Staff motivation"
A tough economy forces nurses to make hard decisions
There’s no denying it’s hard out there on the job front. As companies nationwide are continuing to cut budgets, thousands of Americans are still bidding farewell to steady employment, and life doesn’t seem to be any different in our hospitals. It’s no shock that hospitals aren’t excluded from the pool of organizations that need to tighten their financial belts, but the question is whether these institutions are asking their nurses to sacrifice too much in order to make ends meet.
Chained by large budget restrictions, hospitals are cutting back in areas that put strain on nurses. Earlier this year, Cambridge Health Alliance in Boston gave nurses the option of an early retirement to maintain full benefits, or otherwise be subject to a 40% cut in their retirement health benefits.
Nurses at the Charlie Norwood VA Hospital in Augusta, GA, are planning a protest next week because of an $8 million budget deficit. The hospital’s budget problems, they say, have forced nurses to work 16-hour shifts, and have slowed the rate of hiring and cut back on equipment budgets. This leads to tougher working conditions, a higher nurse turnover rate, and could ultimately decrease patient care.
Study looks at the 2009 economy in nursing
A recent benchmarking report posted on the Strategies for Nurse Managers Web site surveyed 179 nursing professionals in the healthcare industry regarding the effects of the 2009 economy. The results illustrate how the tumultuous 2009 economy had varying effects on facilities of all sizes in acute care, critical access, long-term care, ambulatory, home health, and rehabilitation settings.
Although the data reported do not dissect the particulars at any one institution or among any one age group of nurses, they provide a comprehensive look at the issue among a variety of facilities. The data also provides a glimpse into how each facility dealt with the economic downturn and where they stand in 2010.
The results show most facilities were affected in some way by the economy, as 60% reported cutting back on travel expenses along with renegotiating supplies in 2009. Facilities also reported individual ways specific units helped their facilities cut back on spending—for example, 78% of the respondents said overtime was reduced. [more]
New findings say progress means more than recognition
A new report in the Harvard Business Review contradicts the idea that employees value recognition of their efforts higher than anything else. Amabile and Kramer write that the top motivator of performance is progress.
The study involved gathering more than 12,000 e-mail diary entries from the participants, which revealed that making progress in one’s work, no matter how little or big, is associated with positive emotions and high motivation. The survey notes when participants experienced progress in their jobs, 76% of people reported it as their best day. [more]
Nurses use artistic talents to improve patient experience and hospital atmosphere
This past summer, nurses Mary Cohn and Annette Bargmann of Anne Arundel Medical Center (AAMC) in Parole, MD, visited patient rooms armed not with medication, but with acrylic paint.
AAMC is undergoing a series of renovations that have necessitated many windows in the acute care pavilion being covered with a film to darken the windows toshield patients from the occasional glare of the construction equipment and provide more privacy. This film has replaced the natural light flooding into patient rooms and has created a gloomy atmosphere. [more]
Supporting nurses through those terrible, horrible, no good, very bad days
It comes with the job of being a nurse: dealing with the injured, the sick, and the dying; constantly trying to do the best for your patients with limited time; and always asking “How are you feeling?” But nurses are rarely asked that question. Peers, patients, family members, physicians, and even the nurses themselves are too concerned about the health of the patients to take a step back and make sure those giving the care are doing all right.
In a study of 1,215 nurses conducted by the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing published in the journal Social Science and Medicine, 25% said moral distress made them want to leave their position. Moral distress can leave nurses feeling powerless because if they feel they did not carry out their duty to the best of their ability, even after exhausting all possible options. [more]
Use surveys to motivate your staff
Motivating staff is not a once-a-month or quarterly item on a manager’s to-do list. It is a process that requires constant grooming on your part. Understanding that what motivates one person does not necessarily motivate another is a fundamental aspect of your efforts. Setting realistic goals for your motivation efforts keeps the manager from making assumptions about what does and does not work Variety is the key to success and your willingness to incorporate a buffet of motivational strategies will result in positive behaviors.
So, how does a manager know what to put on this buffet table of prompters? Ask your staff!
You can do this through a brief email or survey. Consider these questions for your survey:
- What motivator was used at a previous job that would encourage you to become more actively involved in change at this job?
- Which of the following would you include in your top three motivators?
- Understanding not just what is being asked of me, but why it is important enough for me to care
- Points toward a higher level as a staff nurse which would result in an increase in pay
- Knowing my involvement improves patient care
- Knowing my involvement improves our working conditions
- Certificates to use as money in the gift shop or cafeteria
- Knowing my manager is holding my co-workers accountable when necessary
What questions would you add to this list? Have you done a similar survey in the past and, if so, how did the results help you as a manager?
Get your facility into debate mode
by Shelley Cohen, RN, BS, CEN
Most of your staff members are probably keeping an ear tuned to the presidential prospects for the upcoming election. With this is mind, many will be listening to and watching the debates between both the presidential and vice presidential hopefuls. This is a wonderful opportunity for nurse leaders to take advantage of the debate and relate to the workplace.
The structured debate can serve as a springboard for initiating change, implementing evidence-based practices, or even defining unacceptable behaviors for a department. When staff have a chance to hear the pros and cons, as they do in a debate, they learn how to validate their needs. A controlled, professional, yet fun, environment of presenting both sides is what the debate process has to offer. Examples include debating changes in holiday scheduling, or how patients are assigned.
To get into the debate mode, start with these steps:
1. Provide the staff a list of current practice issues and have them vote on the two issues of greatest concern to them
2. Post the date you will be holding the debate (in place of a staff meeting) in emails, on bulletin boards, or both
3. Invite someone from fiscal services and administration to evaluate the debate
4. Display a poster of five keys to effective debates for one week
5. Post Web sites where staff can learn more about debating, such as www.articleinsider.com
6. Have staff select one peer who will oversee/facilitate the debate and develop the ground rules for the debate
7. Provide a debate worksheet to get them started
What are some other ways to engage staff in the debate process?
Team building idea!
This is a quick idea you can implement either at the beginning or the end of a staff meeting. The purpose if two-fold: To provide opportunity for staff to identify unit concerns they’d like to see addressed, and To help staff think outside the box for possible solutions.
You Need:
A piece of paper and a pen for each person; a small basket.
What To Do:
1) Ask each staff member to write a unit problem, issue or concern they’d like help to solve (you may need to describe an acceptable concern that can be addressed by staff).
2) Staff then folds their paper and drops it in the basket.
3) Ask one person to choose a folded paper. Without reading it, ask him/her to hand the paper to someone else.
4) The recipient of the folded paper selects 2 peers with whom he/she would like to work.
5) Repeat steps 3 and 4 until everyone is on a problem-solving team.
6) Allow each team 5 – 10 minutes to compile ideas, suggestions or a soltution for the problem on their paper.
7) Each team has 1 minute to read the problem and describe their intended solution.
1) Timeline for implementation of the solution(s).
2) Why don’t we think to ask each other for help more often?
3) How can we encourage each other to ask for help when it’s needed?
4) What should we do with the folded papers we didn’t get to today?
A Quote To Ponder:
“Forget about all the reasons why something may not work. You only need to find one good reason why it will.”
~ Dr. Robert Anthony, PhD.
