All Entries Tagged With: "staff satisfaction"
You can’t teach with apathy: Why it’s important to support your preceptors
by Julie Harris, MSN, RN
I occasionally peruse online nursing forums to see what the hot topics are. Last night, I was on a highly popular forum and came across an interesting discussion. A new graduate was being oriented and her preceptors were not interested in training her. She perceived their behavior as intimidating and somewhat hostile and she didn’t know what her next step should be. Should she quit and look for a new job? Should she stick it out?
Responses to her post ranged from “This is part of orientation. Try not to take it personal,” to “Those nurses shouldn’t be preceptors. If this facility supports that kind of behavior, you need to leave and find a new job.”
I find myself agreeing more with the last response. Nobody should be forced to precept. Some nurses are wonderful caregivers with excellent clinical skills; however they do not possess the desire to train orientees. Other nurses have a strong craving to teach and pass on their knowledge to orientees. Both options are perfectly acceptable.
Rebecca Schorn: Image of nursing in clinical practice
HCPro’s Image of Nursing in Clinical Practice award recognizes nurses who embody a positive image of nursing through their clinical excellence. The award goes to a nurse who has made significant contributions to improve patient outcomes, patient safety/quality initiatives, staff satisfaction, practice changes, research or evidence-based practice projects, interdisciplinary collaboration, or organizational goals.
This year, the judges gave the honor to Rebecca Schorn, RN, BSN, CCRN, nurse clinician level 4 in the PICU at Nemours/Alfred I. duPont Hospital for Children in Wilmington, DE. Schorn serves in a direct care role, providing hands-on, evidence-based nursing care, while simultaneously attending to the emotional and spiritual needs of her patients and their families.
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]
Virtual nurse aids with patient discharge
As medical records turn from paper to electronic only, and simulation training aids in nursing education, it is not hard to believe a virtual nurse is helping patients at the bedside with discharge information. Timothy Bickmore, a computer scientist at Northeastern University in Boston, MA designed the virtual nurse “Elizabeth” to help nurses and patients during the discharge process.
Elizabeth is a computer-animated character created from combining the facial expressions and gestures of doctors and nurses Bickmore taped. With the help of an animator, Bickmore was able to create all the animation segments the nurse delivers which Elizabeth will mimic when interacting with a patient. [more]
Different ways peers are improving nurse satisfaction
The July 28 blog post discussing ways to boost nurse morale in a time of uncertainty has been one of the most popular recent topics. The post provided quick and helpful hints on no- or low-cost ways to boost the morale of nurses in your organizations. The post also generated a lot of discussion and many readers shared their own tips and strategies about what they have been trying.
Here are some of the highlights of the suggestions:
- Caught red handed campaign: Recognize staff members who have been “caught” doing their job well.
- Gift cards: Present a gift card to acknowledge a nurse who has gone out of his or her way to be an excellent nurse.
- Strive for five: Leave small questionnaires in plain sight of patients, visitors, and hospital staff members and ask everyone to fill them out. The person can comment on a particular staff member doing an excellent job, similar to a comment card at a restaurant. Any staff member receiving a good comment earns $10 on the next pay check.
- Hand written thank-you cards: Thank-you cards are always a great thing, but hand written ones can be the best. Instead of sending an email about a job well done to a staff member, write a thank-you card and leave it in their locker. After a tough shift, whether it’s night call or day call, the card will surely bring a smile to their face.
- The stupid nice game: Be over-the-top nice to everyone and overly complimentary to everyone at the hospital. Laughter is contagious, and sometimes taking the compliment to the next level, or having staff members realize how over the top you are being, could make their day that much better.
What are you doing at your organization to help boost staff members’ morale?
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]
Engaging the unengageable
by Deanna Miller, RN, MSN/Ed, HCE
As managers we often hear the terms “engagement” and “employee satisfaction” interchangeably. Even though you are a great manager and truly care about your staff it is often difficult to get them motivated and engaged in what they are doing. I was off on leave for about a month and during that time period I continuously brainstormed to come up with interventions to “get them engaged.”
Here are my secrets to successful engagement….please share yours.
1. Eat lunch with your staff with an “anything goes conversation.” (They love seeing that even the manager is human…it has proved to be a blast)
2. Plan an outing away from the facility. (I have planned an early dinner at a nearby lodge on two consecutive Fridays so that everyone can come regardless of scheduling. Budget for special events)
3. When they bring concerns, work related or personal, listen to them and make great eye contact. Always keep those personal conversations confidential.
Take notecards to a new level!
You’ve made your new staff member feel welcome, and are almost ready for his/her 90 day evaluation. How about writing a SO GLAD YOU’RE HERE note card, signed by you and your charge nurses? Or, can you scan a picture of their preceptor(s) or shift peers to the inside of the card? How about having the entire team sign the card and present it at a staff meeting?
Kick it up a Notch:
Send a handwritten note to the employee’s family and/or their spouse/significant other! I once had a director who sent a holiday card to my home (it was near my 90 days in the department). She included a note specifically to my husband. She knew his name and included several compliments about my performance, and thanked him for “loaning” me to the department for 40 hours a week.
WOW!
Both my husband and I were so impressed! I highly recommend this as a retention tool; I still work for that director!
What ideas for retaining staff at their 90 day evaluation have YOU implemented?
Excellent Quote:
Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm!
~Ralph Waldo Emerson
No crisis zone!
Do you have a small space from which you can create a relaxing nook for your staff? It may be just a corner of your break room or one end of your locker room. Designate that space as your unit’s relaxing nook.You could even make up a catchy name for it:
No Crisis Zone! Radiology Rejuvination Area! My Space!
Don’t allow phone calls in the space. Ask staff if anyone has an old lazy-boy recliner they’d donate. Also, see if anyone has a magazine rack they’d like to donate. Have staff bring in magazines after they’ve read them. Or inspiring, pick-me-up books that can be read quickly, like the Chicken Soup series.
How about a poster or two for the space? A lamp? A couple of throw pillows? A CD player with earphones? A tabletop battery operated rippling water fountain? A kitchen timer so no one accidently goes over their allotted break time?
We all know we’re more productive when we take a few moments to re-group, yet so often we run from crisis to crisis and never take that opportunity. Think of our staffs, and the number of crises they manage daily. Would they benefit from a small nook designated entirely to replenishing their soul for a few moments? Would our patients benefit?
“It appears that the techniques which have the greatest motivational impact are practiced the least, even though they are easier and less expensive to use.”
– Dr. Gerald Graham, distinguished Professor of Management; Wichita State University
Give your nurses a holiday e-card
In search of a simple way to let someone know you are thinking about them this holiday season? Just want to give a quick “thank-you” for all the hard work they do?
Here’s a quick and easy way to do it: Send some fellow nurses a holiday card here.
