Bright and Early Monday Morning Meeting with the Anesthesia Section Chiefs and SH.
These physicains are very interested in the construction efforts and completion dates. They had many questions about the new equipment they would be working with as they care for their patients. SH had many answers and will research the questions she lacked answers for.
Several Anesthesiologists were very vocal and rather rude as they attacked the level of care they perceive our Day Surgery Nurses performing. Half of them want the IV started in Day Surgery, the other half want to start their own IVs because they don't believe the nurses can do an adequate job! Then there were the documentation issues...
It was fun to watch SH navigate through the tempers and negativity to produce a rapid calming effect with real answers. She remained calm throughout, regardless of how antagonistic the doctors became and I believe the issues were appropriately addressed.
I was ready to defend all of nursing starting with the doctor across the table! I think she realized that because she grabbed my arm about halfway through the meeting. I have so much to learn!
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Friday, September 25, 2009
Week 1 Following SH
This week I was able to follow SH to several meetings.
The longest concerned creating an action plan to efectively manage the FLU victims and our overloaded, understaffed Emergency Department (ED). Last weekend, they were 6 nurses short in the ED. They were able to open 1/5 of their available rooms. Children's Medical Center was full and diverting to us. Baylor was also full and not accepting diverted patients. Medical City had to stop accepting diversions because we were already over capacity before noon on Friday.
The VP of the Women and Children's Center (JO) wanted to use the PACU on weekends to hold a "Flu Clinic" where flu victims could be triaged and cared for quickly without further burdening the ED. SH and JO discussed many options about how to care for our patients and staff members to achieve a mutually acceptable goal. JO is over the children's side of the ED, while SH is over the PACU. Both have staffing deficiencies and empty spaces because of the lack of staff to care for the patients. Neither thought they could stress their staff further by calling weekday staff in on the weekends to care for the flu victims in the temporary clinic location. Finally they agreed to ask their mutual staff members for volunteers to work on weekends to relieve the ED of this burden and agreed they would receive a critical need bonus to compensate these willing staff members for their time.
It was interesting to see these Nursing VP's request aide from other departments instead of burdening their own staff further. I was also impressed that neither wanted to randomly agree to staff the impromptu clinic by mandate, they instead chose to ask the staff for volunteers and to pay them for their help.
The other main meeting entailed creating a presentation for the upcoming city forums. SH will be co-presenting the building plans and fiscal responsibilities of the hospital. We have been taking pictures of the construction areas to give the staff a preview of the soon-to-be-open areas. She made many phone calls to different departments looking for data on our growing departments to be able to highlight their successes at the forum publically.
I enjoy watching the projects come together. SH is very positive about her responsibilities. She has several health issues and is not able to perform bedside nursing, so she takes supporting "her nurses" from behind the scenes very seriously. SH is encouraging me to attain my Masters degree to be prepared for the day when I am no longer able to do surgery every day. She always leaves me with Food for Thought!
The longest concerned creating an action plan to efectively manage the FLU victims and our overloaded, understaffed Emergency Department (ED). Last weekend, they were 6 nurses short in the ED. They were able to open 1/5 of their available rooms. Children's Medical Center was full and diverting to us. Baylor was also full and not accepting diverted patients. Medical City had to stop accepting diversions because we were already over capacity before noon on Friday.
The VP of the Women and Children's Center (JO) wanted to use the PACU on weekends to hold a "Flu Clinic" where flu victims could be triaged and cared for quickly without further burdening the ED. SH and JO discussed many options about how to care for our patients and staff members to achieve a mutually acceptable goal. JO is over the children's side of the ED, while SH is over the PACU. Both have staffing deficiencies and empty spaces because of the lack of staff to care for the patients. Neither thought they could stress their staff further by calling weekday staff in on the weekends to care for the flu victims in the temporary clinic location. Finally they agreed to ask their mutual staff members for volunteers to work on weekends to relieve the ED of this burden and agreed they would receive a critical need bonus to compensate these willing staff members for their time.
It was interesting to see these Nursing VP's request aide from other departments instead of burdening their own staff further. I was also impressed that neither wanted to randomly agree to staff the impromptu clinic by mandate, they instead chose to ask the staff for volunteers and to pay them for their help.
The other main meeting entailed creating a presentation for the upcoming city forums. SH will be co-presenting the building plans and fiscal responsibilities of the hospital. We have been taking pictures of the construction areas to give the staff a preview of the soon-to-be-open areas. She made many phone calls to different departments looking for data on our growing departments to be able to highlight their successes at the forum publically.
I enjoy watching the projects come together. SH is very positive about her responsibilities. She has several health issues and is not able to perform bedside nursing, so she takes supporting "her nurses" from behind the scenes very seriously. SH is encouraging me to attain my Masters degree to be prepared for the day when I am no longer able to do surgery every day. She always leaves me with Food for Thought!
Saturday, September 19, 2009
Preceptor Found!
I have been blessed with an Awesome Preceptor!
S.H. is one of the RN Vice Presidents of our facility and she has agreed to let me follow. Her normal shift starts at 0800 and is scheduled to be over by 1630, however, she is usually done around 2000. I will be following her after my normal day has ended at 1500.
My direct supervisor has agreed to work with us to allow me to attend many of the early morning meetings, then return to the OR and clock in late. I will be able to see how S.H. interacts with the physicians, and the Administration Power Group. S.H. is over many different procedural areas and we will be making rounds to all of those areas.
During the hour I spent with her, she offered so many opportunities that I was fairly dizzy at the prospects. It is normal for her to have 3-4 meetings booked in the same time slot and she gets to a few minutes of each one, unless there is an especially important agenda that she needs to address. In that case, the other meetings are rescheduled and the important need takes precedent.
I'm so very excited about this opportunity. It will be a glimpse behind the scenes at the grease that makes everything work from a top Nurse management position! S.H. is one of 5 VP's in our facility, so her Voice really counts!!
S.H. is one of the RN Vice Presidents of our facility and she has agreed to let me follow. Her normal shift starts at 0800 and is scheduled to be over by 1630, however, she is usually done around 2000. I will be following her after my normal day has ended at 1500.
My direct supervisor has agreed to work with us to allow me to attend many of the early morning meetings, then return to the OR and clock in late. I will be able to see how S.H. interacts with the physicians, and the Administration Power Group. S.H. is over many different procedural areas and we will be making rounds to all of those areas.
During the hour I spent with her, she offered so many opportunities that I was fairly dizzy at the prospects. It is normal for her to have 3-4 meetings booked in the same time slot and she gets to a few minutes of each one, unless there is an especially important agenda that she needs to address. In that case, the other meetings are rescheduled and the important need takes precedent.
I'm so very excited about this opportunity. It will be a glimpse behind the scenes at the grease that makes everything work from a top Nurse management position! S.H. is one of 5 VP's in our facility, so her Voice really counts!!
Sunday, September 13, 2009
Students as Captive Audiences for Politics
President Obama wanted to speak to our children without the parents being present, so he chose to give a speech at noon on a Tuesday to be shown to our children during school hours. I was one of the many parents that called the schoolboard and let them know my daughter would not be attending on Tuesday, should the school choose to broadcast this speech.
Overreacting?? Why would we do that? Are we prejudice because he's black?
No, we are not prejudiced because he is black, it's because he is a socialist. My husband (who also called) and I are capitalists. We live in Capitalist America, home of the brave, home of the free. President Obama is a socialist that seems to want to enslave the American citizens through more taxation and policies that we do not agree with. Now he wants to talk with my daughter without my presence. I found this unacceptable.
I don't have a problem with him speaking to her while I am there. I would love to answer her questions after we watch the speech together so I could have all of the information he had to deliver. I do not want to answer questions about something he said that was about something that made her uncomfortable, that she can't quite remember, but it was bad...
Luckily, the school system chose to tape the speech and show it during social studies. They also published a written transcript, a link to the actual speech to be viewed, and a list of questions the teachers would be asking the students.
After I read the speech and questions, I told my daughter to participate freely with the class discussion and the viewing of the president's speech. I liked the speech. I liked his delivery. I want my child to "use her skills to progress, study for a brighter future, and promote the preservation of America."
We need to be careful of our political views and those of others. Personally, I am very unhappy that the schools can give my daughter condoms, but not Tylenol, without parental approval. Without reading what the new regime had to offer my daughter, I was very uncomfortable with the idea of new information for the kids only. I wish I had been more involved when the rules were made to allow students to be active sexually, without parental knowledge. Looking at the skyrocketting teen pregnancy rates, I don't think the birth control classes are working.
Overreacting?? Why would we do that? Are we prejudice because he's black?
No, we are not prejudiced because he is black, it's because he is a socialist. My husband (who also called) and I are capitalists. We live in Capitalist America, home of the brave, home of the free. President Obama is a socialist that seems to want to enslave the American citizens through more taxation and policies that we do not agree with. Now he wants to talk with my daughter without my presence. I found this unacceptable.
I don't have a problem with him speaking to her while I am there. I would love to answer her questions after we watch the speech together so I could have all of the information he had to deliver. I do not want to answer questions about something he said that was about something that made her uncomfortable, that she can't quite remember, but it was bad...
Luckily, the school system chose to tape the speech and show it during social studies. They also published a written transcript, a link to the actual speech to be viewed, and a list of questions the teachers would be asking the students.
After I read the speech and questions, I told my daughter to participate freely with the class discussion and the viewing of the president's speech. I liked the speech. I liked his delivery. I want my child to "use her skills to progress, study for a brighter future, and promote the preservation of America."
We need to be careful of our political views and those of others. Personally, I am very unhappy that the schools can give my daughter condoms, but not Tylenol, without parental approval. Without reading what the new regime had to offer my daughter, I was very uncomfortable with the idea of new information for the kids only. I wish I had been more involved when the rules were made to allow students to be active sexually, without parental knowledge. Looking at the skyrocketting teen pregnancy rates, I don't think the birth control classes are working.
Sunday, September 6, 2009
Continuity is IMPORTANT!
Everyday, our new nurses are given assignments with different people.
Sometimes they circulate, sometimes they scrub, but they are rarely with the same person twice in a row. How are they supposed to grow? How are the people they are with supposed to evaluate their progress effectively??
Why can't our Nursing Leaders that make the assignments understand that our new people are not learning 1/2 of the material they could be learning because they are forced to start over every day??
I think as leaders of the department, in the position to make the daily assignments, they have the duty to the new people to give them the best learning experience possible. Our Nursing Educator is new to her role and is trying hard not to step on the charge nurse feet. Her lack of leadership is negatively affecting our new nurses. Very soon, these new staff nurses will be on their own and will lack much of the training they should've received. Unfortunately, they know they are missing crucial information, but they have no idea what it entails and probably won't until a crisis situation.
I stepped out of my leadership role in March to focus on school and my kid. Now my voice is only one of the staff that has concerns and the charge nurse doesn't listen to us, the educator is ineffective, and the managers think the new people will learn via the trial by fire method.
Is that the best we can do for our patients? It's no wonder Surgical nurses have the reputation of "eating our young".
Sometimes they circulate, sometimes they scrub, but they are rarely with the same person twice in a row. How are they supposed to grow? How are the people they are with supposed to evaluate their progress effectively??
Why can't our Nursing Leaders that make the assignments understand that our new people are not learning 1/2 of the material they could be learning because they are forced to start over every day??
I think as leaders of the department, in the position to make the daily assignments, they have the duty to the new people to give them the best learning experience possible. Our Nursing Educator is new to her role and is trying hard not to step on the charge nurse feet. Her lack of leadership is negatively affecting our new nurses. Very soon, these new staff nurses will be on their own and will lack much of the training they should've received. Unfortunately, they know they are missing crucial information, but they have no idea what it entails and probably won't until a crisis situation.
I stepped out of my leadership role in March to focus on school and my kid. Now my voice is only one of the staff that has concerns and the charge nurse doesn't listen to us, the educator is ineffective, and the managers think the new people will learn via the trial by fire method.
Is that the best we can do for our patients? It's no wonder Surgical nurses have the reputation of "eating our young".
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)