Respond to each post with a minimum of 220 words each. Give educational insights and feedback related to the topic.
POST#1
It is important to remember that regardless of what you are doing or who you are caring for that you maintain an attitude of respect. This attitude of respect is reflected in everything a nurse does. It starts with the ethics that are required and ingrained within us from nursing school, and as we continue to work. Ethics such as confidentiality of the patient, not doing harm to our patients, and the right that every patient has that we will not discriminate against them (Weiss et al., 2019). These principles allow for the patient to know that I will give them their medications on time, and have a smile on my face when they show up at 2AM as an admission because I am there to provide the best care for them.
Patient’s should trust that I am watching for orders from the physician, and looking for labs, radiology reports, and other diagnostic tests to notify the physician of urgent matters. I should be working with appropriate respect, and interprofessional communication to make sure that safe and quality care is being provided to the patient (Weiss et al., 2019). I need to be able to use the various forms of electronic communication to communicate with the physician, as well (Weiss et al., 2019). I have to remember that everybody comes from different backgrounds, and their own personalities, but it is my job to provide the best care for the patient. I have to set aside my own opinions, and biases to do what is best for the patient.
I was working with a nurse last night, who was telling me a story about how the defibrillator became unplugged. The charge nurse implicated that it was done on her shift. She firmly explained that it could not have been done on her shift, and that she did not appreciate that the implication. She has been a nurse for 30 years and knows that the defibrillator cannot be unplugged. She was firm, but not disrespectful. I appreciated hearing how she handled the situation. I would have simply been upset about the situation, and let it fester. I would have been upset about the implication, and let it harbor bad feelings. This nurse took charge of the situation, and both nurses were able to work through the situation. It was an excellent example of good interpersonal communication (Weiss et al., 2019).
Just culture is also very important, and falls inline with respect. When nurses are allowed to be free from retribution when making an error or a near miss, they are able to make changes that help create better systems for patient safety (Weiss et al., 2019). I worked for an organization that did not believe in just culture. We were written up for every mistake. It made it a very difficult place to work. Every one was always afraid of what would happen if they would make a mistake. Would they get fired? Nurses were going two or three years without raises because if you were written up, you would not qualify for a raise that year. It made for poor employee morale, and nurses did not want to do their best for an organization that did not seem to value them. It eventually caused a mass exodus. Over a six-month period, the unit lost over 75% of their staff. The ones that did stay moved to day shift, leaving a completely brand-new night shift staff. Just culture and respect for your staff is imperative in leadership.
POST#2
In this week’s discussion post which is also our last one in this program where we as students are going from Associates of Science Nurses to Bachelors of Science Nurses is a great opportunity to summarize all of our learnings both educationally and from experience. For me, this is a summary that spans more than three decades, that began as a hospital nurse in a very small community hospital that was eventually bought out by my current employer that is a huge academic healthcare system, to my current position where I am a director of operations for multiple primary care clinic locations that also expands to service line and systemwide work groups. Nursing is a very important cog in the healthcare wheel. This definitely has evolved since I began as a nurse in 1989, and at the time was a young wife and mother. I knew I wanted to be in a profession where I could assist others first and have a voice second. In those early years, it was interesting to watch the nurses who were before me. Some were afraid to question a provider, or even ask a clarifying question. I remember one who did not know an instrument by the name the provider asked for, so she hid in a closet to call another nurse on a different area of the rural hospital to ask a peer what the provider wanted. That astounded me, as I have not ever been timid, nor felt it was wrong to humbly inquire about something that I did not know fully about. Those first years had a lot of compassion and listening to patients, performing tasks, all without the medical/nursing knowledge or technology that we have today. All documentation was written, and providers used shorthand that you needed to know, all of which rarely exists today. It did not take me long to move into the charge nurse position and be the point person on committees that only had a couple of people, of which consisted of just other nurses. Before 1998 when my current system was to take over, I was selected to be a collaborative team that was creating a paper documentation system for the new hospital that was being built twenty miles away. At this point it was a collaboration of nurses from three closing facilities along with the new nursing leader for the emergency department, and a few physicians that had been hired for the new facility. This work was a huge success in that on the first day of operation as the new facility, we had all experienced the form at our previous sites and had at least one item that was nor foreign to us all.
Since that point I have held multiple leadership positions between different arms of our healthcare system including home health/hospice, occupational health, employee health, emergency department, and clinics. I have been in the clinics since 2000. In that time, there have been many changes including the electronic medical records, patient centered care, interprofessional collaboration, evidence-based care, and a safety always culture where it not just allowed, yet nurses and other staff are empowered to question an order, or bring up ideas for patient improvement. Nursing has gained much autonomy and clout over the years, where the nurses voice is heard and is an integral part of formulating patient standards of care in collaboration of other disciplines (Elahi et al., 2020). Care today is about quality and safety, staff engagement, patient satisfaction, and financial efficiency, which all together are how organizations operate today. As a leader, I have learned to listen to all sides, being open minded before making any decisions or actions. When it comes to implementing change, it is of utmost importance to gather the full gamut of stakeholders who can bring in expertise around the topic, it is also important to trial items and be willing to change direction, if need be, and then creating written standards for all to follow. Healthcare, while since in beginning has been about caring for others, has changed dramatically in my career, and I know that it will continue to have many changes and challenges ahead.