Hey everyone. I just wanted to vent about all the meetings that go on in my department. I work in a hospital in the ED. Don't get me wrong, I love the idea of self governance, i.e. self scheduling, Quality Improvement, etc. but sometimes I just want to do my 36 hours and be done with it!!!

I work nights and that makes it a little more difficult for me to get to the meetingsand stay awake!! Tomorrow I work 7p-7a and have a meeting from 9a-11a. We have 1 nurse who went into overtime because she was on 5 committees!!! She was told to cut back because we were over budget.

Anyway, thanks for lertting me vent!

Ann

Yes I do. Are the meetings mandatory? How often do you have them? You shouldn't have more that four or five staff meetings a year.

We have a staff meeting every month that's supposed to be mandatory but not everyone goes. I'm speaking about the committees. Our department wants everyone to be on at least 1 committee. It's part of our yearly evaluation. These committees have meetings monthly, semi monthly, etc. It can add up.

I chose to be on 1 committee.....

I stopped going..

I'm sick of them, and the times suck. 6a-7a or 6p-7p.

I'm not coming in early, and im not driving to the hospital late at night. Or, if im working, there is no guarantee I can make the 6p one.

So i just stopped going..

I would sign up for the committee that decided to end all committees!

Where I work they instituted '5 minute meetings' at shift change each morning. They cover a topic or two, some Joint Commission something or other. This fulfills the Joint Commission requirement for meetings bit by bit, covers current topics of interest, and covers both shifts.

I think it's a great idea. You retain info better in snippits too.

IMO meetings are the biggest obstical to productivity.

I really don't mind meetings. I like getting first-hand information about new policies coming soon or near-miss events that we should watch out for. These topics are usually always a part of the meetings and need to be discussed. I think they are extremely important, especially for night shifters that don't see their managers much and don't get up-to-date information. I also like the minutes being sent to us in mass email form if you do not get to go to the meetings and they are posted in the bathroom and around the nurse's station if you don't read the emails. Plus, we always get free food and sometimes there are interesting presentations. I actually enjoy mine!

Committees are an excellent way to waste time.

I was once on a "paperwork" committee and we went over how to simplify forms and such for speed and efficiency, hospital system went and redid them the way they wanted without taking anything from what we suggested.

We get on average 1-3 new forms or redone forms a month. I try to bite my lip and just do my job though, its always been like that and no amount of groaning or feedback changes it.

I also half wish JCAHO would just develop a set of forms and notes for hospitals to use and say "here, just use these and we'll get off your backs about your forms". At least then we would have one organization remaking the forms instead of everybody and their dog who is in middle and upper management.

Hospital paperwork is far far worse than the army's. Sure, the army has a plethora of carbon copy forms, but at least they seldom change and are consistently functional. Hospital paperwork morphs faster than a virus, and makes me just as ill.

/rant off.

I completely understand. Our unit educator is good about making sure inservices are quick and done on all shifts. We even got a vendor for a new product to come in on a weekend at 6am to inservice us on the new cereberal oximiter. She kept the meeting short and sweet.

I am on UGC and our meetings feel very non productive to me and the only other midnight member. We asked for a unit clerk and were told we don't need one. Really we don't would you like to work nights with us, we all beg to differ. So I am considering quitting UGC if we don't get more midnight representation. Why go to a 3-4 hour BS fest anyway after I have been up all night or have to come in on my day off?

I find inservices to be very draining. A lot of times they are nothing more than gripe sessions, and any teaching is rarely anything new.

I think we should have a meeting to discuss if we are tired of meetings. :wink2:

HATE MEETINGS!