[brian]

This months survey Question...

Are your staff meetings productive?

FYI: Here are the results from this survey question, when asked on allnurses.com last month:

Yes 33.33 %
No 66.67 %

Even though the survey is over, we still encourage your comments and discussion on this question. I'm sure many of you will have some lively comments on this topic

Thanks and Happy Holidays!

------------------
Brian Short
http://allnurses.com
It's how nurses surf the web!


[This message has been edited by bshort (edited January 15, 2001).]

[nsyrRN]

How timely....we have a staff meeting today. There is alot going on at our hospital these days both good and bad. I'm interested in what our manager has to say but know that it will be mostly buisness..and then the ********. It will take too long and nothing will be accomplished.

[mustangsheba]

I found this bumper sticker sort of thing once that said "we're going to keep having meetings until we figure out why we're not getting our work done!" That pretty much sums it up for me.

[PPL]

Oh yeah; what a joke these meetings can be! I work prn at a facility, drive 90 miles round trip, and they think I should come to meetings? Yep, they do; and put it on my performance eval as not meeting the standard.

[snowflakes]

Hi: Meetings can be very helpful to everybody to make you more productive if and only if people will be more receptive to it. What I have noticed in meetings are people blaming one another, wanting other employees to look bad, instead of giving suggestions as to how we can improve the working environment, it just does not make any sense to me. We are here for our patients and not for ourselves.

[nursedude]

When I worked for an insurance company here in Pittsburgh a few years ago, every Friday we would have a staff meeting. It lasted 4 or 5 hours. Then every quarter we would have a bigger staff meeting. They lasted all day long and included free lunch and snacks. So, while my fellow brother and sister nurses were slaving away in hospitals in and around the city of Pittsburgh wiping butts and vomit, I was on the 32nd floor of a beautiful highrise, in a room made of marble that was bigger than my entire house talking about what changes could be made to save the insurance company more money and at the same time, provide more effective care to patients "out in hospitals".

Kinda makes you sick doesn't it???

[MD_Rn]

Hmmm... we usually call staff meetings... bi**h, moan and gripe sessons?

[elflash]

First let me say I have been in geriatric nrusing for 18 years. So I have attended a few hundred meetings. In not one of them have I ever heard the staff is doing a good job under difficult conditions. But I have heard how we are going to get the facility closed down because of our substandard care. And we are losing so much linens and misc. items the company just can't give any raises. And the nursing staff is doing such a poor job of taking care of the residents that the families are all over the D.O.N. and Administrator, and so is the Dept. of Health. And unless things improve quickly jobs will be lost. And if you don't like it here you can clock out right now. This is the kinds of things said at every meeting every payday twice amonth as they are mandatory, but some how not everybody got the message, and the ones that miss are the ones they most need to talk too, but since they aren't there we are all dumped on.They are not constructive at all and never have been...

[Nancy1]

Staff meetings can be productive if they are not allowed to become B sessions. I meet with my staff once a month scheduled. If there are other things going on, we may have to schedule another. I do not expect the nonworking staff to come in for a meeting with me, but they are expected to read the minutes and do the T and F test so I know that they read the minutes.
I see the staff meetings as MY AGENDA, be it good or bad. But I am very pleased to say that my staff are good and there are only a few who aggravate me.
I have benn on and off the BB for some time now and I know I work in the best place in the world. Because all I read is negative. But I am glad there is a safe place for folks to vent.

[JenKatt]

Staff meetings are totally under the control of the person running it. I've been to civilian staff meetings run by totally ineffective micromanaging nurse managers. I now have a GREAT nurse manager who runs great staff meetings. yes we still have our complaining, and our problems, but he routes all the energy into problem solving avenues. He knows administration won't change and won't help us, but he builds our morale and helps us find ways to fix our own problems without the help of administration. And when we do mess up, he's not condescending about it. It's it happened don't do it again, discussion over.
Just my 1 1/2 cents