[johnson0424]

I know communication happens via report but I am a manager and I dont know how to communicate via staff that works on different shifts and also things the staff needs to know. Our facility suggested a communication book but that is one more paper that they have to initial etc. Also, I need some communication for the GNA's too. HELP. how do you do it. leave notes??what???

[Luv2BAnurse]

Communication books are ok although it is something else to initial, so what. Email works fairly well, as long as everyone has access. For Goodness' sakes no notes. They get lost, overlooked, scribbled on, etc.

[michelle126]

Report, but that isn't always effective for us either. Most of the time we hang notes at our desk for FYIs or memos from our DON.

What would be nice is if after a while all these notes or memos could be placed in a book so that weekend staff like me can review them.

[Bird2]

We often use e-mail but find that many do not read them. We used the communication books but many wrote inappropriate things in them. Verbal reports were/are a joke. Taped reports were worse than the verbal. Our facility has always struggled with the communication piece but if I want a what I believe to be a very important message to be relayed to staff I hang the note on the wall directly across from the staff toliet. Very effective.

[achot chavi]

We have mailboxes: one for each unit. If I (the ADON ) or anyone wants to leave a message I just put it in an envelope or I staple the paper closed and write the nurses name on the outside and leave it in her units mailbox. If she wants to communicate back she can either call me or leave me a note in my mailbox. We are all accustome to check the mailbox at the start and end of shifts as they are next to the punch in clock, Hope this helps

[PJMommy]

We are beginning to use more and more email. We also have a communication book in the report room but it is a duplicate of emailed communication. It is expected that staff will check email at least 2x a week. But...as previous poster stated, you need to be sure everyone has access. We can access at work or over the Internet from home.

[Daytonite]

When I was a nurse manager I had two days a week when I came in an hour or two earlier in order to be available to the night shift. I spent probably three days a week staying past 3pm for the 3-11 shift. Otherwise, there were times when I came in in the middle of the night in order to have staff meetings with the night shift. Just a word of advice for you. . .don't be a stranger to your staff. Surprise them and show up when they don't think you'd be around. Don't blow off the night shift. One of the complaints I heard for years as a night shift staff nurse was that no one cared about what we did or what went on at night. I could count on my fingers the number of times my head nurses showed up on the night shift. When I became a manager I vowed to do differently. I tried to go out onto the floor of my nursing unit daily. I would talk with the nurses and get a little report from them about how their day was going. I wanted to know if they were having any major problems. I talked to everyone--licensed and unlicensed staff. We also had a 3-ring notebook in the report room where I would place important memos. I tried very hard to keep the number of things in that notebook to a minimum so the staff didn't have to spend hours reading through it. If these kinds of notebooks get too full or crapped up with a lot of insignificant stuff then no one will bother to read them. When I gave an employee the latest dope from administration I was right there to hear any complaints they wanted to voice. One of the biggest problems that managers have is communication with their staffs as, I guess, you are finding out.