irishnurse68

Thanks to all for your suggestions! The email is a possibility, we do have several older nurses who do not use email though. I like the suggestion of a notebook that people have to read and initial. Accountability for reading info is something we truly need. Thanks! Any more ideas are welcome!

I am the chair of our unit council, in a family birthing center. We have had our council in place since 2002, and most of the time things run fairly smoothly. However, we have a problem with communication to the staff. Our UC is comprised of nurses, support techs, our unit educator, and our manager. We meet bimonthly. After every meeting I post memos in the lounge, and type up a newsletter for staff to read. The problem started last year when we stopped having monthly staff meetings. At the monthly staff meetings, we would give a verbal UC update to the staff. This way they really weren't held accountable to read information for themselves. Since we went to quarterly staff meetings, the staff are not taking the time to read the memos/newsletter on the UC board in our lounge. It is frustrating, because I personally feel that as an RN I am accountable to read all posted information to keep up to date on what's going on in the unit. Obviously, not everyone has that same attitude. I would like to know how other unit council's communicate information to the staff successfully. Any ideas or input are welcome! Secondly, when we have a topic that needs to be voted on or receive input from staff, our process is to post the topic in the lounge for a 30 day open comment period. People can write their comments/ideas/suggestions on a sheet of paper, and provide feedback to other people's comments. UC then takes those comments and makes a final decision based upon what the majority of people seem to want. The problem with this process, is that out of 80 or so staff members, only a handful of people actually take the time to comment. My feeling is that if they don't comment, they either don't have an opinion, or they don't care enough to take the time, and that the people who DO bother to comment should have their voices heard. My manager however, says that if only a handful of people comment, it is not a true representation of the desires of the unit, and the votes should be thrown out. I would like to know what other unit council's do to get the opinions of the staff. Any ideas are welcome! Thanks:)

I am so thankful for this thread!!! I was just hired at an HH agency, I went in to talk to them about doing some part time visits thru the week as I work weekends only at my hospital job. They were so nice, and the job sounded so great that I hired on full time, which is a minimum 25 visits per week. I have only been a nurse for 2 yrs, and that time has been in a level 2 nursery and postpartum/gyn surg unit, so there is a lot I am going to have to learn! I am nervous about that, and nervous about giving up my current job (I have been at this hospital 11 yrs, first as a microbiologist before becoming an RN), but I am beyond ready to get out of the hospital. It is helpful to see what REAL days are like for REAL HH nurses!!! Thanks for all the great info!

Hang in there!!! You were brave enough to pack up and move away from everything that was familiar to you, of course you are going to feel like a fish out of water for a while. You are going to be a great nurse at this job too, just give yourself some time!:heartbeat

Hi! I want some advice from all you home health nurses out there:) I currently work in a birthing center, in the level 2 nursery and sometimes float out to postpartums/gyn surgeries. I have been working here for 2 yrs, since I got out of nursing school. I worked full time until January this year, when I went to an every weekend position for 35% more on the hour. I have not been happy with this unit since I started, our management is horrible, and we have huge turnover, which is unusual for a birthing center. I love my coworkers, but feel very unrewarded and unappreciated for the work I do. I have been thinking about home health care for a while now, and interviewed last week with an agency, and was offered a full time position. Here are the details: minimum 25 visits per week, most nurses do 35-40. first time visits are $50, follow ups $35 motorola razor with unlimited minutes for work and personal use provided $200 gas card per month full benefits, including 401k and STD $200 per year for continuing ed they pay for your license renewal bonus at end of year=$2 for every visit you did that year they will allow me to work in a central area close to home the owner and nurse manager are wonderful i talked to several nurses who work there and they love it initial paperwork is about 5 pages, follow up visits 1 page I feel like this is a wonderful opportunity, with great flexibility and would be a very rewarding career. My question for all of you is mostly, would I be stupid to give up a job working 24 hours a week for something working a lot more hours? Are there any other considerations you can think of that I need to look at? Thank you so much for any help!!!

i am so thankful for this thread! i am an rn student graduating in june. i love ob, i am doing my preceptorship in labor/delivery and i love it! this is the reason that i went to nursing school, and i cannot see myself working anywhere else. i am also a med tech, and have worked at an area hospital in microbiology for 9 years. our hospital has an excellent and very competitive internship program for our birthing center, and i just found out today that i was selected for the internship program! since this is the only way that they will hire for ob, i am really excited! i would like some advice from experienced ld nurses. tell me what books you consider to be essential for ob nursing please! thanks:)

that is the funniest thing i have ever heard! now i'm scared to ask anyone if they need any help!!!

I understand your concerns! I will be graduating in June, and I wonder how long I should stay at my first job if I end up hating it, etc. You want to be well rounded, but you don't want to look like a job hopper either! I agree that you should probably wait til you move UNLESS you are up front in your interview, tell them you will be moving soon...let them make the decision to hire you or not. Good luck!

Help! I'm graduating in June, have just been offered a job in Neuro, and am really interested, but also scared! I'd love some input from people in the field, pros, cons, etc...

I was just thinking that same thing!! Actually, I am having a ball reading all of these, can't remember when I have laughed so hard! I should be studying my med surg right now...this is more fun