I need to give a Professionalism Inservice

[Noney]

I'm wondering if I can pick your minds. I need to do an inservice on professionalism. It is to be one hour long and is geared towards nursing assistants in a hospital setting. I don't expect the size of the audience to be more then 10.

Any suggestions? I don't want you to do the work for me, just some rough ideas or reference sites.

Thanks in advance.

Noney

[llg, PhD, RN]

Wow! What an (important, but) unpopular topic to try to teach -- particularly to an audience on non-professionals. While many nursing assistants exhibit professional behaviors, your audience will probably include a lot for whom "totall professionalism" is too much to expect.

I would probably try a non-traditional approach that would not focus so much on the instillation of profession values. Instead, I might emphasize employer-employee relationships, roles and responsibilities, rights and obligations, etc. i.e. ...

"This is what you can expect your employer to do for you...."

"This is what your employer expects of you in return ..."

"This is what your patients need and expect from you..."

"Your role on the team is to ..."

etc.

Good luck! and please let us know how it goes,

llg

[santhony44, MSN, RN, NP]

I would think of things like confidentiality, appropriate dress, appropriate manner of addressing patients and co-workers, not discussing their personal lives in front of patients, not giving out medical advice,etc. Thinking back on my time in the hospital, some of the most professional people I worked with were CNA's.

[Noney]

Thanks llg

I'm thinking of bringing in some props. I might start out with my hair messy, my shirt wrinkled, dirty shoes... and during thr hour pull my hair back, add a neat lab jacket of short sleeved cover up...

I was also thinking of a focus peroid of assertiveness vs agressiveness (bullying)

Noney

[Noney]

Thanks Santhony,

I know I need to be careful that I don't unintentionally insult anyone. I agree some of the most profession people I've worked with are cna's, some of the most unprofessioal ones are also cna's.

Noney

[Noney]

Oh, as a sidenote...

I just received a call from a telemarketor that introduced himself as "___________, professional solicitor" Now that just takes the cake, doesn't it? :roll :roll :roll

Noney

[SmilingBluEyes]

put yourself on the no-call list and these "pro's" wont bother you anymore rofl.

good luck on your speech!

[purplemania, BSN, RN]

we did this with 3 people: One was the narrator (you). The others were CNA's with props we provided. One was wearing a wig, lots of jewelry and flashy clothes and she kept asking where all the cute doctors were. The other was sloppy and kept wanting to go smoke or lay his head down because he works another job and is too sleepy to do this one. It was funny but got the message across when a "patient" tried to interact with them.

[renerian, BSN, RN]

I have done role playing before which was nice but alot of people do not like that sort of thing. Sometimes I think aides feel they are not important but what we all do is important to the success of the team. No one is more imporant than the other.

renerian

[santhony44, MSN, RN, NP]

Maybe rather than use class members to role play, enlist some co-workers to do that, as purplemania suggested.

You might also point out that they may end up working with nurses who aren't good role models in the professionalism area, and that they should not take these people as their examples

One of my personal pet peeves is calling everyone "sweetie" or calling an alert 90 year old lady "Gladys." I would say to let the patient set the tone in that regard, or ask the patient what they prefer to be called.

[Noney]

Originally posted by renerian

I have done role playing before which was nice but alot of people do not like that sort of thing. Sometimes I think aides feel they are not important but what we all do is important to the success of the team. No one is more imporant than the other.

renerian

My thoughts exactly Ren. I just don't want to insult anyone, yet want to do a good inservice.

Noney

[AndyLyn]

What a great question! I think the role playing idea is a good one, but I was sitting here wondering if you shouldn't treat them as if they were the professionals you want them to emulate. For instance, if I were to attend a conference, or workshop, or seminar, I would expect a neatly labeled folder with all the information presented inside, overheads, and lively conversation. (Not that it would have to be boring...) I wonder if the same thing wouldn't work for the CNA's? Just a suggestion.

Good Luck!