Ten Ways To Nurture Your Nurses And Create A High-Performance Organization

SmilingBluEyes · Apr 26, 2005

Excellent Karen. Thank you.

stidget99 · Apr 26, 2005

I found this article to be quite interesting. My hospital has been using the Studer Group to make changes. However, I haven't heard any of the information from this article. All I have heard is "use of keywords....provide excellent care..." blah blah blah. I really wish that they would focus on some of this for us. Ever since this new push w/ Studer ideations has come into effect, the morale is as low as I've seen it in the two years that I've been there. When I first started working there, it was a Utopia. I even convinced a friend to move across the state and come work there. Unfortunately, this is no longer a Utopia. Maybe there is hope that eventually my hospital administrators will get around to some of this focusing on nurses and what to do to keep the good ones and let the bad ones go. Ho hum.

Home Health Columnist / Guide · Apr 27, 2005

I really wish that they would focus on some of this for us.

Our health system is in year 3 of our "Values in Practice" program based on Quint Studer. I'm active on our VIP Steering committee and gearing up for our rededication in two weeks. Getting my other colleagues who are middle managers to remember "Hardwiring Excellence" main ideas are: Purpose, Worthwhile Work, Making a Difference is hard when your struggling with severe staff shortage daily and no light at the end of the tunnel and putting out fires daily. And if Senior Management hasn't totally embraced the entire concept, key words alone will not do it.

I've seen the value of thank you notes, rounding and reporting up good deeds in IMPROVING morale too. Hopefully you will see a possitive change once program fully implimented.

kat911 · Apr 28, 2005

I am Co-Chair of our Recruitment and Retention Committee. Prior to this year the committee was essentially a Nurses Week activites committee. I want to change that and have lots of ideas. This article is great and gives me some ideas, I'll also look for the books listed. Anyone have any suggestions. We have a new Nursing Director who wants more from the committee and will back us up. Morale is down and patient satisfaction as well, SURPRISE! :uhoh3: Any thoughts or suggestions on what you have seen work would be helpful. We have so much do do to make things better here and we finally have the support of someone who recognizes we need to make changes in how we do things.

Home Health Columnist / Guide · Apr 28, 2005

quint's organization, the studer group, has several ideas on their website:

http://www.studergroup.com/$spindb.query.2flywheel.studview

[color=#0050a8]nine principles

principle #1: commit to excellence:...excellence is when employees feel valued, physicians feel the organization is the best, and patients feel the service is extraordinary. a commitment to excellence impacts the bottom line while living out the mission and values of the organization....
principle #2: measure the important things...
principle #3: build a culture around service ...principle teaches how to connect services to organizational values - script behaviors, create teams, teach service recovery, and develop standards of performance. there is no higher responsibility than to ensure high quality and a caring environment for our patients...
principle #4: create and develop leaders...
principle #5: focus on employee satisfaction...the saying "a chain is only as strong as its weakest link," holds true within every organization. every employee is critical to the success of an organization. satisfied employees do a better job....
principle #6: build individual accountability
what if your staff acted like owners instead of renters?...
principle #7: align behaviors with goals and values...
principle #8: communicate at all levels...
principle #9: recognize and reward successthis principle, often referred to as "managing up," can work magic in an organization.

[color=#0050a8]pillars

organizations who work with studer group embrace the ''pillar'' concept in goal setting. the pillars provide the foundation for setting organizational goals and provide the framework for the evaluation process. most organizations use the five pillars: service, people, quality, financial, and growth...

these are the basics that we've implimented that have seen our agency satisfaction scores rise to 93% in 2004. :sofahider first quarter 2005 stats coming out next week.

Home Health Columnist / Guide · Apr 28, 2005

excellent advice by roberta abrams rn writing for healthleaders.com:

the patient has turned the corner

if the nursing profession were a patient, it would be in recovery

rights and responsibilities for nurses: another look

nurses want respect, resources and to be a part of healthcare solutions. but with those rights come some new responsibilities

celebrate nursing

it's an annual ritual: the celebration of nurses' week. one week of 52, we hang posters, award trinkets, and have a free meal - or ice cream social. at week's end, the organization returns to business as usual

retain, recycle, replenish, and recruit

headlines about the crisis in nursing abound. it's one of the most pressing issues facing everyone from healthcare ceos to healthcare consumers.

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from jcaho:

health care at the crossroads:

strategies for addressing the evolving nursing crisis

[color=#005496]create a culture of retention--starts on page 10.

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from ana:

need for ergonomic devices in workplace:sepoct04.pdf

ana needs you to help advocate for increased nurse education funding

4/20/05

on april 7, 2005 senators barbara mikulski (d-md) and susan collins (r-me) circulated a letter in the u.s. senate soliciting support for a $24 million (16%) increase in funding for nursing workforce development programs. this "dear colleague" solicitation asks other senators to sign-on to a letter requesting $175 million in fy 2006 funding for the nursing workforce development programs funded through title viii of the public health service act.more...

the

rn satisfaction report, conducted through ana's national database of nursing quality indicators (ndnqi), revealed moderate levels of satisfaction regarding all other aspects of respondents jobs, including nursing management, nursing administration, interactions with doctors, and their own level of autonomy...

for the survey questions, see

[color=#d60707]http://www.nursingquality.org/rnsurveyinfo/instrument.htm.

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from afscme:

solving the nursing shortage - best practices for recruitment and ...

kat911 · Apr 28, 2005

Thanks for the information. I have a lot of reading to do.

Home Health Columnist / Guide · Apr 28, 2005

book:

keeping patients safe: transforming the work environment of nurses

by ann page, editor, committee on the work environment for nurses and patient safety

keeping patients safe: transforming the work environment of nurses identifies solutions to problems in hospital, nursing home, and other health care organization work environments that threaten patient safety through their effect on nursing care.

http://www.iom.edu/report.asp?id=16173

a companion to the institute of medicine's earlier patient safety report, to err is human, the report puts forth a blueprint of actions that all health care organizations which rely on nurses should take.

the report's findings and recommendations address the related issues of management practices, workforce capability, work design, and organizational safety culture. actions needed from the federal and state governments, as well as from coalitions of parties involved in shaping the work environments of nurses also are specified.

the report presents evidence from health services, behavioral and organizational research, and human factors and engineering to address pressing public policy questions, including nurse staffing levels, nurse work hours, and mandatory overtime. more information on the iom's quality of care initiative

on a roll due to those hot flashes :chuckle

pooh54 · Apr 28, 2005

Well, it seems we are overlooking the enemy within. There are many reports of nurses facing verbal abuse and or hostile work environments from our own colleagues and managers. The "eat their young" saying has truth and perhaps we should add "everyone," we must actively work toward solving this problem in our own profession.KRVRN, Are there any studies under way about bullying and mobbing in the nursing environment? I left a unit because of this.