Above and beyond

Ladyscrubs · Oct 17, 2018

Well...

Poor example. You obtained the order, and carried it out. The mere fact that you had to obtain the said order and your facility did not have the particular formula readily available, so you had to search for it, does not show me you went above and beyond; you were merely doing what was necessary or expected, aka, you were doing your job. To go above and beyond is when you do much better than is necessary or expected.

Example:

"The visitors to the hospital asked the nurse where the elevators were located. The nurse went above and beyond when she not only gave them directions and a hospital map but also took time to walk them to the elevators."

JKL33 · Oct 29, 2018

I'm not sure the OP example is inappropriate. The patient was not scheduled to have TF at that time and it would've been easy enough to do nothing about his hunger pangs. A more rigid nurse would have said, "I'm sorry Mr. Smith, but you don't have any feedings scheduled right now."

The second example/(first reply) is okay, but it's such a very classic, common example of a small act of going out of one's way that it completely ceases to be personally connected to the interviewee. Not to mention that such actions are the expectation now.

You could say that going above and beyond is not episodic but is a frame of mind that involves continually seeking to help people meet their needs even if it means going out of one's way - - and that opportunities for such are often in the more common things rather than something big and heroic. Give a variety of examples that show this is your basic M.O:

- Sat with someone's child so they could have a few uninterrupted minutes in the chapel/reflection room or have time alone with the patient

- Arranged x, y, z accommodations so that an elderly man could comfortably sit at his wife's bedside

- Offered to help make appropriate phone calls as directed by family while maintaining HIPAA/privacy (Ex: called the school for a patient's mother to let the school know she would be delayed in picking up her other child; called the neighbor and asked them to let the dog out, etc.)

- Arranged a gathering on the unit to help a patient celebrate progress or completion of treatment

- Any scenario that involved making extra calls/inquiries to get something someone needed in a timely manner rather than giving them directions like, "you'll need to contact so-and-so for that"

- Walking with someone to introduce them to the next team member they need to interact with, even if a different area or department - or calling ahead so the next team member is expecting them (decreases people's anxiety about navigating our systems)

- Any routine you have developed that is not necessary, per se, but is helpful to patients/families, such as "When a new patient is admitted, I have a practice of walking family members around the unit to personally show them where things they may need are located, and kind of explaining where and how they can get things they might need while they're here."

Etc., etc.

KelRN215, BSN, RN · Oct 31, 2018

I hate this question because I don't think it should be expected that I go above and beyond in my jobs but I do have a story that I tell.

When I was working in the hospital, I was taking care of a toddler (I want to say he was around 2) who had had a stroke. He was extremely irritable and the only time he was happy was when his Mom was pushing him around the floor in this little taxi cab car. It was outside his room with a sign on it that said "save for rm 11" (or whatever room he was in) then one day it disappeared. His Mom was devastated. When I was leaving the hospital later that day, I saw it outside the front lobby so grabbed it and ran it back up to them. His Mom talked about that for years after it happened.