changes in management

The hospital I've been working in for many years has totally restructured their management style in the last few years from the old supervisory style to team management. This revolution in business perspectives is going on nationwide. Since the hospitals of today are more business oriented this change was inevitable in health care. The way this philosophy affected the operating room I work has had a very mixed result. How to reduce costs and maintain quality of care is the objective. By flattening management and creating a decision making process that is more collaborative seems to work in other organizations. People get paid less but theoretically are happier because they have a more direct influence in their respective specialities. Well a kind of opposite happened where I work .People had noone to turn to for their answers and felt devalued and disrepected by their peers. A consultant team was called in and they are leading us down a path to becoming a team. Maybe. There is still a general feeling of disassociation. Like we've been hung out to dry. Are these chages happening where you work and what are you doing about it?

[This message has been edited by Regina (edited 09-23-98).]

[This message has been edited by Regina (edited 09-23-98).]

To BB9453, Please post your replys on the BB so we can get a discussion going. Thanks for your input. Sounds like you are going through some of the same things we are in my OR. I think our nursing orgs can help us if enough of the RN's support them. AORN is good. The ANA is even better. They are there for us, yet a lot off RNs don't belong. Last year there was a bill going through the legislatre, AB695(Kruel) This is in California. AB 695 specifically addresses the RN to unlicensed personnel ratio, and the assigning of unlicensed personnel to RN tasks, in lieu of an Rn. This includes the OR. It specifically states what an Rn is licensed to do and what an ORT is not licensed for. Hospital health and safety codes are being violated if a Tech does First Assist. Document when you see these regs being transgressed. Techs are not licensed to do many things, if they are your hospital maybe in violation of the law. Know the law and your legislation. Bills like AB695 need support from all of us.

Our OR has done the same thing. Instead of hiring Managers they have the staff doing the jobs of Managers. It pits staff member against staff member.

To L Blacks, What is your OR like? How many Rooms do you have? What kind of surgery do you do? What are you doing about the lack of cohesiveness among the OR staff? Do you have teams and resource specialists? Do the docs recognize the dissatisfaction amongst the nurses? What is your patient population like. Are you downsizing and are your techs taking on more resposibilities? Tell me more about your workplace.