I feel we suffered a serious loss when hospitals no longer required certification for all direct patient care personnel.
I can give many examples, but in a nutshell: The attitude toward basic nursing care seems to be "I do this because they tell me and they can't be bothered." I can easily see how I give that impression. I'll ask a UAP to do something, and if they can handle it alone, leave then go stare at a chart or the computer :behindpc: for lab values. I have very little time to explain my priorities. I do think that turning a patient, keeping him clean, etc is essential. But I'm more concerned about a K+ level of 3.0 or a weird new rhythm or what seems like 10,000 other potentially life threatening things. Most of those turn out to be false alarms, but what if I did not look into it?
If I don't specifically ask that a task be preformed and make a point of checking that it's done, it won't happen. The UAP makes a point of being offended when I make a point of checking that the task is done. If I do something related to a routine UAP task, I have to make sure to remind the UAP that the routine task is still necessary and again make a point of checking that that task is preformed. This ranges from my recording the water I got for the patient and still requiring the UAP to complete the Oral I and O's to when I feel it necessary to take a manual b/p and still want the UAP to take routine vital signs. Truth be told, most of the time it is simply better time management to preform routine nursing care without bothering the UAP. These things don't always happen and are not true for all UAP's, just all too often. Particularly, when I am "swamped.":bugeyes:
I do follow the leadership guidelines and remember to thank people for a job well done, as much as possible. I make an effort to publicly give sincere praise. I offer suggestions for improvement gently and in private. I take a personal interest in others lives and try to regard them with as much respect and consideration as I do for my patients, MD's and supervisors. I also make mistakes in leadership, but I'm aware of the basics and strive to improve. My leadership skills are probably at their worst, when I'm "swamped," and the UAP is sleeping or reading a novel.:sofahider
I would like to believe that the difficulties I'm having are related to a knowledge deficit. The problems I described above do not seem to happen when the UAP is certified or taking courses for Nursing/pre-req's. Other RN's on my floor also believe that it's nothing more than a knowledge deficit. (Likely, bi-directional)
I feel I had to say all the above to make a request and receive an answer targeted to my concerns. May I have some help in preparing written material for UAP's on the importance of routine V/S, pt turning, daily weights, and I/O's?
Thank you for reading this post and in advance for your help.
This ranges from my recording the water I got for the patient and still requiring the UAP to complete the Oral I and O's to when I feel it necessary to take a manual b/p and still want the UAP to take routine vital signs. Truth be told, most of the time it is simply better time management to preform routine nursing care without bothering the UAP. These things don't always happen and are not true for all UAP's, 
just all too often. Particularly, when I am "swamped.":bugeyes:
I also make mistakes in leadership, but I'm aware of the basics and strive to improve. My leadership skills are probably at their worst, when I'm "swamped," and the UAP is sleeping or reading a novel.:sofahider