How can I increase the morale on my unit?

cardiacfreak, ADN · Jun 26, 2015

You have the million dollar question! I am sure most hospital nurses feel the same way. Sorry, I don't have the answer.

BecomingNursey · Jun 26, 2015

You have the million dollar question! I am sure most hospital nurses feel the same way. Sorry, I don't have the answer.

I wish I could get the million dollar answer. Lol

Libby1987 · Jun 26, 2015

You've been there a year, what about it do you love that few else do?

Davey Do · Jun 26, 2015

The highest morale unit I ever worked on, nearly 30 years ago, was the result of a team commitment to certain guidelines, BecomingNursey.

Elevating the moral of an entire unit is difficult enough even if you're one of the Chiefs, and nearly impossible if you're merely a member of the Tribe.

However, a positive attitude can be contagious and can make a single shift more pleasurable and can spread from there.

I'll pass on some concepts I carry with me to this day:

Be an example- make others want to be as positive and/or as good at your job as you are. Be the Nurse other Nurse would want if they were a Patient

When you walk through the doors of the unit, you're "on". Your Patient is your priority and your personal life is outside of those unit doors.

Professional Reporting is always objective. For example, I just read two posts where Nurses referred to a Patient as being "a drunk" The term is subjective and demeaning. Patients have high BALs.

Take responsibility for your feelings or viewpoints. The Patent is not "a pain". "I have difficulty dealing with this Patient because he/she regularly seeks Staff's attention" or something to that effect.

Praise in public and criticize in private. If a situation needs to be dealt with a Co-Worker who "just doesn't get it", be direct and factual. If a Co-Worker, Peer, Doctor, etc. etc. does a good job, I "say good things about them behind their backs". Especially to Superiors. What goes 'round, comes 'round.

Always be professional. Use your knowledge of medical terminology in reporting and discussions. When reporting results, include parameters. Ask if there are any questions, concerns, or thoughts.

Seek the perspectives of all. Make someone else feel important.

Use appropriate humor in every situation you can.

On off days, "fake it til ya make it". When my job gets stressful, for example, I answer the phone in my DJ voice. Numerous times, I've been told "Boy, you're really in a good mood today!" when the opposite was true.

That's off the top of my head.

BecomingNursey · Jun 26, 2015

You've been there a year, what about it do you love that few else do?

I love the team work in my unit. I don't care if two nurses don't get along well. In the end if a critical patient rolls brought that door, we pull together and work it.

Here's an example. Just a few weeks ago we had a man come in from the front door by private vehicle. He was gray and clutching his chest. Before registration could even get to him one of our techs took him straight to do an EKG. It is our protocol to get an EKG on all chest pain patients within 10 minutes of arrival.

The EKG read STEMI. We had the patient back, a line started, evaluated by our ER Dr., tridil going, ASA given, morphine given, evaluated by a cardiologist, prepped for the cath lab and to the cath lab in 16 minutes. From the front door to cath lab in 16 minutes! That's amazing for us to be able to work like a well-oiled machine and take care of an acute patient like that! I even mentioned after the fact to everyone; "I love how well we all pull together and work together." You think we heard anything from management about it? And how awesome they thought it was that we pulled that kind of time off????? Nope. Not a word.

BecomingNursey · Jun 26, 2015

The highest morale unit I ever worked on, nearly 30 years ago, was the result of a team commitment to certain guidelines, BecomingNursey.
Elevating the moral of an entire unit is difficult enough even if you're one of the Chiefs, and nearly impossible if you're merely a member of the Tribe.
However, a positive attitude can be contagious and can make a single shift more pleasurable and can spread from there.
I'll pass on some concepts I carry with me to this day:
Be an example- make others want to be as positive and/or as good at your job as you are. Be the Nurse other Nurse would want if they were a Patient
When you walk through the doors of the unit, you're "on". Your Patient is your priority and your personal life is outside of those unit doors.
Professional Reporting is always objective. For example, I just read two posts where Nurses referred to a Patient as being "a drunk" The term is subjective and demeaning. Patients have high BALs.
Take responsibility for your feelings or viewpoints. The Patent is not "a pain". "I have difficulty dealing with this Patient because he/she regularly seeks Staff's attention" or something to that effect.
Praise in public and criticize in private. If a situation needs to be dealt with a Co-Worker who "just doesn't get it", be direct and factual. If a Co-Worker, Peer, Doctor, etc. etc. does a good job, I "say good things about them behind their backs". Especially to Superiors. What goes 'round, comes 'round.
Always be professional. Use your knowledge of medical terminology in reporting and discussions. When reporting results, include parameters. Ask if there are any questions, concerns, or thoughts.
Seek the perspectives of all. Make someone else feel important.
Use appropriate humor in every situation you can.
On off days, "fake it til ya make it". When my job gets stressful, for example, I answer the phone in my DJ voice. Numerous times, I've been told "Boy, you're really in a good mood today!" when the opposite was true.
That's off the top of my head.

That's some awesome advice! Thanks so much! I know it will be hard for me to make a difference being as I'm still "one of the Indians" and not a "chief" lol. They are actually considering training me as a charge nurse once I have the recommended 2 years of experience so who knows? Maybe I will be put into a position where I can make more of a change sooner than later.

I try to remain as positive as possible while at work and away from work also. It's really hard not to fall in with the negative crowd. I'm a very happy, bubbly person and enjoy being around an awesome group of people. I work with some of the most amazing nurses and I know that they could rise to their full potential if they were just pushed a little bit and positively reinforced instead of always hearing about what we do wrong and rarely being commended for what we do right!

Anyways,

Thank you so much for those tips! It sounds like you have a ton of experience and I will do my best be a ray of positivity even on the worst day

TriciaJ, RN · Jun 26, 2015

A little recognition goes a long way. It would be helpful if management had a way to recognize good work. (Although too many employee recognition programs tend to reward kissing up instead of good work.) Can you come up with a system to reward each other for saving the day? Or cheer-up gifts for someone who's having a terrible day?

Do you celebrate each other's birthdays? Sometimes small things can do wonders to make people feel better about where they work.

BecomingNursey · Jun 26, 2015

A little recognition goes a long way. It would be helpful if management had a way to recognize good work. (Although too many employee recognition programs tend to reward kissing up instead of good work.) Can you come up with a system to reward each other for saving the day? Or cheer-up gifts for someone who's having a terrible day?
Do you celebrate each other's birthdays? Sometimes small things can do wonders to make people feel better about where they work.

Actually, I was just thinking about that today!!! :) I'm going to talk with my director and make sure she's okay with me asking everyone for their birthday so I can start keeping up with it!

The facility and unit I'm on right now...they (management) doesn't even acknowledge when a person leaves! One of our nurses is leaving to start working as a NP and he's been a nurse in our ER for almost 7 years. Management wasn't even going to throw him a farewell party or anything! Thankfully I found out about it and I've planned a small farewell lunch while we are all working this Sunday, but if I wouldn't have found out nothing would have been done for this awesome nurse who has dedicated 7 years to this facility!

So I'm trying to think of small ways that I can say thank you to my fellow nurses. Thanks for the suggestion :)

Racer15, BSN, RN · Jun 26, 2015

$$$$$

xoemmylouox, ASN, RN · Jun 26, 2015

I think making more of a team - friendly environment is a start. We have carry-ins, celebrate birthdays with cakes, if someone leaves we have cake, if someone graduates from school we have cake or if they have a baby we have cake. ok we have cake often.. Who doesn't LOVE that???

Anyway.. Having acceptable staff/patient ratios and better pay are always nice, but not a realistic change. Also if there is a debbie downer working, their bad attitude can affect the whole shift. So can a lazy person who doesn't pull their weight.

Libby1987 · Jun 26, 2015

I have yet to have a vacation request turned down, in 8 years and we don't use a staffing agency or have much of a per diem staff. It doesn't cost anything extra, just a commitment from my manager to make sure it works.