Meetings And Patient Assignment

[Sue Damonas, BSN]

I work in Home Palliative Care and Hospice and 2 coworkers and I were placed on a committee a few months ago without being asked or informed of this. We have very high patient loads and our attendance at meetings has been very sporatic plus we get called a lot on our cellphones. We all received emails yesterday saying that we had to be at the meeting today. It was a long drawn out meeting that I consider a waste of time and then we all had our full patient loads with no help. I'm so angry at the pencilpushers who have no clue of what we deal with:angryfire and no consideration of the time we need to spend with our patients. I just needed to vent!!

[LovelyGraduatedNurse]

breathe...

[mamamerlee, LPN]

Your mandatory meeting time should count the same as patient time. You should have had enough notice to arrange your schedule accordingly.

Most people look at committees as a 'gift' from management. i.e. 'your opinion is valuable and we are willing to pay you for it'. The 'pencilpushers' may not know exactly what you do, but someone recognized your value.

I have always considered it to be a privelege to have input into the decision-making committees. Isn't that what we always say we need?

You need to block off time on your calendar for your meetings, and inform the pts you usually see at those times that you will be delayed.

Turn this around - be proud that you are valued.

[Sue Damonas, BSN]

Your mandatory meeting time should count the same as patient time. You should have had enough notice to arrange your schedule accordingly.

Most people look at committees as a 'gift' from management. i.e. 'your opinion is valuable and we are willing to pay you for it'. The 'pencilpushers' may not know exactly what you do, but someone recognized your value.

I have always considered it to be a privelege to have input into the decision-making committees. Isn't that what we always say we need?

You need to block off time on your calendar for your meetings, and inform the pts you usually see at those times that you will be delayed.

Turn this around - be proud that you are valued.

I would love to be able to block off time for meetings but with my patient load and acuity it just isn't possible. No one else can cover any of my patients because they are in the same boat as me. Patient care should not be delayed because I have to sit in a meeting.