Well, we should have all known it wouldn't work from the start; but. . . We had a directive a few months ago stating our unit had to start doing peer evaluations of all unit staff (RN's, US, PCT's, management employed by our department). Our manager (whom I do respect) did apoligize at the unit meeting when she announced this saying she recognized that we didn't want to have any more paperwork to fill out related to work, but it was a mandate from on high and it had to be done. We were to give each person 2 ratings, one for clinical skills, one for interpersonal skills. It was scaled 1-5, 1=bad, 3=average, 5=excellent. They pleaded with us not to automatically grade everyone a 3, to really think these evals through and be honest and objective. Gosh, I guess I really am naive in that I just thought the biggest issue was the pain of having to fill out more paperwork.
The eval results were tallied and everyone got a cool little "confidential" envelope showing one's individual results. Now my objective at work is to "fade into the background". I don't want to be noticed, good or bad, I just want to be known as a reliable worker and from my eval results, the few comments (few is good in my book) I got were positive. Not so for SOOOO many people in the unit. Apparently many in my unit were ripped to shreds on those evals (I tried to be innocuous on my evals, giving out few comments and only positive ones). The following note was written on the dry erase board in our breakroom (shortened and edited slightly):
Regarding Peer Evals
1. Obviously they didn't work. None of the comments will go on your HR file
2. No more evals will be done until after they are discussed in a future unit meeting.
3. No negative comments, only positive comments will be permitted on future peer evals.
I guess I'm wondering; what was the point anyway? There are nurses who probably deserved some of the comments they received. We were also instructed that if any rating other than average was given, then one MUST comment on that evaluation. If they didn't want negative remarks, why did they even start this mess? Best I can figure is that the level of management I deal with didn't want to do this but were forced by higher-ups (probably to impress JCAHO who's always around the corner or influence a bid for magnet status).
I guess I'm not really looking for suggestions, just venting about this incredible and hurtful waste of time and effort done at my hospital. And this is a hospital that I mostly respect (unlike many I've worked for before). Any doubt the next eval I fill out will have only "average" ratings for everyone?
Has this process ever worked for anyone out there? I'm being serious, I might open my mouth at a unit meeting for once if I thought I had something constructive to add.