mstev001

Thank you everyone for all the great feedback and ideas. Very much appreciated. The presentation is going to be during a staff meeting, so i've decided to go with an informal/discussion type presentation. Seeing that it's now three hours before the presentation and i'm still clueless as to what i want to say. Life wouldn't be interesting if it were easy, now would it? I just want to point out that this presentation wasn't forced on me as a new grad. I've been in the ICU and working with the staff as an RN for almost a year and a half. Yes i feel like i still know nothing, but i volunteered to help my director because of huge negative reaction by the staff. I didn't want to see all of her efforts go completely to waste. NRSKarenRN, awesome awesome awesome! This is going to help me so much. Thanks again everyone! I am curious to see how this effort to improve caring turns out. Funny enough, that hospital has great caring scores. Especially by the ICU staff, i think that is part of the reason people were so offended. Always room for improvement on the surveys, right? Michael

Great idea! I'll head into work early and see if they have it!

This is funny because so many of the nurses have suggested this idea! I've had in depth/humorous discussions on the topic! Definitely worth a powerpoint slide.

Ktliz, Thank you for the website. I have a strong feeling that her theory is going to be the foundation of my presentation. MunroRN, I also agree that caring can't be taught. Interesting perspective on caring and time, i hadn't thought to explore that avenue. It's similar to those scales, where each number has a set of bullet points required to define them. But not used as a documentation tool. More an unofficial guide to caring specific to our ICU and or hospital created by the nurse specialists. Onaclearday, You are 100% right, it's meant to be perceived as more constructive criticism to improve customer service. However RN's i'd like to think are very well educated, and these statements actually come off as more offensive than beneficial depending on how well the person is at presenting the statement. People, and nurses in particular, don't like to hear that they are bad at something, especially as something as personal and innate as caring. Tomorrow is going to be interesting, that's for sure. I can just hope that my director talks so long that we run out of time for my presentation!

My name is Michael, and I work in the ICU as a RN. The reason i am creating this post is to discuss a topic that was brought up during a staff meeting and to see where people stand on the idea. At the last staff meeting i attended the director focused on a topic central to nursing care, and how to improve it; that topic being caring. Her goal is to improve staff caring in the ICU. I mean, yes, this is a great idea. Improving caring improves patient satisfaction, i don't see a problem with this. The problem i guess lies in her approach. She wants to create a template and protocol for caring, and it all seems so scripted. The unit needs another protocol like i need a hole in the head. I can't get around to reading the three billion that exist already. A scaled template would rate caring on a scale of 1-5. 1 being below average, 5 being outstanding caring. The implementation of this scale would go something like this: "Susan, i can see you're having a tough time with that patient and their family, right now you're caring is at a 2, how can we improve that? what can we do to bring you up to a 4, i have some ideas." Great and all, but i've only been a nurse for a year, how do i go up to a nurse who's been working for 30+ years and tell them that their caring sucks. I probably wouldn't. Nor do i feel that it is my place to whip out a template and find their caring level based on set definitions for each number 1-5. This template exists by the way, and a lot of research went into creating it. Ok, so i want to get back to the real reason i'm posting this. In the previous paragraph my tone sounded a bit negative, but i'm not opposed to the idea of improving caring. The other staff were a bit offended at the suggested ideas. Feeling that caring is learned, not taught, and everybody cares differently. Tomorrow i need to put together a presentation on caring for our staff meeting, and i feel like i am hitting a brick wall when it comes to ideas. I want to create a presentation that meets the needs of my director, but also a presentation that i wont get stoned for by the staff. The staff have been given a chance to present ideas with little ground gained during discussion. Does anyone have any ideas of improving nursing caring, without offending staff in the process? Do you think a protocol or scale is appropriate? A caring committee has been created, which I'm not a part of, but i'm willing to bring ideas to the table. Like all change, there is a ton of resistance being met. I am not afraid to be a change agent, as long as it's done tactfully. Any ideas or suggestions on the situation or for my presentation would be greatly appreciated. I have a feeling i'm going to be presenting a neutral presentation on caring that involves nursing theories and what it caring means for nursing. Thanks, Michael