Team Sports

jadelpn, LPN, EMT-B

There are many reasons why one becomes a nurse. On the top ten list, taking care of patients is an important role. But usually one that you can't go alone. To be one part of a whole is a best case scenario.

Nursing can mean that what one doesn't think could happen more than likely will and does. Most nurses, after the first couple of years, knows what they are capable of. Where their strengths lie. What they are passionate about. The most interesting part is that no two nurses are exactly alike. What one enjoys, another may not. There are even nurses who dislike a task that they are really, really good at. It takes a village to save a patient, and to play to one's strengths can only benefit patient outcome.

Even if one questions why it is that Nurse Rachet became a nurse, they are usually the first ones to lead a code to a "T". The best codes are run with a team of people who can anticipate another's moves, compliment their shortcomings, and move on the the next task at hand.

I am all for the mock codes. So it comes down to a science. Your recorder is one of the most important references. To be a good recorder, you need to practice active listening. Even in a crowd. You need to write and clock watch. You need to remind and repeat. And that is a task that a number of nurses who may not be the clinically strong can employ.

To lead a team that is successful, the art of the staff meeting is also key. Nurses need to hear and practice skills, Be able to express where their strengths are and what they believe that they can do, and do well. Managers need to actively listen and respond to the talents and the not so great skills of the nurses of a unit. If one is not so great, then how can we get better--skills labs? Learn one, teach one, do one? Pro-actively strengthening a team can only benefit patient outcomes.

Some units choose to team nurse. This either works well, or not at all, but something to pilot if the conditions are correct. There is usually the assessment and charting whiz, the nurse who can get anyone to take their pills at a moment's notice, and the one who can whip out treatments with a smile. Is that feasible on your unit? Something to bring to the staff meeting.

If we take the time to think about how to make a patient better and more functional, how to prepare for the worst case scenarios, to play to a nurse's strengths, improve weakness in practice--these are all things that make a nursing team worth celebrating, improve morale, make one take pause as to "THIS" is the reason I became a nurse--is that a bad thing?

Personalities, experience, passions all can and do have a place in a unit's success. In better patient outcomes. Advocate for some changes on your unit should it not be this way. One voice can make a difference, even if it is one patient at a time.

Team Sports

About jadelpn, LPN, EMT-B

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