Vent

[TheMoonisMyLantern]

So, I have got to get this off my chest. All day today I was at a mandatory inservice that was provided by non-clinical staff for nursing staff. As I have come to expect from our in person inservices and classes addressed to nursing staff, the day was filled with games and activities complete with cutesy pictures and language. The material was presented as though we were all in kindergarten. I am all for using various tools for education when the material warrants it, but the information we were going over today was very basic and not rocket science. If the topics had been convoluted or difficult to grasp, sure, use an activity or prop to make them more tangible, otherwise just tell me what I need to know and don't make me participate in some infantile game. Yes, I'm being paid, so maybe I shouldn't complain but I would much rather be giving patient care and actually working. I just can't help but wonder if they would have used the same approach with physicians, accounting, or some other department and I say this because my entire career required educational meetings and inservices have always been presented this way as opposed to adhering to a professional or academic format. Have other people experienced this or is it just common in my area?

Another thing, off topic but in the same vein, why do things related to nursing have to feel so demeaning? Pizza parties by management, a pen with the company logo for nurses's week, hell even our award for recognition is called the DAISY award! It sounds like an award a girl scout would get, not a skilled, educated professional.

There, I got it out of my system.

I do realized that I could just be a stick in the mud, and that's entirely possible too, I just prefer to embrace my inner child at home, not at work ?

[NightNerd, MSN, RN]

Uggghhhh, I feel like this is 90% of meetings and in-services. I figure some regulation requires some number of hours of education on x topic, so I just kinda deal and fight through it. But my God, it is infuriating to change my sleep schedule multiple times in a week to work, go to these classes, and be taught like I'm a four-year-old.

I can't say no to pizza, however. I'm very food-motivated at work, lol, and I need all the support I can get for my stress eating.

[Davey Do]

On my own website, I commemorate every day's date usually with an image of something that pertains to that day.

This is the G-rated version:

[Nurse SMS, MSN, RN]

I try not to use these tactics as an educator. I also try not to have death by powerpoint, as that also garners bitter complaints. Finding the happy medium can be difficult.

[Golden_RN, MSN]

I worked as an educator for years. It is very challenging coming up with ways to keep an audience's attention. A dry "academic" lecture is the best way to make sure the audience goes to sleep or looks at their phones the whole time. I definitely resorted to games for some subjects, but it depends on the audience and the material.

[TheMoonisMyLantern, ADN, LPN, RN]

16 minutes ago, Golden_RN said:

I worked as an educator for years. It is very challenging coming up with ways to keep an audience's attention. A dry "academic" lecture is the best way to make sure the audience goes to sleep or looks at their phones the whole time. I definitely resorted to games for some subjects, but it depends on the audience and the material.

I can appreciate the challenges that educators face, but a lecture doesn't have to be childish to be interesting. For example, outside of the games and activities the presenters were talented speakers and insightful had the forgone the shenanigans not only would the class been more efficient but it would have been effective. People go to sleep and look at their phones because half the time they're night shift workers who are forced to rearrange their sleeping patterns to attend the class.

[JKL33]

5 hours ago, not.done.yet said:

I try not to use these tactics as an educator. I also try not to have death by powerpoint, as that also garners bitter complaints. Finding the happy medium can be difficult.

30 minutes ago, Golden_RN said:

I worked as an educator for years. It is very challenging coming up with ways to keep an audience's attention. A dry "academic" lecture is the best way to make sure the audience goes to sleep or looks at their phones the whole time. I definitely resorted to games for some subjects, but it depends on the audience and the material.

I believe it is probably truly difficult to present certain material in an attractive, attention-sustaining format.

The thing is, it doesn't have to be entertaining, per se, but respect is required. I'm not saying that you two don't get this but a lot of people apparently do not: This kiddie game stuff is disrespectful, especially when it is everyone's go-to for how to engage nursing staff. If it were merely a change-up that happened now and again, people would never have come to despise it so much.

People can tolerate a topic that is less-than-exciting. Just level with them/us and do your best. Allow for discussion whenever possible, that way people can share their experiences and ask their questions. I have really appreciated times where questions were asked during such sessions, the educators did not have the answer, but within days or a week or so, they had obtained an answer and sent it out to attendees.

[TheMoonisMyLantern, ADN, LPN, RN]

1 minute ago, JKL33 said:

I believe it is probably truly difficult to present certain material in an attractive, attention-sustaining format.

The thing is, it doesn't have to be entertaining, per se, but respect is required. I'm not saying that you two don't get this but a lot of people apparently do not: This kiddie game stuff is disrespectful, especially when it is everyone's go-to for how to engage nursing staff. If it were merely a change-up that happened now and again, people would never have come to despise it so much.

People can tolerate a topic that is less-than-exciting. Just level with them/us and do your best. Allow for discussion whenever possible, that way people can share their experiences and ask their questions. I have really appreciated times where questions were asked during such sessions, the educators did not have the answer, but within days or a week or so, they had obtained an answer and sent it out to attendees.

Very eloquently said as all your posts are! Thanks ?

[pixierose, BSN, RN]

38 minutes ago, Golden_RN said:

I worked as an educator for years. It is very challenging coming up with ways to keep an audience's attention. A dry "academic" lecture is the best way to make sure the audience goes to sleep or looks at their phones the whole time. I definitely resorted to games for some subjects, but it depends on the audience and the material.

I think the best training formats have been when meaningful discussion was had.

Not when cutesy openers were utilized, or games were played halfway through when I had to work with others to find a conclusion to something ...

... or worse yet, as a group, come up with xyz and how they relate to the specific values of the hospital i.e Integrity, Compassion, Leadership!

Especially at the end of a long shift. I showed those values all night long.

I don’t envy those in the educator role, truly. But there are times that some educators (not you, necessarily, but in general) have no clue what the target audience actually brings to the table and omg is it frustrating.

I’ve had trainers chirp at me about compassion after a shift in which a patient passed on me and I spent a great deal with the family. And then make me do some team building activity on compassion “to make it stick!” ... instead of me sleeping that shift away.

It can be so frustrating.

[VivaLasViejas, ASN, RN]

Ugh---"team-building" activities are the worst! I once attended a conference where we were expected to allow ourselves to fall into the arms of our co-workers and (hopefully) be caught. I refused to do that one, much to the presenter's chagrin. I'm a team player when I have to be, but I'm not gonna fall into someone's arms that I don't know from Adam. And, if the situation calls for it, I'd rather work alone, thank you very much.

[prmenrs, RN]

My hospital was required to hold "cultural awareness" seminars for everyone--mandatory, of course. One of the 1st things they talked about was "family values". We broke into small groups, of course, to do this activities. A co-worker showed up w/her usual hard-covered book. She listened to the 1st presentation, when they broke into groups, she announced that her family's value was to "mind our own business". She retreated to a corner to read her book, and didn't participate in any other discussions. The poor facilitator told her she could go home if she wanted to. She declined, saying that if she did, tptb might make her return to complete another session.

[prmenrs, RN]

One of the best education sessions I conducted, back in the day, was the "glo-germ" demo. The idea was to teach effective handwashing. Participants coated their hands w/this neon oily stuff, and then tried to wash it off. Then I used a black light to show where they missed. It got quite competitive. The best a participant did was the pharmacist, who applied the soap 1st, suds up, then rinsed off. He got the most off. @ the very least, people washed a lot the rest of the day!

[guest52816]

I have to attend an in-service later in morning, which is all about boasting Press-Ganey scores.

The answer is simple: boast staffing.

A 9 to 1 ratio means patient call lights will be ringing for a while.

Especially when you have a patient with explosive diarrhea at the start of shift, as I did on Sunday.

The tech and I spent 45 minutes cleaning up that mess.

Call bells went unanswered during that time.