WHY OH WHY? Every year-------competencies!!!!!

[Emergent]

Ugh, every year we have to do yet another annoying, repetitive, HIPAA or some other Gawd awful online inservice. Is there an end? Will the healthcare system ever deem me HIPAA compliant? Will they ever consider that I've absorbed their vital teachings for more than a year?

[firstinfamily, RN]

Ah, continuing education that seems so repetitive!!!! Yes, it is all about accrediation and funding and keeping your staff up to date!! I am the type of person who hates having educational stuff crammed down my throat. I love learning, just not the same thing over and over. To challenge your facility, see how many HIPPA violations happen in a day. Is all the chart/EMR in a private area where on-lookers cannot see it. Is there a pt census board with the patients names listed where everyone can see? What about someone who calls patient information, are they truly allowed to release the name of a patient and what room they are in?? Kind of makes it a little more fun!!

[prmenrs, RN]

What always got my cookies frosted (in a very bad way) was doing 'competencies' on things I did not, nor would I ever, have to do in actual work situations. Classic: applying restraints. I worked in NICU. Where the heck would I put those things. Or learning how to drag the bed-sled in an evacuation. (If I actually did that, I'd need O2 and paramedics on stand-by).

Competencies are a real pain in the rear--and aren't likely to go away. So happy to be reminded of why retirement rocks!!

[stevengarbs]

It never ends for sure. Learning is an endless process, so to say. Continue learning, continue moving, continue caring! :)

[kbrn2002, ADN, RN]

We do not get paid for the time we spend online. We only get paid for the skills check we do in the office.

WHAT??? I would majorly protest that. If it's required for work, it's work and you should be getting paid for it.

And yes, I have to do the annual training too. It hasn't changed in years and the viseo content is actually pretty funny. I don't know where the production team hired the writers and actors but boy, are they bad!

[vokaybo]

If your facility is accredited by The Joint Commission, there are requirements for competencies. Hospitals set there own frequencies. Some are every year; some are every two years;some are every three years. Depending on your state, subjects such as fire safety are required annually. The federal government has requirements on HIPAA education as well. It is something that has to be done, like it or not... It is what it is...

[SoldierNurse22, BSN, RN]

If you think civilian competencies are bad, try a DOD/GS job. It takes days to complete annual competencies, and that's just the annual stuff--not including those classes/in-services that are due every quarter, month, etc.

[brandy1017, ASN, RN]

We have to do these competencies (we call them CHEX web) all the time too. I think some of them are irritating, and some are interesting and good for review (like cardiac or trauma)...but the one I liked the best had to do with what we are supposed to do if a gunman came into the unit. I thought that was fun...but i think i may have a twisted sense of perspective.

We have active shooter classes and the best was when the cop tried to scare everyone by pretending he was a shooter and one of the nurses instinctively threw her drink at him. Priceless!

[GingerTravelRN]

My time is MY TIME. If I can't be on a skateboard, I need to get paid. Nurses don't work salary jobs for a reason!

[GingerTravelRN]

GI employees are technically paid for 24/7. When civilian nurses leave the building, all compensation stops. No comparison, really. Sorry

[Ruby Vee, BSN]

Well, you could look at it like this: you are getting paid to sit at a computer. You aren't running your legs off, and you can ignore any call lights that you see or hear. How's that for putting a positive spin on a boring, repetitive task?

I figure it must be government mandated, because everyone seems to have to do them, regardless of what kind of nursing they work in. In this day of stalkers and identity theft, I guess they figure we can't be too careful.

If you want to laugh, watch an old police show from the '70s, like "Starsky and Hutch" or "Charlie's Angels" when the episode takes place in a healthcare setting.

Hutch: "Is Mrs. Jones a patient in this hospital?"

Nurse: "Yes, she's in room 415, but she's being discharged first thing tomorrow morning. Her son, Don, is supposed to pick her up."

HIPAA? What's that? Ah, the good old days!

We can get our competencies done at work -- which means we sandwich them in between call lights and codes . . . we don't "get to ignore" anything. Some night shifts are slow enough that one can get an entire competency done between call lights. Others not so much. If we're away from the computer too long, some provider or tech will log us out and use that computer (for some unknown reason, they have to use the computer in front of the chair with my jacket on it, with my purse, drink and notes right beside it instead of the completely unoccupied computer two feet away). Or the competency will reset to the beginning. If you try to click through it to the part where you left off, you get a "WARNING: Your supervisor will be informed that you are not reading this material."

Or we can do them at home on our own time. No pay. But it has the advantage of no call lights, and no codes, and no one preempts my computer when I get up to get a drink.

[BuckyBadgerRN, ASN, RN]

Ah, continuing education that seems so repetitive!!!! Yes, it is all about accrediation and funding and keeping your staff up to date!! I am the type of person who hates having educational stuff crammed down my throat. I love learning, just not the same thing over and over. To challenge your facility, see how many HIPPA violations happen in a day. Is all the chart/EMR in a private area where on-lookers cannot see it. Is there a pt census board with the patients names listed where everyone can see? What about someone who calls patient information, are they truly allowed to release the name of a patient and what room they are in?? Kind of makes it a little more fun!![/quote

HIPAA

[psu_213, BSN, RN]

(for some unknown reason, they have to use the computer in front of the chair with my jacket on it, with my purse, drink and notes right beside it instead of the completely unoccupied computer two feet away)

Well, the really important question is was the drink covered??? If it was, shame on them. If not, you got what you deserved.

(In all seriousness, it bothers the heck out me when someone steals my computer when I am clearly in the middle of doing something….how would that resident feel if I did the same to him/her?)