Years Experience on the white board

How about "Jane, UAP." no experience whatsoever, just hired off the street.....

That's ridiculous. As a new nurse you already have confidence issues on expertise without having to add patient mockery to it.No, not all patients can be understanding.

OK, I'll admit my ignorance. What the heck is AIDET?????

And may I add that if I see one more acronym at work I'll pull my hair out:banghead:

PS: This idea is insulting and ridiculous. Absolutely unfair to our less senior colleagues.

ok, i'll admit my ignorance. what the heck is aidet?????

a cknowldege

i ntroduce

d uration

e xplanation

t hank you

i found the above at :- http://stdavids-institute.net/leadership_academy_content.asp?id=127

i didn't know what it meant either , appears a whole lot of desk jockeys horse manure .

and may i add that if i see one more acronym at work i'll pull my hair out:banghead:

hope that link will help you get further insight into this aidet bs !.

Took a quick look at the link. Thanks, by the way. It reminds me of a nurse I work with, still fairly new--second year, I think--and a very good girl, pretty good nurse. She has been having trouble finding her confidence r/t too many trips to the managers office, sometimes over valid problems but usually over trivia. She is very gung-ho about following scripts. Nearly every interaction is as programmed by the customer satisfaction people. I don't really blame her. I think she feels she has to do it to keep her job. She also hustles comment cards, so she gets a lot of good ones. But I was in charge one night when a patient asked for a different nurse, and his complaint was, "she doesn't listen."

After another thread prompted me to look up Jean Watson, I think I know just what he meant. If you really follow the customer service scripts, it sounds phoney. My perception is that patients want to know that you are there for them, that their situation matters to you (you care), and that you appreciate their individuality. Scripts are okay as a tool to help you remember what you want to cover, but you need to be able to hear what they need and respond accordingly. You gotta listen, and a lot of times what they have to say is not on the script.

Now, I'm not faulting my friend in this. She's doing what she thinks she has to, and I think as she gains experience and confidence, she'll feel more free to be herself, and that will make her a stronger nurse. But I think the system has, to some extent, failed her, because the emphasis on customer service gets in the way of her nursing. I don't think we're specifically using AIDET, but we were all given training in something to the same effect. Maybe it actually was AIDET--to be honest, my eyes, and my brain, tend to glaze over when they start that crap.

As far as putting your experience on the board, yeah, that's nuts. But I didn't really agree with the advice of more experienced nurses, when I was brand new, never to admit I was brand new. I mean, it wasn't something I was eager to bring up, and if someone asked, I would say, "Well, I've worked here seven years, but only a month as a nurse." That I was new was pretty obvious, and I found that most people could tolerate a little uncertainty or hesitancy, as long as you were willing to find out if you didn't know. Similarly, as a male, if I go in to place a Foley on a conscious female, I don't try to act like I'm a consummate professional who does this everyday. I admit that it's a bit awkward, for me as well as the patient. I offer the option of having a female come do it, but most are okay with me. I've done straight caths on a couple of patients where, afterward, my coworkers were amazed and said she never lets a male do that. It's not because I'm so freakin' great. I think it's because the patient is comfortable that I understand her position and share her discomfort. And you can't script that. I gotta admit, my brain glazes over when I read nursing theories, too, but as I take the gist of Watson: Be there. Be real. Care. I can't find anything to really argue with, there.

I can't blame a facility for wanting to boast about having a lot of experienced nurses. If you have a lot of ten year nurses on staff, you're probably doing something right. But as another poster noted, years of experience doesn't automatically equate to skill. Some brand new nurses are really sharp. Most struggle a bit, at times, but manage to get done what needs to be done. Most experienced nurses have learned a ton, but some just do the same things wrong they always have. All else being equal, most patients would probably prefer an experienced nurse, but all else is rarely equal. More than anything, I think they want to feel that their nurses give a crap whether they are fairly comfortable and getting better. So maybe we should be writing that on their whiteboards.

Thanks for the link. I'll check it out.