Lesson 13: Performance Appraisal and Problem Employees

Today in our LAST CLASS (yay!) we talked about employee evaluations and disciplinary action for employees. I love talking about the experiences that others have had with this. Talking about it made me realize that evaluations are necessary, even though they sometimes just add to the to-do list. How else would you measure your employee's progress? I really feel like I have learned a lot from this course and I enjoyed the discussions.


THANK YOU SEAN!!!!!

Lesson 12: Conflict Resolution

I enjoyed this lesson. We did an activity that forced us to make a decision as a class and resolve conflict. As far as conflict goes, I am usually one that does not care for it and I just try to make peace. I realize that this is not the best way to solve conflict. If I have a conflict with a co worker I need to approach them and we need to come to an agreement. Letting it fester only makes things worse, and always giving in does not help me to progress in my job.

Lesson 11: Quality Control

What do you consider elements of quality care when receiving healthcare services?

When I receive healthcare, I feel that it was good quality when the healthcare personnel seems professional and skilled. The most important thing to me is that my needs are addressed. I am always impressed with physicians and nurses who seem to truly care about me and my needs. They take the time to talk to me and get to know me as a person. They also LISTEN to me and try to come up with a solution to my problem.

What do you consider elements of quality care as a professional nurse?

I think that listening to your patients is the most important element of quality care. Talking with them and listening promotes a good relationship and can help you identify possible complications. I think being knowledgeable is important but not the most important. As a new nurse, I do not know everything. If I am honest with my patients and try to find out the correct information, they will trust me. Having skills is important as a nurse, and I think patients prefer nurses who are more skilled. Especially when it is pertaining to IV placement or other procedures.

Are the two similar or different?

They are similar because patients want a nurse that they can trust and that listens to them. They also want a knowledgeable nurse who is skilled. As a nurse, I strive to do what I would want if I were a patient. I think that is the best way to promote quality control.

Lesson 10: Motivation

There have been many times that I have felt motivated in my workplace. Going through all of the required training for my job was very motivating and I think that is supposed to be the focus. They want us to be motivated to be great RN's and provide the best patient care possible. My manager is okay at trying to motivate us on my unit. During employee evaluations she tries to encourage us and tells us that she appreciates the work that we are doing. She emails us every time we receive a "WOW" card or positive comment from a patient. Positive feedback is something that motivates me. I also have co workers that encourage me and are always willing to answer questions. I am motivated when I know i have support from my co workers. Aside from the evaluations and staff meetings, I do not see my manager much. I know that she is busy but I think that it would be helpful if I saw her more during my shifts and she tried to get to know us more personally.

Lesson 8-9: Hiring, Team Building, and Staffing

This week our assignment was to post five behavioral interview questions to a wiki site. These are the questions that I chose to submit.

1. Tell me about your proudest achievement.
2. Tell me about a time when you had to think outside of the box.
3. What can you do for us that other candidates can not?
4. What did you like or dislike about your previous job?
5. Have you ever had difficulty working with a manager?

I also was able to get help on my resume and the UVU career center. This was very helpful and I was able to get some tips that will help me stand out. I have scheduled a mock interview and I am hoping that reviewing the questions on the wiki site will prepare me for this. I will also be interviewing my father-in-law, who is the manager of a company in Helena, MT. I will interview him about the hiring process.

Lesson 7: Managing healthcare resources

In this lesson we were supposed to think of five budget questions and interview an individual who works with a budget. I chose to interview my neighbor who is in charge of planning events for a large computer company. Here are the questions that I chose.

1. What specific categories is your budget divided into? How were these categories determined?

2. Is it ever hard to meet the expectations of your business and stay within your budget?

3. Have you ever had a substantial decrease in budget? If so, how did you decide which areas to rearrange?

4. What would be the consequences of going over your budget?

5. What are some events that you were able to plan while staying within your budget?

I will include the answers when I hear back from him.

In class we discussed ways to cut different areas of the budget. It is a difficult task. I have more sympathy for my manager because it would be stressful to be responsible for a budget.

Lesson 6: Managing Change

My attitude towards change, ill admit, is not positive. It seems like as soon as I get the hang of something at work, it changes or something new is added to the work load. This is hard for many employees, especially those who have worked on the unit for a long time. As nurses, we should expect change. This is why we should keep working to gain experience and keep in the loop with new things happening in healthcare. Leaders must have a positive attitude about change. In order to progress as a unit/hospital there must be changes. Advancements in healthcare are happening all around us and if there was never a change we would be stuck in the 1800s (well maybe not quite but you get the idea).