Tuesday, April 20, 2010

Preceptor

When talking with my preceptor and finishing up on our objectives I found out how much going back to obtain my BSN has helped. I have been a staff and charge nurse during my career and really never knew the how the manager and director play a role in the unit running smoothly. My preceptor main goal is staff development and the staff having the necessary tools to do their job. I really had a new appreciation to all the hard work that goes into the unit.

Sunday, April 4, 2010

Nurse educators

While I am not sure what route I would take if I obtain my MSN, education is not one that is out of the question. If I became an educator I would like to do it in the area of trauma. Trauma has been a part of nursing that I find interesting. When you wrote of VN it bought to mind when I was a new nurse in a busy emergency room. We had two experienced VN that work in the emergency room and one had worked in the NICU. I remember having to start an IV on an infant and she took the time to teach me and talk me thru the procedure.

Preceptor

Wow, the Starbucks cards have been a big success with the staff. The staff is doing the 3P's and I have feedback that it has assisted in bring attention to a child that his condition had changed. We have rec'd about 50 surveys back from the families of our patients. We will be reviewing them this week to see the response to the 3P's. I have been thrilled with the reaction of the staff concerning the 3P's.

Sunday, March 28, 2010

response to March 21 post

There are many different areas of nursing. I feel just because you are not in a clinical setting that does not make you less of a nurse. I think the most important thing is to keep up with current trends. This is something that is important to the nurse that is at the bedside or in management.

Preceptor

The Leadership staff has started doing chart check on the 3P's and for the staff that has charted every hour on thier patients we are handing out gift cards to Starbucks. Since we have a Starbucks in the hospital this has been a great incentive to encourage the staff to do the 3p's. We are starting a real time survey on patient satisfaction so this will be a good tool to see if the 3P's is a benefit to the department.

Saturday, March 20, 2010

Midsemester Self-Evaluation

2 course objectives and 2 personal objectives:

1 Personal: Explain how to present ideals to staff .
1 Course: communicate effectively, both verbally and in writing, with individuals, groups and health care providers.

I have communicated the ideal of the 3 P's to the staff in the unit via email and a staff meeting. While I found presenting an ideal can be intimating there is a sense of satisfaction when staff becomes interested and starts asking questing concerning the ideal.

2 Personal: Attend and summarize leadership rounding, the how, why and outcome.

I observed my preceptor during leadership rounding. How this is done is one of the nurse managers round on the unit daily. They speak with the staff and charge nurses. This is done to encourage communication and to give the staff time to speak with the manager concerning any issues. The outcome has been positive in the past some of the staff felt that they did not see the mangers to be able to communicate ideal or concerns. The rounding has resulted in the managers being available to the staff.

2 Course: Incorporate research into the practice of professional nursing

In the emergency room we have a Needle Stick Pain Protocol that is one of our evidence-based practice projects. One of the newest items that we are testing is the J-Tip which is a needless injection system. In the J-Tip we place 1% buffered Lidocaine to help with the pain from IV sticks. I am involved in the meeting and teaching of this new item in our unit.

Overall review of personal objectives:

Overall the objectives related to the change paper have been discussed and some have been implemented. The objectives concerning budget of FTT, chart check, and analyze committees have not been meet. The goal is to obtain these in the next few weeks.

How has it fostered your growth:

I have been a staff and charge nurses of this unit. The daily care of patients and the flow of the ER was my main focus. I never realized the work that goes into the management side of the unit. The business end of nursing involves some many other areas such as supplies, equipment, budgeting, and scheduling. It has fostered my growth in the time and effort it takes to run a unit.

preceptor 2

There have been several items happen over the last few weeks. My preceptor and I sent out email and during our monthly staff meeting started the 3 P's on the unit. The response has been mixed with mainly staff supporting the ideal. The biggest challenge will be encouraging the staff to continue. We have done this in our leadership rounding on the unit. It has been interesting seeing how a change is formed and presented to the unit.