Risk Management

1. What did you actually learned from the unit.

This week I learned more about what risk management in healthcare is. Risk management is ultimately how an institution or facility recognizes potential risks and measures taken to prevent or dearest the liklihood or those risks from happening. There are many aspects of risk that exist in healthcare that include legal, financial, operational, or hazards. Risk management is so important because ultimately, every decision made in the healthcare setting affects the patients for better or for worse and one mistake or wrong decision could cost a life. That is why it is crucial that risk management takes place and is being done effectively. When situations happen that have a less than favorable outcome, it should be analyzed and looked at in all perspectives to figure out what when wrong, why it went wrong, and how to prevent it from happening again. 

2. Discuss your feelings/experiences from the team activities? Did it change your opinion on the subject? If so, how? If not, why?

Discussing the specific risk management scenario this week was helpful because my classmates brought up different aspects of the situation I didn't think to consider or look at. It made me realize that risk management is better done with a team of people that can provide adequate insight.

3. How you will utilize the information learned in your nursing practice.

Risk management is something that I can do for myself in my own nursing practice with the decisions I make personally. I can be an active member in helping to reduce risk by identifying when something could have potentially gone wrong or when something does. I can fill out iReports and help my institution implement new regulations or catch potential hazards. 

4. You personal feelings about the material covered.

Thought this was a good way to conclude this course. Risk management is a very important aspect of nursing and it is important that we understand what can happen if we are negligent in our practice. 

Motivation and Communication

1. What did you actually learned from the unit.

This week I learned about motivation and how important it is not only in the workplace but in my own life as well. As i went through the PowerPoint, I reflected back on what has motivated me through life and realized that it has mostly been the same...I am motivated by happiness and a sense of accomplishment. Everything I have done up until this point has been because I want to be happy and I want to accomplish something. I have been able to do this so far in my life and hope I can continue. I learned that there are certain things to focus on when trying to motivate employees and if the manger is experiencing burnout, the staff will show it.

2. Discuss your feelings/experiences from the team activities? Did it change your opinion on the subject? If so, how? If not, why?

I really enjoyed the discussion this week and it was interesting to see the perspectives of my classmates and creative ideas they had on how to increase morale on a hospital unit. I realized that the ideas I had were beneficial and learned of new ideas.

3. How you will utilize the information learned in your nursing practice.

I can remember how important it is to be motivated always. I plan to move into a charge nurse position fairly soon and find that staying motivated can rub off on others and create a positive environment. There are many things that can be done to help increase motivation and morale on a unit including incentives, rewards, and ensuring proper staffing ratios.

4. You personal feelings about the material covered.

 I felt this was a great way to end the semester and have motivation in mind as I move forward in my career and education.

Conflict Resolution

1.   What did you actually learned from the unit.

This week I learned about collective bargaining and what it is exactly. It was really interesting to be able to take a position of a union member and bargain for what I felt would be beneficial for the union. I understood more of what is done behind the scenes and how negotiations take place with this. I also learned that conflict can be difficult to handle and sometimes it isn’t clear on how to solve the issue or why conflict came about in the first place. There are so many different examples of conflict and conflict can exist in all aspects of our lives. It is important to deal with conflict at the lowest level possible and attempt to find a resolution:

1. Look at the situation-why is there a conflict?
2. Try and solve it at the lowest level (between 2 nurses)
3. Involve next highest manger if needed and continue up the chain of command if necessary (charge nurse, nursing manager, CNO, chief of staff, etc.)

Other things to focus on include:
Making sure good relationships are the first priority
Keep people and problems separate
Pay attention to the interests that are being presented
List first; talk second
Set out the “facts”
Explore options
Practice reflection when you communicate
Make your point directly and concretely
Keep your voice tone neutral and remain calm

2.   Discuss your feelings/experiences from the team activities? Did it change your opinion on the subject? If so, how? If not, why?

I really enjoyed discussing the collective bargaining and felt that we were mostly in agreeance with who made the best argument. That person was able to point out things that I did not see and I thought that was beneficial. Our second discussion about conflict helped me realize all the different types of conflict there are and how aggressive and assertive communication differ and how one is more beneficial than the other, especially in the workplace.

3.   How you will utilize the information learned in your nursing practice.

I can remember what I have learned about conflict and resolution and that it isn’t always easy to solve but if I am willing to swallow my pride, have empathy, and attempt to solve at the lowest level possible, I will most likely have success. I will always try and resolve conflict as soon as it arises with coworkers but also try to not create conflict. While I may not participate in collective bargaining where I work now, negotiation is a skill I will always be able to use. It is important for me to stand up for myself and other coworkers if we feel something is not fair. I will approach my mangers with respect but have a plan in mind.

4.   Your personal feelings about the material covered.

I thought this unit was a good reminder about conflict and resolution processes. This is something we as nurses will face on a daily basis not only with coworkers but with patients and their families. It is important for us to understand the proper steps to take to correctly resolve conflict.

Strategic Planning

1.   What did you actually learned from the unit.

I learned about the benefit of strategic planning and how I as a nurse leader can help implement change and initiate goals and plan for the future. I learned that it is important to have short term and long term goals planned for and that there are many elements that need to be there in order for the plan to function and be successful.

2.   Discuss your feelings/experiences from the team activities? Did it change your opinion on the subject? If so, how? If not, why?

The strategic planning activity was interesting. It was difficult trying to think of what we wanted to do to expand our city because I really have never thought about something like this before. It was fun to discuss with my teammates and it was interesting to see what ideas they came up with. I also enjoyed discussing about what MSN program UVU should offer and why. I imagine this is something the university discusses often. I felt that we had some great ideas and good evidence to back it up.

3.   How you will utilize the information learned in your nursing practice.

I can remember this week and utilize the knowledge I gained about strategic planning. I will eventually move into management positions and will have to help plan out the future so remembering the aspects of strategic planning and that it need to have short term and long term goals planned for will be valuable.

4.   Your personal feelings about the material covered.

I thought this week was interesting. The team activity was very unclear and somewhat difficult. I think this material this week was good for us to realize what goes into a good strategic plan and how we can make it successful and what elements it should have.

Managing Change

1. What did you actually learn from the unit?

I realized how difficult change can be and how hard I have worked to accept and embrace change in my life. I learned that we can't just sit around and wait for things to happen or things to come back. We have to be willing to seek out opportunities and move on.

2. Discuss your feelings/experiences from the team activities. Did it change your opinion on the subject? If so, how? If not, why?

 I enjoyed discussing "Who Moved my Cheese" with my classmates. We all seemed to relate to similar characters. I wasn't surprised that nobody related to the mice. We all related to Hem or Haw because change is difficult and the majority of people need a little nudge.

3. How will you utilize the information learned in your nursing practice?

I am part of a constantly changing profession. Learning how to deal with, accept, and embrace change is a art and a skill. I will continue to strive to accept change with a more positive attitude and be willing to challenge myself, learn new things, and set greater goals to achieve all throughout my life. By doing so I can have a more successful and happy career as a nurse as well as improve myself and over all quality of life.

4. Your feelings about the unit.

I thought this week was powerful and the story we read was inspirational. I think everyone should have to read that and really reflect on themselves to better understand how they accept change (or don't).

Budget Interview

This week I interviewed Ray Weber, CFO of First American Title. I learned that budgeting can be very difficult and it was interesting talking with someone not in the healthcare field. I also realized how complex some budgets can be, especially the one we worked with from a unit in the hospital. A title company definitely has different expenses and actually a lot less things to budget for. Going over budget can sometimes mean good things, in this case specifically.

1. In what areas does your department/company overspend when looking at your budget?

Our office specifically usually overspends on office supplies each month.

2. Which expenses do you most often adjust if you are over budget?

We generally don’t cut expenses back. Our profit margin that month is just decreased. We have a budget for a few things and cutting back on client lunches will lose business, cutting back on office supplies generally isn’t an option, and rent and phone bills are set. If we are having to spend more on office supplies, generally it means we are doing more business to in the long run we are making more money.

3. Are there certain months during the year the company overspends? Is there a pattern?     

Spring, Summer, and Fall are our busiest seasons so we try to anticipate the expenses but we can’t always predict the market.

4. If you don’t meet budget a certain amount of times, what kind of consequences are there?

Generally it isn’t a big deal because it is seasonal and we will make up for it. If it gets really bad an employee may be furlowed.

5. Do you have a range for a budget? Or is it a set number that you work with?

Some are set (rent, bills) others we are given a range and try to stay within that.

6. What about a range for certain areas in your budget?

Office supplies ranges from $1,000-$1,500 per month.

7. If you are over budget, what do you do? And how do you decide what gets cut?

Employees may get furlowed, we analyze what areas were over budget and see if we can change that. However, like I mentioned before, if we are over budget, it generally means we are actually having more business.

8. What do you find to be the most difficult thing associated with making/adjusting the budget?

The most difficult thing is deciding what areas to make cuts in and how much to cut. It is difficult to know what effect that will have sometimes. I try to make the necessary cuts so we don’t have to furlow someone; people are more important.

9. Are you generally able to keep within your monthly/yearly proposed budget?

Yes.

10. What process do you need to go through to increase the budget for the department?

All expenses are approved along the way. We generally don’t need approval from anyone else to make some changes to our monthly/yearly budget.

Career Development and Staffing

1. What did you actually learned from the unit.

Staffing a unit can be very difficult. There are multiple ways to staff and schedule employees each having their pros and cons. I think I realized that the best way to staff a unit is one that a obviously meets the needs of the unit but also keep the employees mostly happy and satisfied with their schedule otherwise you might have high turnover and staffing calling in sick more often. I also was reminded about the importance of career development and that it pays of to sit down and ponder what it is I want to do in my nursing career and what that is going to take not only on my part but what education/training I need, how I am going to pay for it, where I need to live, etc.

2. Discuss your feelings/experiences from the team activities? Did it change your opinion on the subject? If so, how? If not, why?

I enjoyed learning about my fellow classmates and how their current nursing positions are scheduled and how their schedules rotate as well as how they word the holidays. Because this is my first nursing position, the schedule we use is really the only one I knew. I realize that I love how my schedule is put together and the expectations we have. I feel that I can plan vacations and events well in advance and know pretty much exactly when I will work. I loved reading about the career plan of my fellow peers as well. It makes me realize how broad the nursing field is and also be comfortable with where I am at and how I feel about continuing on. I feel that we really validated and motivated each others' desires and I think it is great that I can work with these people.

3. How you will utilize the information learned in your nursing practice.

I can definitely take this experience I had with trying to staff a unit and understand more of how to do it so I can eventually do this for my own unit wherever I might be. I think it takes a special skill set to be able to organize in that way and that is something I can work on and use to my advantage. I also realize that while I may not be working in the area I want to specialize in, I am gaining valuable experience and am in no rush to hurry and figure it out. I have my entire career ahead of me and want to take full advantage of any learning I can receive wherever I am at.

4. You personal feelings about the material covered.

I thought this week was interesting and challenging to try and staff a unit. I felt it was important for me to take the time to focus on my career development as well as discuss with other nurses their future career plans as well as understand how their units are scheduled and staffed.