Count Me In

I want to form a committee.

I hereby volunteer to chair the Committee for Outlawing Committees that Accomplish Absolutely Nothing Except Wasting Valuable Time (COCAANEWVT). Anyone care to join me?

Seriously.

As a *lowly* staff nurse, I am subjected daily to the whims and wishes of upper management. Start a new type of charting starting by this deadline, go to this inservice on one of the above days, try to work amicably with nurses from postpartum when they need your help, don't forget your core ideals, have face-to-face conversations when you disagree with coworkers, make sure you pick up your shoes in the locker room... and on and on.

You might hypothesize that a good way to mitigate this problem would be to join one of the numerous committees that are dependent on staff nurse participation in order provide input and encourage change in the workplace.

If only it worked that way.

Despite the best of intentions, committees with which I have been involved rarely accomplish any tangible change. We spend hours brainstorming great ideas that should improve the flow of our work, the effectiveness of our communication, and the professionalism of our practice. But first we must delegate responsibility for each new concept to a subcommittee, survey staff as a whole to guage what kind of reception this change will receive, propose said idea to management for approval, and create posters and inservices so that everyone will know how to alter their practice.

Oh sure, we spend hours on implementation and evaluation of new ideas. We are congratulated by managers for our active participation in these processes. Thank you for all that you do to improve our unit, blah, blah, blah...

Does anything ever really change? No.

The finance committee has been hard at work. There are reams of paper lying around somewhere to prove that the new charging system in triage is more effective than the old one. Or were the papers used to disprove it? Who knows. And I'm sure the new Good Job forms work infinitely better than the outdated ones. Good thing the central values committee spent weeks on that. Now, how can we solve the problem of inadequate staffing during peak scheduled procedure times? Let's send an OB tech to the recovery room to help and make the secretaries do baby baths. But we'd better filter that idea down through the OB tech and secretary committees.

Last item on the agenda: the inconsequential issue of low staff morale and poor RN retention?

Let's pass that one on to the shared leadership committee. I'm sure they'll have that one solved in no time.

Meeting adjourned.

MAGNETism

I am ambivalent about my hospital's claim that we are seeking Magnet status. You can find more information about this designation here.

At times, I feel inspired to aid in the effort, certain that if we can find enough like-minded colleagues to work towards positive change, we can make it a better workplace. I am often proud to acknowledge that I am part of such an esteemed institution, that we can provide professional, highly-specialized and complex, but heartfelt, individualized care to a high volume of patients. I assume that my fellow nurses choose to stay because they, too, appreciate the high expectations and abundant opportunities inherent to a large teaching facility.

However, there are also times when I am discouraged by the ridiculous processes and mindless functions of the executives and managers who spend so much time talking in circles and sitting on committees that accomplish nothing. How can we effect change if those in leadership roles care more about the statistics than they do about the people "beneath" them who are daily offering their blood, sweat, and tears at the bedside? I wish I could say that we have a cohesive team from top to bottom, but I am constantly reminded that this is simply not true. There are an abundance of petty battles being waged at any given point, with very few satifactory resolutions made.

To my fellow bloggers: Do you work for a Magnet hospital? I would love to know... how is it?

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A few other random thoughts:

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It was an incredibly busy weekend. Low staffing didn't help: it would not have seemed quite so out of control with a few more warm bodies present, but we made do (as always) with what we had. Now that all the holiday celebrating has ceased, we have settled back into the normal routine... busyness as usual. Today feels like I'm recovering from a marathon: achy head, sore shoulders, heavy eyelids, sore throat. I still didn't manage to get a pedometer for Christmas, so I'm not sure how many miles it was this weekend. It felt like at least a marathon's worth!

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As a charge nurse, I often step into the room for the actual delivery, to make sure that there are enough hands available and that the newborn can receive any extra care if necessary. Sometimes I miss having a close bond with one patient and seeing her through the entire experience, but it is thrilling to be present for so many of those most magical of moments. Within an hour and a half the other night, I witnessed a natural (and naked) birth that was documented by a professional photograper and videographer, the birth of an undiagnosed Downs Syndrome infant, the birth of a first child after days of labor and hours of pushing, and the birth of a sweet babe with a previously diagnosed cleft lip and palate.

Sigh... our bodies are so amazing. And sometimes they betray us, but that's a post for another day.

I am a Nurse in Real Life... And You?

As I gorged myself on primetime TV tonight, a novel idea occurred.

What is the big deal with the way that nurses are portrayed on television? Get over it.

Granted, most of us are probably already over it (or were never under it), but seriously. The Center for Nursing Advocacy has an interesting and aggressive take on the issue. My question is, why does there need to be an issue? The Center's website riles against popular medical dramas, like Grey's Anatomy and ER, for grossly misrepresenting the role that real nurses play in real life.

Therein lies the thing. TV is not real life.

I enjoyed the shows I watched tonight... for their entertainment value. For the laughs and the tears. TV is a form of entertainment. Real life, it is not.

I watched a pair of TV "cops" conducting an investigation; their laughable interrogation of a suspect, highly contrived police conversations are completely stereotypical, but that's okay because... it's TV.

I watched a newly pregnant TV character, whose doctor told her at 12 weeks that he may be able to determine the sex of the baby on ultrasound. Uh-huh... NOT. Except on TV. She then proceeded to stuff her face with every morsel of food in sight for the rest of the episode. Kind of annoying portrayal of a fairly inaccurate pregnancy stereotype. Oh, well... it's TV.

And so.... hmmm. While I admire the Center's noble attempts to "increase public understanding of nursing", I'm over it. I'm comfortable with what and who I am, no matter how it may perceived by the public or portrayed in the media. And you?