Co-written by Elizabeth Cates, M.A.
With the current nursing shortage, nurses have a lot more choices of where they’re going to work and how long they’re going to stay. As baby boomers retire and younger generations of nurses enter the workforce, gone are the days where a nurse would start a career and then four decades later retire from the same position. With the rising demand for nurses in the coming years, it is crucial to create a welcoming and appreciative atmosphere.
Hello readers! This past week, I found a wonderful resource that hospitals use to assess their communications climate. The American Medical Association created what they call a C-CAT (Communications Climate Assessment Toolkit) which is a survey of 74 questions to help your organization diagnose its communication climate. In the healthcare world, communication is VITAL when patients lives are on the line!
He loves me, he loves me not. She loves me, she loves me not. Wouldn’t it be nice if you could know for sure? Well, while there’s not one single way to tell if you hold his or her interest, or better yet his or her heart, there are many subtle and not so subtle clues offered through a person’s body language that speak much louder than words.
On one of her evening shifts, Nurse Sally Stevens, an R.N. with 17 years of nursing experience, was caring for a new patient, a 46-year-old female diabetic, who was suffering from tremors due to a bout of Lithium toxicity. After an i.v. was started, the patient, Miss Hawkins, developed some kidney complications, prompting doctors to bring in a renal specialist. After reviewing her charts, the specialist ordered an i.v. containing dextrose.
Is your organization currently in the midst of making changes? Are you looking for ideas to improve your practices while increasing employee satisfaction and retention? If you are ready to discover new ways to maximize your organization’s productivity and efficiency, then all you need to do is ask the right questions. Appreciative Inquiry allows you to do just that.
Appreciative Inquiry is a verbal science developed by professors David Cooperrider and Suresh Srivastva at Case Western Reserve University in the 1980’s. The model shows us how to ask questions in a way that will elicit positive responses. By seeking positive responses, users gain a fresh new perspective, and spur positive change within their organization. The reality is, wonderful things can begin to happen when you stop focusing on the negative and start focusing on the positive.
