Consistent charge nurses improve teamwork.
Team perception on a medical-surgical department improved after the implementation of a dedicated charge nurse staffing strategy.
Attitude of Health Personnel↗
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Results for “Job Description”
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Reviewing staff performance and salaries.
Do you feel like you're on shaky ground when it comes time to evaluate your staffs performance or to give them raises? If so, you're not alone. Staff performance and salary reviews are among the most dreaded tasks among medical practice managers. Yet, they are among the most effective techniques you can use to motivate, manage, correct, and reward your staff. This article provides an overview of the different kinds of appraisals you will need to conduct with your staff and the order in which to do them. It suggests that you begin the process by establishing concrete goals for your medical practice and then help your staff follow suit by developing their own performance goals for the next six months. This article also provides how-to guidance about conducting regular interim progress reviews with your staff to keep abreast of progress, changes, and problems and to issue ongoing assistance and feedback. It explains how to conduct tension-free semi-annual staff performance reviews and semi-annual or annual salary reviews, including a formula for calculating potential raises for each employee in nine increments. Finally, this article offers additional tips for evaluating your staffs performance, including job description updates and staff surveys.
Employee Performance Appraisal↗
Nurturing the young academician.
The young academic physician requires a well prepared and supportive environment if the trials and uncertainties associated with the early years of an academic appointment are to be successfully overcome. It is the responsibility of the appropriate university and hospital authorities to create this environment and to ensure that the appointed academician is appropriately supported within it. Of particular importance is the development by all parties of an understanding of the job description of the new faculty member and of the time and income arrangements that must be made if this description is to be fulfilled.
Career Mobility↗
Salary structure, promotion, and tenure policies in nurturing the young academician.
With respect to salary structure, promotion, and tenure for academic clinical faculty, and based on the issues I have described, we must consider the following five priorities: 1. To provide salary support which is appropriate for responsibilities in teaching, research, and clinical administration, and not dependent on clinical earnings, 2. To maintain flexible salary arrangements which may include a component of clinical fee-for-service earnings, and partial salary support for defined clinical teaching or administration, 3. To design a more integrated management system for these new funding arrangements which brings together medical schools and teaching hospitals and is accountable to the appropriate government agencies. 4. To improve performance review and promotion procedures, based on agreed job descriptions and recognizing the importance of teaching, research, clinical administration, and service, and 5. To review critically the role of tenure for academic clinicians and examine alternatives such as renewable term appointments There is a growing momentum to address these issues and priorities among all of those involved. This will be critical in the continued career development of Canadian academic physicians.
Canada↗
The impact of multiskilled practice on the job satisfaction of medical laboratory personnel.
This study examined practice patterns of medical laboratory personnel and investigated relationships of job-related variables and job satisfaction for single- and multiskilled practitioners. Data were collected from a random sample of American Society of Clinical Pathologist-registered practitioners in a five-state region. Twenty-five percent of the sample was categorized as multiskilled. Regression analysis revealed that work performed had a significant positive contribution to overall job satisfaction for medical laboratory technicians (MLTs) and medical technologists. The strength of the relationship was weakest for multiskilled MLTs. Results support the contention that when jobs are redesigned, enriching them by adding tasks of increased complexity and challenge is possibly more effective than simply enlarging the jobs with lower- or parallel-level tasks.
Adult↗
An interview with Robbie Davis-Floyd. Interview by Sarah Wickham.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Adult↗
Perceptions of the role of the community psychiatric nurse.
AIM: This small-scale study explores the self-perceived differences between the contributions of community psychiatric nurses (CPNs) and other members of a multidisciplinary community mental health team for older people. METHOD: Four CPNs and five other professionals completed questionnaires consisting of a series of open-ended questions (initially designed for a semistructured interview) in order to collect qualitative responses. The questionnaires were analysed on a thematic basis. RESULTS: CPNs' skills seemed to be recognised and valued by their multidisciplinary colleagues. However, the CPNs did not always appear to appreciate this, while the attributes identified by CPNs were not always the same as those identified by their colleagues. There did not appear to be any consensus among the CPNs yet their colleagues seemed to feel the CPN role was reasonably clear. CONCLUSION: This study suggests the CPN role involves taking a relationship-based, person-centred approach in which adaptability and flexibility are key characteristics. The results are largely consistent with other findings and demonstrate the need to nurture the contributions made by CPNs as autonomous practitioners in multidisciplinary settings providing care for older people with dementia.
Aged↗
Q&A with a periOperative nurse.
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Career Choice↗
Case study: factors in defining the nurse informatics specialist role.
Healthcare organizations, consultant groups, vendor companies, and academic institutions feel the challenge to enhance user experiences with information systems. To meet this challenge, organizations and companies are looking to better understand and utilize a variety of informatics roles to further marketing, business, or healthcare goals. Nursing is one practice area that can support the successful integration of information systems development, implementation, support, and user experience. However, the definition and development of such a role or position has met with mixed success. This article explores some of the issues and influences related to the role's development. The issues, impacts, and influences have been identified based on healthcare business assessment, job description analysis, employment and project evaluations, and professional standards set by the American Nurses Association.
Humans↗
How multiple interventions reduced injuries and costs in one plant.
Preventing work place injuries requires more than ergonomically correct work stations. In 1999, flexible plastic packaging producer, Pliant Corporation of Macedon, NY, initiated the presence of an onsite Physical Therapist to further efforts in making work stations safe and to develop a comprehensive approach in preventing and managing worker injuries. The process started with analysis of the functional demands of the work performed, elimination of ergonomic stressors, and development of daily stretching programs for employees to perform. In the second and third year of the program, objective functional job descriptions and minimum strength criteria were created as well as work task specific post-offer pre-work screens. This comprehensive approach has reduced the total number of OSHA recordable injuries, reduced the overall incident rate and assisted in reducing turnover.
Accidents, Occupational↗
Evaluation of a training course in infection control for nurses.
OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the effectiveness of a training course in infection control for nurses. MATERIAL AND METHODS: A quasi-experimental study was performed from November 1, 2001 to December 31, 2002. The study was divided into three phases; 1) pre-intervention (November 1-30, 2001) to survey baseline data among participants, 2) intervention (January 1-31, 2002) to establish, develop and conduct the training course, 3) post-intervention (February 1, 2002 to December 31, 2002) to evaluate the effectiveness of the training program, and conduct a workshop for infection control project presentations. The research instruments consisted of questionaires and a focus group discussion guide. RESULTS: Forty-six nurses who had experience of working as infection control nurses (ICN) for more than one year and 46 hospital administrators were enrolled in the pre-interventional phase. Major problems identified among ICNs were inadequate knowledge, multiple simultaneous job descriptions, overwork and lack of collaboration from colleagues. After intervention, significant improvement was observed on their knowledge and confidence among ICNs (rating scale, 4.09 vs. 3.43; p< 0.001). All administrators agreed that the training course was beneficial to ICNs and believed that the problems in practices of IC would be solved. More satisfaction of ICNs among hospital administrators was also observed (97.7% vs. 28.3%; p< 0.001). CONCLUSION: The present study suggested that the training course to provide practical knowledge for ICNs be effective and should be conducted periodically to keep up with the advance in medical technology. An ICN network with other academic institutions should be established.
Adult↗
The long-term immunity among health care workers vaccinated against hepatitis B virus in a large referral hospital in southern Iran.
BACKGROUND: Health care workers are at increased risk of occupational exposure to hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection. Reassessment for revaccination of such high-risk persons after 10 years may be appropriate if anti-HBs antibody titers declined below 10 mlU/mL. This study was conducted to evaluate the long-term efficacy of HBV vaccine in health care workers and the need for their reassessment for revaccination. METHODS: We interviewed 600 health care workers in a referral hospital in Shiraz, southern Iran. They were asked to complete a confidential questionnaire including information on their age, gender, vaccination date, number of doses of vaccine, their job description in hospital, previous history of needlestick injury, and educational level. Anti-HBs antibodies were determined by the ELISA method and titers of >10 mlU/mL were considered protective. Those with a positive HBsAg or anti-HBcAb were excluded from the study. RESULTS: Among 600 health care workers interviewed, 339 subjects who accepted to participate in the study, were vaccinated with three doses of HBV vaccine. Anti-HBsAb titers were >100 mlU/mL in 211 subjects (62.2%), 10 - 100 mlU/mL in 85 (25.1%), and <10 mlU/mL in 43 (12.7%) persons. Among 339 subjects who received three doses of vaccine, 273 were vaccinated less than 5 years, 47 cases between 5 - 10 years, and 19 cases were vaccinated more than 10 years before the study. The majority of them had an antibody concentration above the protective level (88.1%, 88.9%, and 60.9%, respectively, P = 0.001). CONCLUSION: Reassessment for revaccination in health care workers should be considered according to their anti-HBsAb levels 10 years after vaccination. In our health care workers, we think that due to the existence of low immunity against HBV, reassessment for revaccination after 10 years is mandatory.
Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay↗
[Job burnout and contributing factors for nurses].
OBJECTIVE: To investigate the degree of job burnout and contributing factors for nurses. METHODS: A total of 495 nurses from three provincial hospitals were randomly selected. The MBI-GS, EPQ-RSC and OSI-R were administered to measure job burnout, personality traits and occupational stress, respectively. RESULTS: The medical and surgical nurses had significant greater scores of job burnout than others (P < 0.05). The poorer educational background was correlated with lower professional efficacy. The younger nurses had stronger feeling of job burnout. The scores of job burnout changed with different personality traits. The main contributing variables to exhaustion were overload, sense of responsibility, role insufficient and self-care (P < 0.05). The main contributing variables to cynicism were role insufficiency, role boundary, sense of responsibility and self-care (P < 0.05). The main contributing variables to professional inefficacy were role insufficiency, social support and rational/cognitive coping (P < 0.05). CONCLUSION: Job burnout for nurses can be prevented by reducing or keeping moderate professional duties and responsibility, making clearer job descriptions, promoting leisure activities, and enhancing self-care capabilities.
Adaptation, Psychological↗
Early outcomes of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest after early defibrillation: a 24 months retrospective analysis.
INTRODUCTION: Cardiovascular disease remains the most common cause of death in the United States and most other Western nations. Among these deaths, sudden, out-of-hospital cardiac arrest claims approximately 1000 lives each day in the United States alone. Most of these cardiac arrests are due to ventricular fibrillation. Though highly reversible with the rapid application of a defibrillator, ventricular fibrillation is otherwise fatal within minutes, even when cardiopulmonary resuscitation is provided immediately. The overall survival rate in the United States is estimated to be less than 5 percent. Recent developments in automated-external-defibrillator technology have provided a means of increasing the rate of prompt defibrillation after out-of-hospital cardiac arrest. After minimal training, nonmedical personnel (e.g., flight attendants and casino workers) are also able to use defibrillators in the workplace, with lifesaving effects. Nonetheless, such programs have involved designated personnel whose job description includes assisting persons who have had sudden cardiac arrest. Data are still lacking on the success of programs in which automated external defibrillators have been installed in public places to be used by persons who have no specific training or duty to act. MATERIALS AND METHODS: All patients who had an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest between January 2003 and December 2004 and who received early defibrillation for ventricular fibrillation were included. We conducted a 24 months retrospective population-based analysis of the outcome in our population. RESULTS: Over a 24 month period, 446 people had non-traumatic cardiac arrest, and in all of them it was observed to be ventricular fibrillation. In a very few cases, the defibrillator operators were good Samaritans, acting voluntarily. Eighty-nine patients (about 19%) with ventricular fibrillation were successfully resuscitated, including eighteen who regained consciousness before hospital admission. CONCLUSION: Automated external defibrillators deployed in readily accessible, well-marked areas, are really very effective in assisting patients with cardiac arrest. However, it's quite true that, in the cases of survivors, most of our users had good prior training in the use of these devices.
Journal Article↗
Does a 'shadow workforce' of inactive nurses exist?
The entire population of inactive nurses in Vermont was surveyed to determine if a "shadow workforce" exists. The notion that large numbers of nurses are available to return to work is not supported by this study. Desirable benefits for those wishing to return are discussed.
Adult↗
Bureaucracy and centralisation are destroying midwives' morale.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Humans↗