• This Discussion Thread has 7 replies, 5 voices, and was last updated 2 weeks, 3 days ago by Jeanette.
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    • #3130
      Sharon
      Member

      Think of a time you had an intentional leadership conversation

    • #12142
      Jeanette
      Member

      In my career as a nurse I can think of a time where I had an intentional leadership conversation. This past week I had a conversation with my nursing staff about collecting social demographic information on clients in the practice. This has been done regularly in the past but since COVID it has not been done. All the nurses are newer to the Health Center so they are not familiar to this process. I explained the purpose of why we collect this detailed information to the nurses. Heath Centre collects the information purposely for funding. If we can prove to our funders that our client population would benefit from certain programs due to lack of income or size of family then our chances of getting the funding are higher. Which in turn helps the clients. For example we have funding for a grocery program which allows clients to receive groceries for a cheaper cost and we have funding to have programs for clients that are new immigrants to come and learn English. When I gave the nurses the details of the questions I could tell there was going to be some that were not happy with this task, as I know it is another task to do. So instead of telling the nurses this needs to be done and on every client, I decided that it would be best to start with our English speaking clients first. This way everyone could get familiar with the questions and ease into the process. I felt the change in the way the nurses reacted to this new added task. There was positive feed back that they thought starting off easy was a smart way to start the process. I also asked the nurses if we could check in in 2 weeks time to get there feed back on how it was working. I booked the time right away in the schedule. Their feedback will be useful for implanting the questions on rest of our clients.

      • #12157
        Katie
        Member

        I love the approach you took with change! Providing a rationale as well as giving time for that to be processed and understood prior to the initiation of the change was such a solid plan to ensure buy in and ultimately success.

    • #12158
      Katie
      Member

      An intentional leadership conversation I have had is specific to our pay structure and ensuring RPNs in our workplace are compensated fairly for the skills they are preforming in the field. This has taken several years to develop and has been a multifaceted conversation. In part with the RPNs themselves to make sure a level of understanding related to full scope skills was present and then with Operations to have a pay scale that defined those full scope skills clearly.

      This has made it possible to encourage those starting out as well as those who had been around a while but were looking for advancement to see a clear path and expectations to achieve these goals. While always an ongoing process I am happy and proud to state that of our 48 RPNs all but 5 are working or working towards a full scope of practice! In additional they are aware of the compensation that aligns with these goals.

      Sometimes, a lot of the time, it makes all the differnce to speak up and be intentional about what your goal is and include team members who are key players to make it happen.

      • #12160
        Johanna
        Member

        Hi Katie,
        I appreciate the way that your organization has created a pathway and financial inducement that allows RPNs to make working at their full scope a goal. This benefits the organization, the RPN, and the patients you care for. Having RPNs that practice at their full scope provides a higher standard of care. This way, everyone wins. The staff must feel very empowered to do their best.

    • #12159
      Johanna
      Member

      According to the definition of the term intentional leadership conversation, I realized that I have these conversations at least daily at work!
      Just last evening, I had a conversation with my RN supervisor. She was following up with an earlier report regarding a resident who had edema in his hands and feet. The resident had these symptoms since before he was admitted. The physician was aware, and the resident’s wife was to bring in some support stockings for him.
      The RN and I assessed him and did some troubleshooting based on his diagnoses. The RN questioned if he was taking a diuretic, which he is not. She wondered if his kidney function was a factor.
      She asked me to make a note for the physician for Rounds on Monday. As a result of the conversation, I made a note in the TAR for staff to monitor for shortness of breath on all shifts, and to document any episodes.
      It would be easy to dismiss pre-existing conditions, rather than trying to manage them. I learned from this conversation to be mindful of any unusual physical findings, and to keep bringing them to the physician’s attention, rather than assuming that they have been attended to. I also got a refresher in the relationship between kidney function and edema in areas other than the lower limbs.
      This conversation made me feel that we were doing our best to provide safe, competent, ethical, compassionate care. By ensuring the physician was kept in the loop, we as nurses are taking action to improve the resident’s situation.

      • #12210
        Jeanette
        Member

        Hi Johanna,
        I really appreciate the work relationship and leadership conversations that you and the RN’s are having re patient care. Your right sometimes it is easy to dismiss somethings instead of digging deeper to find the cause. Well said, if you feel like you are doing the critical thinking for your patients you will have more job satisfaction!

    • #12191
      Maame
      Member

      I recalled a my time I had an intentional leadership conversation with my manager about collboration with nurses from the other shifts. On my unit, the day shift nurse was changing the residents’ bathing schedule without informing the evening due to the PSWs’ complaining of workload. I tried to explain to the day nurse that decision should of been a collaborative decision with both shifts not just one shift. She wasn’t in agreeance in which I decided to speak to the unit manager. My manager did agree with me that it should of been an colloborative conversation so there would of been some sort of common ground between both parties.

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