Solutions
As I was strolling past the ICUs this morning I noticed a computer generated sign that a nurse manager had scotch taped on her door. 
"Enter With Solutions" it said. Some card had scrawled underneath D5 1/2 or NS?
I chuckled to myself. That's about right. In the trenches, a solution is what you hang, not what you find to take to your manager. A nurse in the trenches goes to her manager with problems. She enters with problems. She leaves with solutions. At least she does if her manager is doing their job.
While it is nice to have your staff bring you solutions to their problems for you to implement, hanging such a sign on your door is tantamount to hanging a sign reading "Take Your Problems Elsewhere." That definitely sends the wrong message to your staff.
"Enter With Solutions" it said. Some card had scrawled underneath D5 1/2 or NS? I chuckled to myself. That's about right. In the trenches, a solution is what you hang, not what you find to take to your manager. A nurse in the trenches goes to her manager with problems. She enters with problems. She leaves with solutions. At least she does if her manager is doing their job.
While it is nice to have your staff bring you solutions to their problems for you to implement, hanging such a sign on your door is tantamount to hanging a sign reading "Take Your Problems Elsewhere." That definitely sends the wrong message to your staff.
Labels: Nursing
posted by Xavier at 3:41 PM
12 Comments:
Inside baseball. What does the scribble mean?
Health care administration at its finest: "Don't come in to my office unless you are prepared to do my job for me."
The sign is the 'bumper-sticker' version.
If one discovers a problem on the job, it is unusual not to have a thought along the lines of 'if only they would do x..., this wouldn't be a problem'.
True, that isn't universal. But going to the manager and suggesting 'decide this way, or decide that way, or explain why neither works' will ordinarily get more done than standing there.
It's sometimes called "managing UP".
Probably some kind of IV drip, I would guess.
*not really anonymous, but too lazy to login.
Greg
Please translate the "script" for all us non medical types.
I can grasp the point the manager was trying to get across, I think. Most likely, most of the issues brought to the manager's attention are personnel type issues. Often, asking a person "If you could script the exact outcome of this problem, tell me what you would like to see happen." That way, a manager can get an idea of what a person is really upset about, what their motivation is. The manager can also save time by not implementing a solution that will not appease the complaintant.
But- I agree. A good manager needs no such sign on the door. Unattended signs have a tendency to be "updated". hehe.
Simply leaving the door open would send a much better signal.
Chet
I used to council my guys to always have three options in their back pocket to present to any manager. And be able to present them in words a four year old would understand. Managers are not capable of developing answers to problems. But they do need to make decisions.
D 5 1/2 or NS
Solutions - Dextrose 5% in 1/2 Neutral Saline [0.45%]; because it's half normal salinity, this solution provides water to the tissues + 170 calories/liter; 'hypertonic' because of the dextrose.
NS - 0.9% Neutral Saline (doesn't draw fluids from the tissues, doesn't 'force' tissues draw fluid from the blood, it's the same osmolality as blood, 'isotonic' thus "neutral"). NS is used for lots of things.
Thanks John, now I get the joke.
Like my high school chemistry teacher used to say, "If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the precipitate."
I've taught for 31 years, and now, finished RN school (yet to take the NCLEX). I find the "solutions" comment so common in the educational communities, also. All want to sum life up simply, if people would simply do "this" or "that". Maybe, if we were all like the individual with such a mindset, it would all become clear. Heck, I cannot even win an argument with my brother on whether, small guns that you always carry are better than big guns that you often leave at home, are better for concealed carry!
klmspider- Uniontown, Ohio
I've taught elementary kids for 31 years, and now, finished RN school (yet to take the NCLEX). I find the "solutions" comment so common in the educational communities, also. All want to sum life up simply, if people would simply do "this" or "that". Maybe, if we were all like the individual with such a mindset, it would all become clear. Heck, I cannot even win an argument with my brother on whether, small guns that you always carry are better than big guns that you often leave at home, are better for concealed carry!
klmspider- Uniontown, Ohio
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