This article was written down
for nurses who are looking out for positions in the US
or anywhere in the world - to give you a better understanding
how day to day work will be and the expectations of nursing
supervisor or director of nursing. From my personal experience
I would like to state certain business/hospital ethics
that are practiced in the US and will help you hold a
long-standing relationship with your employer and enable
you to work efficiently.
Nursing Evaluation
Period: When you are at the healthcare organization
for the first 15 to 30 days, your nursing supervisor will
evaluate your skills set for his current requirements
Some times, the client may have an agreement with the
medical staffing company to have an evaluation period
and accept the contract agreement. If the client is satisfied
with your skills set and believes that you are the suitable
candidate for that project, he will continue with the
contract. Some times, even if you are not up to the expectations
of the nursing supervisor, and the client believes that
other skills that you have may help in future requirements,
he may advice you to prepare for current requirements
and give additional time to train yourself.
Must do when you join at the client's place
(Initial Stage):
- Understand well about company hierarchy. Like your
unit nursing supervisor, co-workers, and directors
of nursing.
- Learn more about the healthcare facility background
and its purpose.
- Learn as much as possible from your orientation
day.
- Never wait for supervisor's reminders to get something
done that you can complete yourself.
- Get the job done as per the schedule.
- Attend facility as per the facility timings without
delays.
- List down all the names, phone numbers, pager numbers
of your colleagues and upper management. These may
be of use in an emergency.
Nursing Supervisor Expectations:
- Will expect you to work the normal business hours.
Normally 8 hours is standard working hours.
- Will expect you to inform about casual leave/vacation
in advance. When you are taking medical leave suddenly,
inform your nursing supervisor by calling him or leaving
a message on his voice mail. So that, the supervisor
can reassign the shift to others.
- Will expect you to accept responsibility for mistakes
that may have occurred.
- Will expect you to have good written and oral communication
skills.
- Will expect you to be a team player, proactive and
confident in your work and also be able to motivate
others with your enthusiasm.
- Will expect you to work long hours without hesitation
in case of abscense of another nurse.
Important things to do at the client's place:
- Be proactive, take the initiative and work with
a positive attitude.
- Dress neatly. Follow the healthcare facility dress
code.
- Get all your doubts cleared by your colleagues or
supervisors that are related to the unit you are working
at.
- Participate in common gatherings and get to know
their business environment cultures and meet new people.
- There should be an open communication with your
nursing supervisor, so that if there is an unresolved
issue, he will be able to help you.
- If a problem arises inform your nursing supervisor,
escalate those problems to upper management and other
departments if needed, provide exact/estimated amount
of time to solve the problem and list the procedures
to be followed to approach and solve the problem.
Document everything in detail for future reference.
- If you don't have work, don't hesitate to ask your
manager for work (or) create/find work by taking new
responsibilities, explain to your supervisor, start
working after getting approval from nursing supervisor.
This approach will be very useful when you are involved
in performance tuning.
- At the end of each shift, fill out a time sheet.
- Learn the client's document standards, workflow
processes, management hierarchy, and reporting rules.
- Read the client's monthly newsletter to learn about
upcoming events/ nursing happenings, and business
articles.
- Keep your work and business information confidential.
- Appreciate and thank others when you receive help
from them.
- Never abuse company Internet/telephone policies.
- Manage your time efficiently and use it effectively.
- Learn, learn, learn new techniques, technologies,
and find opportunities to explore further and improve
your work standards, skills and achieve client expectations.
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