Conflict Resolution Example

This example is not related to the healthcare field, because I have very little experience working in the healthcare field. This is an example of a time when I was working in a restaurant. The restaurant had been going through a lot of changes, and we had just gotten a new general manager. Our team was really close, and we all worked well together, but this general manager had a few ideas that we did not really agree with. A group of managers, myself included, got together to discuss what was going on, and we decided we thought the way things were already being done was the most efficient way of doing things. So we stuck with what we had been doing. I feel that we did not handle this situation in the best way. I think a more effective way of doing things would have been to address our concerns with the new general manager, rather than going behind his back and deciding we were right. The manager did not stick around long, and I really do not blame him for leaving, but I feel like if we had listened and tried to incorporated his ideas we may have been a stronger team, and maybe would have done things more efficiently. One thing I learned from looking back on this situation is that just because people do not think the way I do, that does not mean they are wrong in their thinking. There is always something to learn. Maybe we would have learned that we really were right, but even if that were the case, this could have turned into a learning experience for the general manager. In conflict situations there is not always a right and a wrong, but there is usually someone who learns something they did not already know.

Quality Improvement (class)

There is so much that goes into quality improvement. There is always something that needs needs to be reviewed and changed in order for it to be the best. Quality improvement is a very important aspect of healthcare. Three questions that will help determine what change needs to be made and if the changes made were a change for the good are. What are we trying to accomplish? How will we know that a change is an improvement? What changes can we make that will result in an improvement? Another thing that can be helpful in quality improvement is the PDSA cycle. PDSA stands for plan, do, study, and act. This means that when implementing a change you will make a plan, implement it on a small scale, study the results, and then implement on a larger scale if the results are the intended results.
Something I liked from the discussion in class was the "Swiss Cheese" model that was brought up in class. Often there are different safety checks that have to be bypassed or a few different things that have to go wrong in order for an event to be completely catastrophic, but there are times when this does happen, and it is something that has to be learned from and improved so it it does not happen again.

Quality Control

• What do you consider elements of quality care when receiving healthcare services? 

          Elements of quality care include knowledgeable, caring staff; proper, working equipment to be able to diagnose and treat problems in a timely manor; and the ability and know how to keep patients safe from injury.

• What do you consider elements of quality care as a professional nurse? 

          Elements of quality care as a professional nurse include knowledge to keep patients safe from medication errors, and from other injuries; the ability to admit when they do not know something and the humility to ask for help to avoid causing harm; hard working and willing to do the jobs that need to be done even if they are not pleasant jobs!

• Are the two similar or different? 

          I believe the two are very similar. The patient is not going to receive quality care if the nurse does not posses the qualities listed above.

Motivation (class)

I enjoyed our class discussion on motivation. It was interesting to hear everyone's input about what motivates them. One thing I hadn't thought about before was the point brought up about when bring food to motivate or praise someone, make sure it is not something simple. This could make them feel not valued. I also thought the discussion about money was interesting. People are never going to be satisfied with what they are making, and if you start paying them more to motivate them, they are just going to want to make more. I think that maybe just giving them a bonus would be better that giving them pay raises. Another thing that was interesting is the point that was brought up about the movie ticket, and other things that are handed out to staff, and how it is counted towards their annual income. I did not know that this was happening, and I think it is kind of sneaky, however, it is still nice to get things like that. Although, the money would probably be nice, it is nice to receive things like movie tickets because many times if people are given money they will not use it to do something fun, so giving these movie tickets allows employees to do something fun at no cost to them. Overall I thought this was a fun topic to discuss.