Team,
Last month’s newsletter included a link to a short survey with questions about the things that help you feel valued and how we can help you feel more valued. I appreciate everyone who responded. You shared very important insight and perspectives that will help us do better.
The responses weren’t surprising – the things people said are important include professional recognition, leadership support and compensation and benefits, and respondents like engaged leaders who provide personal and team recognition. I will be sharing the overall results with the nursing leadership team and asking them to find ways to incorporate your feedback. More to come.
In addition to the survey feedback, I have been hearing loud and clear that you want to feel safer in your work environment. I understand that it’s hard to feel valued if you don’t feel like basic needs such as safety are being fully met.
This fits with my reference last month to Maslow’s hierarchy of needs and the importance of helping employees feel safe and supported in their work.
In the next several weeks we will be forming a Clinical Workplace Violence Prevention Committee that will include direct care nurses and other clinicians and professionals. Workplace violence takes on many forms and includes verbal, psychological and physical abuse and is beyond challenging when it comes from the very people you are trying to care for. The committee plans to send a survey that will help assess the current situation as you see it, understand the perspective of frontline clinical team members and gather ideas about how we can address this important issue in patient-facing areas. Watch for more information about this on-going work.
Our patients have a hierarchy of needs, just as we do. As members of the UAMS Health care team, we have a responsibility to do our best to address their needs from Maslow’s fundamental level of physiological needs to the top tier of self-actualization. This is not easy, and reaching optimal state can’t happen unless basic needs are met.
To continue the focus on our commitment to quality patient care, during the coming weeks your leader will be reviewing a “UAMS Nursing Practice Commitment” document with you. This is designed simply to allow us as the collective UAMS Nursing Team to demonstrate a united commitment and agreement to basic nursing practice expectations and standards. This shared understanding and acknowledgement sets the stage for easier peer-to-peer accountability, which allows us to continually work together to help each other improve. It also provides a foundation to build on as we continue our pursuit of excellence in nursing care. We all want the best for our patients, and we certainly want to have team members who share this desire and commitment right beside us, “having our backs.”
When you review this document, you’ll most likely read the list and think “I do that,” “of course, everyone should do that,” “Yep, yep yep.” There are no surprises, and the majority of our care team checks off every item on the list most of the time. While we know perfection may not be attainable, consistency and high reliability in providing safe patient care definitely are. I am asking you to take this commitment seriously. You, your team, and, most importantly, our patients need and deserve it.
The expectations outlined in the practice commitment are important to all of us and will help ensure our patients’ safety and the working environment we want. Creating this work environment requires participation and support from each of us. As you review the practice commitment with your leader, please share any barriers you may see and your ideas about how we can make UAMS the best place possible for both patients to receive care and employees to provide that care.
Thanks for all you do.
Tammy Jones, PHD, RN, NE-BC
Chief Nursing Officer
Associate Vice Chancellor for Patient Care Services & Clinical Operations
Perioperative, Interventional & Imaging Services Division