Remember when the COVID pandemic began two and a half years ago and there was no toilet paper on store shelves? As more people started working from home, there were no computers, web cameras, monitors or laptops. Then, supply chain issues created random shortages of everything from cream cheese to cars. With the Russian invasion of Ukraine adding another layer of complications, we are still facing supply shortages of some items (thank goodness Halloween candy is safe!), yet there are news reports of excess inventory and sales for other things such as clothes and furniture.
Along with healthcare professionals, I think food service employees are the heroes of our country right now. Every time we go out to eat – whether it’s fast food or a nice restaurant, it seems they are short-staffed, out of several menu items, or they’ve had to change their hours. I’m always amazed at the continuing take-out business and how restaurants are having to juggle in-person, on-line, drive-through and to-go orders. I saw a sign earlier this month that said, “Everyone is short-staffed. Please be nice to those who showed up.”
That same sign would be appropriate here at UAMS. I don’t know of a single department across the entire institution that is fully staffed. And, the departments that do have enough employees often have several new ones. Compounding this is the number of employees who are not allowed to work on campus due to a COVID infection or exposure. As you can imagine, all these combine to have a direct or indirect trickle-down effect that can cause delays, mistakes and miscommunication.
Like in restaurants, the best ways to handle this are kindness and patience. When you encounter a new employee, or new learners such as residents and graduate nurses, please take the time to explain how to do what you’re asking them to do, and start at the beginning – or whenever they start to get lost. Directions like “take this down to admissions – just past the Lobby Café” don’t work if they don’t yet know where the Lobby Café is. Just add “on the first floor of the hospital,” and the odds of them making it to admissions are greatly improved.
Keep in mind that face masks make it even more difficult for those new to UAMS to figure out what’s going on. It can be hard to understand what someone’s saying behind a mask, and it’s often too intimidating to keep asking people to repeat themselves. So, please be kind and help out our newest colleagues.
Please show compassion to each other and recognize that safe, efficient patient care requires support and cooperation across departments.
Together, we will make it through yet another phase of the pandemic.
Trenda