Student Nurse Reflective Journal

  1.  What did you learn from the unit. I learned a lot from my interview about firing and discipline. I also got more experience figuring out how to read a budget and make decisions about how to cut that budget. It was really hard! 2. Discuss your feelings/experiences from the team activities? Did it change your opinion on the subject? If so, how? If not, why? Our team activities this week were coming up with budgeting questions and sharing about the assignment we did on cutting a medical/surgical floor budget by $14,550. That was really hard for me. I learned so much from my teammates though. I was surprised, however, that one of them was willing to cut the budget by reducing nurses and techs. I wanted to avoid that at all costs! 3. How you will utilize the information learned in your nursing practice. I hope I never, ever, have to budget for a hospital, or anywhere, except for myself. So, hopefully I won’t have to utilize this in my nursing practice. One thing I thought about though

If you notice or hear talk about a problem with an employee, what is your first step before confronting that employee?  Confront the people talking about it, and get more information. How many times do you talk to an employee about an issue before you consider firing that employee? About 3 times How do you get proper background information on an issue before you confront an issue in the workplace? Talk with those involved or who have witness the problem in a professional manner.  In your experience, after firing an employee, do you wish you had addressed the situation earlier or later? Earlier Do you get feedback from other employees before and after a firing takes place? I don’t. I leave it between myself and the employee. Do you provide a probationary period or suspension before firing? Yes How do you ensure accusations of discrimination do not occur when terminating an employee?  This can be a tricky one. Making sure to have proof of the problem can help. If your employee is involve

  What did you learn from the unit. I learned a lot from the group discussions this unit. When we discussed problem employees, I didn’t realize that some units have the expectation that you pick up extra shifts, outside of what you are hired/budgeted for. On my unit, we have on-call shifts every quarter, but we are never forced to sign up for open shifts. I liked the discussion about who the greatest leader of all time was. I got to learn a lot about different leaders by team thought are the greatest of all time. I think I won with Jesus Christ as my answer. I liked what I learned that it is important to deal with problem employees in private. As a new graduate nurse, I had some trial and error during orientation. There is a particular nurse that I work with that would bring it up in front of others. I wish she would have taken me aside to let me know what I was doing wrong, rather than tell me in front of our other coworkers. It’s embarrassing. I liked the article I found this week on

  Hiring Interview: How do you utilize references in the hiring process? He said that he will use references when he has decided who he wants to hire, before he officially hires them, in order to make sure they check out. What are some things that you see your new hires struggle with the most? Learning how to use their specific equipment and figuring out the scheduling and working with the designers. What qualities do you see in your employees that impress you?  Confident and good conversationalist. Someone that will get along well with clients and the rest of the staff and has the skills required for the job. What is the most important thing that a new hire would need to accomplish in the first 90 days? Learn how to use the equipment, work with the designers, and do the installations.  What metrics or goals do you use to evaluate the performance of your employees? The employees get paid on commission. Performance can be evaluated on the money they are bringing in, referrals, and clien