Journal 1

I was with my preceptor yesterday. I have been a bedside nurse for almost 4 years and had not had the exposure to the administrative side. It was a challenging experience and also an opportunity to learn new skills. My preceptor in the morning delineates the objectives and goals for the day. She reads all her email, assesses and evaluates activities on assigned area. After that, we made rounds to the emergency room, surgery, nursing supervisor’s office and to some of the floors to check about their staffing and how they are doing. During the walker she greets any staff member she comes in contact with and asks how they are doing. My preceptor, when she runs into visitors, enquire if she can help them.
After that we went round to co-workers on the administrative side. She motivates and communicates with the people responsible for various activities in a team setting. Our first stop was with the Nursing Supervisor’s Quality Manager who is in charge of infection control. They discussed risk of infection, action plan, exposure risk and how to involve the opinion of other expects such as the MD in charge of infection control. We visited with the risk manager officer who deals with medical staff peer review, patient grievances and other issues. She showed her all the files that needed immediate attention.
I also sat in another meeting with my preceptor and the Executive Administrative Director. She stated “I am the CNO’s brain”. They addressed the medical staff peer review. The theme of the meeting was quality peer review peer committee. Minutes were read, charts reviewed, issues were addressed, letter were sent and calls were made. There was another informal meeting with the Director of education about internship, educational budget and on leadership challenge implementation.
The Chief Executive Officer plays an important role; she is a very busy woman who leads nursing services on a journey of excellences. She provides positive reinforcement, makes sound decisions and divides daily activities.