Team Building Reflective Journal

 Reflect on the unit topic. Type the following in your Reflective Journal/Blog.
1. Share what you had expected to learn about the topic before the class.
2. What you actually learned from the unit.
3. How you will utilize the information learned in your nursing practice.
4. Your personal feelings about the material covered.
When finished with your entry, place one sentence in this assignment stating your Reflective Journal/Blog entry has been made.

 I did not know what kind of activities we were going to do in class, I just knew that we would be doing team building activities. I've done a few team building exercises at CLAS Ropes Course in Provo, so I suspected it would be something like that - working with a team to try and figure out the solution to a difficult problem.
I learned that there can be multiple solutions to a problem and it often takes creative and "out-of-the-box" thinking to come to a solution.  It's important to listen to your team members because they may have perspective and knowledge that you don't.
In nursing, I can use this information during staff meetings and interdisciplinary meetings, among other places, in order to find solutions to problems we are facing in the company. We just had a staff meeting for our adolescent unit and we were able to work through scheduling and time issues in order to make the work load more even for the night and day shifts. 
This was a fun exercise, it may have been better if we had known we would be crawling in the snow.  There are some issues that will be faced in the work place that don't have a great solution that makes it easy on everyone. Some perceived solutions will have to be worked out over and over again.

Hiring Reflective Journal Post

Reflect on the unit topic. Type the following in your Reflective Journal/Blog.
1. Share what you had expected to learn about the topic before the class.
2. What you actually learned from the unit.
3. How you will utilize the information learned in your nursing practice.
4. You personal feelings about the material covered.
When finished with your entry, place one sentence in this assignment stating your Reflective Journal/Blog entry has been made.

Before class, I expected to learn about the hiring process - what happens when you submit an application to the point you are either hired or not. I also expected to go over interview questions since assignments in our modules lead me to believe we would be discussing potential questions we may be asked.
From this unit, I learned that in most interviews, there will be about 2-5 people there to ask you questions. They can't ask personal questions, but if you bring up a personal issue, they could ask follow-up questions concerning that. Consistency is key if you are the interviewer - it's important to ask each candidate the same questions. There is such thing as a "protected age", so age cannot be a determining factor when you are hiring a person. We went over potential questions when we asked our classmates interview questions, and then we covered a few specific questions to go over what an employer is looking for and what they do not want to hear or see. We also gave some examples of questions to ask the employer if they ask, "do you have any questions for me?".  We talked about why it can take a long time for a position to be filled after a nurse quits. Finally, we discussed researching the company before an interview to be sure to include their company's buzzwords in the interview.

I will use this information when I am looking for a new job and if I happen to be in a position where I help interview potential candidates. It's important to be prepared for an interview and going over questions and preparing answers in advance can only help you focus on what you want to say and it will help you appear more confident and prepared.

As we went over the "red flags" of sample interview questions, I felt I had done way too many of them in past interviews. My approach when I was applying for PCT positions near the beginning of the program was to "wing it" and they would just like me. Interviews don't have to be the scary experiences they are often made out to be if you are PREPARED.

12 Characteristics of Leaders

Identify examples of Nursing Role Activities for each of the following 12 Characteristics of Leaders:

1. Leadership requires personal mastery - Nurses demonstrate leadership when they show competence and mastery in the tasks they perform. Nurses are deemed competent by means of a license to practice nursing.
2. Leadership is about values - A nurse needs to have high standards of behavior when dealing with patients and coworkers. Patient satisfaction is a way that nurse's can be held accountable and employers can ensure their nurses are acting according to the values of the company.
3. Leadership is about service - Service is a key aspect of nursing. Nurses are important leaders in the community of ensuring that the community is educated and has the resources available to them for proper health.
4. Leadership is about people and relationships - Nurses deal with people no matter the department or area in which the nurse works. Nurses can be leaders within the area they work with respect to their professional relationships with coworkers and with their patients.
5. Leadership is contextual - Nurses can be leaders depending on the context. They may not have leadership position amongst their superiors in the sense that they get rid of weaknesses in the company, but they could be leaders in the aspect of influencing attitudes.
6. Leadership is about the management of meaning - While I have no idea what this means. It may possibly refer to the fact that the nurse leader should know the roles of others.
7. Leadership is about balance - An effective nurse demonstrates the "balance" aspect of leadership by maintaining balance in her own life to ensure she is ready to give the best care to her patients.
8. Leadership is about continuous learning and improvement - Nurses have many opportunities for learning and growth within the nursing field. Leaders seize opportunities to learn more.
9. Leadership is about effective decision making - Nurses demonstrate the leadership skill of effective decision-making when they start their shift and prioritize which patient needs to be seen first and which tasks need to be completed the soonest.
10. Leadership is a political process - An effective leader is one that can gain favor with their people they lead, and this goes for nurses with respect to their coworkers and patients.
11. Leadership is about modeling - Nurses display modeling when they show their patients how to perform tasks and when they themselves are living the principles they are teaching.
12. Leadership is about integrity - Nurses display integrity when they chart that they performed a certain intervention, when they chart that they checked on a patient, when they report any issues with the patient that need to be reported, and so on.

Managers expectations of their role

If you are working, ask your manager or supervisor what their expectations were when they assumed a management role. Record what you learned in your "Blog"

(Waiting on my manager to email me back).

Leadership and Management Theories

Think about how theories of leadership and management impact nursing leadership and management roles. Record your thoughts on your "Blog" 
Each person has different views on what it means to be a leader or a manager. Assuming I am understanding the topic we are to write about, I think that these differing ideas shape the expectations of leaders and managers for a position. It is also the interpretation of the individual that achieves these positions that can shape nursing leadership and management roles. Each company has its own theory on leadership and management. This can influence the success of the company. From the perspective of nursing, a nurse manager, for example, will be hired if her characteristics line up with the expectations of the business. That nurse manager's perspective of management and how she acts as a manager then becomes what the coworkers come to expect from all managers.

Leadership Reflective Journal Entry

Before class, I thought that we would be discussing ways to encourage staff and keep morale up (like the leadership students from high school) and how to set a good example for staff.In class, we compared leadership to management and defined each. Communication seemed to be a key aspect of leadership - communicate the responsibilities of the staff members, communicate goals, failures, and successes, and make sure all members within a leadership positions are on the same page about changes and goals. Management positions deal more with the running of the organization, such as dividing up and ordering resources.
As a nurse, the only person that reports to me is the care tech, but I can still be a leader. I can be an influencer and set a standard for others to follow. I can be sure that, at the beginning of every shift, the care tech knows his or her responsibilities for the day and I can communicate any special needs and considerations needed by an patients so we are on the same page. I can also set a goal with the care tech for the day.
I feel like leadership and management can often overlap. When we defined the two topics, it seemed so cut-and-dry, but this morning I read several pages of my husband's book "The One-Minute Manager" and the book also discussed autocratic and democratic styles, but about management rather than leadership (as we did in class). The book talked about how it is important to include both styles. I think that a manager can be a leader and the roles can overlap. It is all very interesting, although I am not looking forward to completing all the assignments related to this topic.

Mock Job Interview Thoughts

This mock job interview went much better than the previous mock interview we did in fourth semester. I felt as though my very few experiences from my preceptorship and my current job added relevant and more impressive substance to my responses. One question I struggle with is, "tell me about yourself". I don't know how much personal information to share, but Dan pointed out that it's best to keep it relevant. In an interview, I need to remember to keep eye contact and try not to ramble, even when the interviewer isn't giving any verbal or physical responses. I was proud of myself for not saying, "and, yeah" or "so, yeah" at the end of my responses, because I have done that in interviews before and it really bothers me.
Some questions we came up with to ask the employer at the end of the interview were:
"When can I expect a response from you about the position?"
"Can I have your business card?"
"What caused this position to become available?"
"What is the nurse-to-patient ratio on your unit?"