Ease the Way - Gebauer Patient Comfort Blog

Do You Have What It Takes to Be a Nurse Leader?

By: Julianne Filion | On: May 24, 2016

Are you a nurse who’s passionate about improving the quality of care your patients receive at every stage of their visit, from check-in to discharge?

Are you ready to step into a leadership role and coach staff members on the practices that would benefit your patients and your institution?

Can you coordinate communications within your own department and across departments?

If you answered yes to these questions, then you just might have what it takes to be a successful nurse leader. Take our quick quiz to find out if you are ready for the next step in your nursing career.

Hospital Culture: How to Stop Lateral Violence

By: Julianne Filion | On: May 18, 2016

You’ve worked hard to improve the culture of your hospital and are finally seeing the fruits of your labor with improved HCAHPS scores, reduced turnover and increased employee satisfaction. Unfortunately, it only takes a few incidents of lateral violence among your nursing staff to undo your efforts.

In the past, lateral violence was largely ignored. “Nurses eat their young,” was the joke, and it seemed no one cared to change the status quo. While today’s environment is better for both patients and hospital employees, this doesn’t mean lateral violence and bullying are no longer an issue. As a nurse leader, it’s up to you to creating a plan to change attitudes and behaviors, and finally putting an end to the problem.

A Look at Preparing the Nursing Department Annual Budget

By: Julianne Filion | On: May 12, 2016

If you’re like most nurse managers, preparing the nursing department annual budget is not your favorite part of the job. The budgeting process can make even normally calm, collected nurse managers resort to a few choice words as they struggle to create a budget that won’t shortchange patients and nursing staff.

These days, “budget cuts” is a common phrase among hospital administrators. Although running a lean organization is essential to the survival of your hospital, when cuts affect crucial services, it can be difficult to reconcile your facility’s mission to provide excellent care with cuts that surely will affect the quality of patient-centered care.

Nurse-to-Nurse Relationships: Creating a Cohesive Team

By: Julianne Filion | On: May 4, 2016

Long shifts, varying work styles and power struggles can contribute to dissension among your nursing staff. Patient satisfaction and engagement, as well as productivity and attention to detail suffer when team squabbles occur. This can, unfortunately, affect your HCAHPS scores. Of course, building a cohesive team takes time, but it’s well worth the effort. Here are a few ways you can help your nursing staff develop stronger relationships while creating a cohesive team environment.

Maintaining Nursing Inventory Supply: A Nurse Leader’s Guide

By: Bethany Nock | On: March 31, 2016

You know that frustrating feeling when you are looking for a gauze pad, but you can’t find it? And it turns out you can’t find it because it is listed under New Gauze or the manufacturer of the product on your inventory list? (We can almost see you nodding your head right now.) All you want to do is take care of your patient, but inventory management is making it difficult.

Maintaining supplies may be an essential part of your job as a nurse leader, but we understand it can be hard to keep up with inventory management (or influence it when you don’t control it) when you have so many other responsibilities.

Developing a strong relationship with the materials management department, taking advantage of the capabilities of digital inventory control and using a few old-fashioned tips can help you stay on top of this portion of your job, even on the craziest of days.

Here are a few tips to help nursing inventory supply and to ensure your staff is never without the supplies it needs.