Reflective Journal Due April 22nd

1. What did you actually learn from the unit.

This unit we learned about ways to motivate staff. I'm going to put down ideas I had and then other ideas my team had that stood out to me: 

7 part program:

1. Patient Award System: Nurse recognition/CNA recognition cards are available for patients to fill out to thank nurses and CNAs for their care.
2. Supervisor Thank You System: Supervisors that have visited patients on their rounds and heard positive comments from the patients about the nurses/CNAs can award these nurses with a “Dollar Thank You Buck”. These “Bucks” can be turned in for gift cards.
3. Unit Award System: Awards can be given from the nursing director and nursing supervisors to employees that have gone above and beyond/have done an exceptional job. These awards would be given at monthly staff meetings; 1 nurse and 1 CNA would be chosen each month. This would include a thank you card with examples of exemplary performance and include 2 movie tickets.
4. Employee Award System: This would include “Thank You Bucks” that employees can give to each other privately or during the last 5 minutes of staff meeting. Employees can ask Supervisors for a “Thank You Buck” so they can fill it out for an employee. There’s an area to write a thank you note, who it’s to and who it’s from. These can be turned in for gift cards
5. Hospital Award System: This would be an annual award given to 1-2 individuals from each unit. Employees would be nominated by their coworkers. This would be measured by a set of standards that the nominee would have to meet and examples would need to be given as to how these individuals met each standard. Some standards/values could be integrity, teamwork, hardworking, patient focused, etc. The Awards could include an Award Ceremony with a certificate and bonus check; or just a name in the work newsletter, a plague with a picture of the nurse, their name, the year, and the name of the award to be displayed on the unit and the nurse be given a bonus check. 
6. Annual Team Building Activity/Retreat: This could be different every year. It could be something that’s done in the hospital conference room (broken up into different sessions so everyone has a chance to participate) or it could be something done outside of the hospital, but nearby. Examples could be CityHunt which does team building scavenger hunts for companies; CLAS Ropes Course and Canoeing in Provo, etc.
7. Annual online education modules relating to moral in the workplace: This can be one or several modules. The modules can include videos giving scenarios of negative and positive scenarios, etc. Teamwork, handling conflict, respecting differences, and other values and skills can be reviewed.

I chose 1-5 because I think all of us like when our efforts are recognized. Being recognized and rewarded usually encourages us to be better.

I chose 6 because team building activities are a way that we can get to know one another and learn about one another in a creative, fun way away from the stress of a busy day at work.

I chose 7 as a way to include other forms of learning styles. It’s great to watch poor and positive examples; they can be entertaining and visual examples can be memorable. Others learn well through reading. Being tested is a good way to know how well you understand the material as well and is a quantitative measure of your knowledge.

Other ideas from my class team that I liked: 

1. First I would get the staff together and ask them how they would like to be motivated. This way, the work to motivate the staff will be productive.

2.  Get feedback. This is the best way to know how everyone is feeling about the motivation on the unit and if this system is even working

3.  Constantly change the incentives and get feedback so motivation doesn't lack.

4. Provide continuing education opportunities for nurses to practice unusual skills that could help them into higher positions, or just to build their confidence with difficult, more complicated procedures. Offer incentives to attend trainings like move tickets, small bonus, or gift cards.  This motivates people because they are gaining  skills to perform better and feel more confident in their job.  

This activity was great to reflect on different motivational activities; it made me introspect and think about what motivates me. I listed what motivates me, but realized that it would be wise to include the employees on the decision making for what motivational activities to use. 

I think without motivation, we're at risk of get lazy and set in our ways. Having goals to work toward stimulates us to be better and having rewards that interest us keeps us focused and driven.