How to Enhance Professionalism in a Nursing Staff

Step-by-Step Guide

1. 1

   Step 1: Speak to upper management to develop an internal plan to create a professional environment in your workplace.

   See if management will consider sending you to offsite training or seminars to learn the basic information to pass on to your staff.
   
   Attending training yourself may spur on new ideas and help you create your administrative goals.
   
   Consider seeking permission to pull together a task force of people from all levels of employment to address issues and possible solutions.
   
   By including all levels and not making it a management-only exercise, you will have better staff buy-in.
2. 2

   Step 2: Define clear

   Make sure the guidelines are applicable to not just the nurses but everyone who works at the company. , Determine how your institution's standards relate to current law, ethics, quality and performance. ,, Think about continuing education programming through the American Nursing Association.
   
   Consider bringing in outside training facilitators as an alternative so that you don't have to reinvent the wheel when it comes to training.
   
   Find a qualified training company to come in and do continuing education or mandatory training. , Have a concise speaker share the details of the new rules and/or procedures, and then open the floor to questions.
   
   You might also consider letting the nursing staff write down questions to pass them to the front in case anyone is too shy to get up in front of the group to ask a question. ,,,, Don't make things up as you go, but instead make sure that all of the nursing staff has signed a statement stating that he has read and understands both the rules/policies as well as the ramifications if rules/policies are not followed.
3. 3

   Step 3: enforceable guidelines that can be followed by all employees on staff.

4. 4

   Step 4: Set definitions for your standard of care.

5. 5

   Step 5: Discuss how other institutions set their standards and how they enforce them.

6. 6

   Step 6: Use existing materials that address care standards and professional guidelines for those in the field.

7. 7

   Step 7: Define your guidelines and training requirements to staff during a rollout meeting.

8. 8

   Step 8: Schedule all existing staff for training

9. 9

   Step 9: and make sure that the training is implemented in any new hire procedures.

10. 10

    Step 10: Follow up training with an online or written exam to make sure that all covered material has been retained.

11. 11

    Step 11: Schedule continuing education on a regular basis to reinforce what has been taught as well as to offer an opportunity to introduce new information.

12. 12

    Step 12: Have a means of enforcing your new rules

13. 13

    Step 13: and make sure that you have guidelines already in place in the event of an infraction.

Detailed Guide

About the Author