A productive nurse mentoring program requires time, effort, and commitment - resources no registered nurse or healthcare-related organization can afford to waste these days. With web-based mentoring software, it cuts attrition in half in less than six months and streamlines the administration of nursing mentorship in direct care, education, administrative and research work environments.
Mentoring new nurses helps acclimate them to their new job roles and corporate environment. It boosts JCAHO compliance scores, nursing recruitment, nurse retention, staff nursing development, and ultimately, the quality of patient care. Also, a mentoring nursing program has a potential expense reduction of $50,000 per retained nurse (based on average turnover costs) according to a 1999 Nursing Economics financial implications analysis. In addition, a nurse mentoring program is an important criterion to attain Magnet Hospital status. Unfortunately, with the current nursing shortage, there aren’t enough nurses to do patient care, let alone mentoring.
A successful mentoring program has many positive benefits and outcomes. In spite of that, it has its pitfalls. A blend of traditional face-to-face mentoring and eMentoring addresses two major issues found in mentoring situations - time constraints and distance constraints. This “hybrid” Mentoring in Healthcare Management System is “a personalized, on-demand collaborative mentoring experience that uses web-enabled technology and integrated knowledge sharing and management to quickly build knowledge, nursing skills, and capability to optimize human performance, anytime, anywhere, while providing the ability to track and measure results”. Mentoring partners should use HIPAA compliant collaboration tools, such as e-mail, video conferencing, Instant Messenger and file transfer to discuss patient information, maintain patient confidentiality, and to carry out aspects of mentoring.
Hospitals, long-term care facilities, home health agencies, associations, schools and other healthcare-related organizations need customized mentoring solutions precisely tailored to their requirements. This solution would be used enterprise-wide or for a small group to automate the process of filling out forms, templates, and reports typically used to coordinate time-consuming and antiquated paper-based nursing mentoring programs. With a web-based system, after a nurse mentor or nurse preceptor completes a profile, a sophisticated matching algorithm will find a perfect match based upon such factors as skills, personality, personal information, and career background. The mentee or preceptee should choose his or her own nursing mentor or nursing preceptorship.
Best-practice mentoring guidelines need to be based on nursing research gleaned from the most respected nursing journals and nursing articles. Also, nursing staff development and training to manage and close gaps in organizational knowledge, nursing competency, and skills across an enterprise needs to be provided. Ideally, mentoring partners would be able to pick and choose from thousands of web-based staff training courses such as “JCAHO regulations”, “JCAHO inspection”, and other nursing contact hours.
A web-based platform needs to be easily adaptable and would also help administer a nursing preceptor program as well as a coaching, learnership, externship, internship, apprenticeship, residency, diversity, and tutoring program for nurses, new nurse graduates, nursing students, physicians, medical students, residents, pre-med students, and allied health professionals.
With a hosted, pay-as-you-go, and collaborative mentoring software solution, the system would need to be delivered on-demand from secure servers without any hardware, infrastructure or IT people necessary.
Tony Colon, RN-C is a Mentoring in Healthcare Specialist. Find out how a customized, web-assisted mentoring program in your organization boosts recruitment, development, retention, and patient care at www.HealthcareMentoring.com
I have to hire many people to accomplish what I do. Naturally, I want good, clean, straight-forward resumes. I want to see what the applicant has done and, by extension, what he or she might be able to do for me. From my perspective, it’s all about what I need in order to grow my business.
Most applicants look at it from the other perspective: what will the application and interview process do for them? Too often, it seems to me, they look at the resume, the application, and the cover letter as the end of the process. Well, for them - and for me - it is only the beginning. If you don’t look at it in the same way, then it will be the end.
And the most important item that never shows up is confidence. It’s not educational experience; not work experience; not references. Most of the people who apply for work have those things already in place. What they often fail to show me on paper or in the interview is the confidence they have in themselves to get the job, do the job and grow in the job.
If you bring your confidence and your faith in yourself, most employers will see exactly what they are seeking in you. Then, all the weaknesses and shortcomings on your resume will disappear. Lack of experience, mediocre grades in school, youth - all the things that you think of as disadvantages - will be diminished.
Be confident on Paper
The first place you can demonstrate confidence is in a cover letter. I’m sure you’ve heard that the cover letter tells the employer those important things that a resume can’t communicate. Well, the most important is your belief in yourself. If you don’t believe in yourself, why should I believe that you’re the one for the job I have in mind?
So, when you “fill in the gaps” in your resume, be sure that you explain why you are sure that you can do this job; even more importantly, that you are the right person for this job. Tell me how experiences that don’t show up on the resume help you have confidence in yourself. Some life experiences that show personal confidence and a health self-esteem are:
Membership or leadership in scouting or youth groups
Success on sports teams
Accomplishment of a personal goal, such as running a marathon, or building a soapbox racer.
Playing a musical instrument (the long years of practice and learning only come to those who believe in themselves).
These are things that may never show up on a resume, but which tell me something about your belief in yourself; your discipline, your faith in your own future. Those are the kinds of people any employer should be seeking.
And don’t be afraid to say it clearly: “I believe that I am the right person for this position, and I look forward to the opportunity to prove it to you.”
Be Confident in Person
Whether you’re on the phone or in a face-to-face meeting, be confident that you are the one. Before a phone or personal interview, look into a mirror and tell yourself why you believe you will succeed in the interview; why you will get the job; why you will prove to everyone that your are the right choice for this position. In a way, you are your own coach, giving yourself a great pep talk before the game.
But it is not a game; the interview is serious business. That’s why you must have good reasons to support your belief in yourself. “I want,” “I really need,” and “I’ve been rejected so many times,” are not the reasons you’re looking for, and they are not the reasons that will persuade an employer. Remember, the person who is hiring has needs, too; the needs for a competent, reliable, honest, dedicated worker who believes in his or her ability to do the job, and to be a part of the team.
So convince yourself of your worth and your ability. Be confident on paper and in person. Believe in yourself, and let your self-confidence come through in the way you sit, the way you answer questions, and in the kinds of questions you ask. Show that you’re the one who is looking forward to joining this organization.
And believe it; don’t try to fake it. If you don’t have the confidence you need, then go out and get it. Get more education; get wider experience by volunteering or taking on extra jobs; get involved in church or community activities to test your ability to work with others and get the interpersonal experience you need.
But, more than anything else believe in you. If you do, your confidence will come through in every aspect of your writing and speaking. You will be showing me and any other employer that you are the one.
Good luck!
Dewitt Shotts is the Founder of Marketing Solutions, Inc. which serves the proprietary school industry as a full service company for television, media buying, direct mail and hosts the site College & Career Source.
So you are hiring new employees and have narrowed your stack of resumes to the 10 or so top candidates, now it’s time to start setting up interviews. If you dread this portion of the process, you’re not alone. Fortunately, there are some ways to put both yourself and the candidates at ease - and make sure you get all the information you need to make a smart decision. Start by preparing a list of basic interview questions in advance. While you won’t read off this list like a robot, having it in front of you will ensure you cover all the bases and also make sure you ask all the candidates the same questions.
The initial few moments of an interview are the most crucial. As you meet the candidate and shake his or her hand, you will gain a strong impression of his or her poise, confidence and enthusiasm (or lack thereof). Qualities to look for include good communication skills, a neat and clean appearance, and a friendly and enthusiastic manner.
Put the interviewee at ease with a bit of small talk on neutral topics. A good way to break the ice is by explaining the job and describing the company - its business, history and future plans. Then move on to the heart of the interview. You will want to ask about several general areas, such as related experience, skills, educational training or background, and unrelated jobs. Open each area with a general, open-ended question, such as “Tell me about your last job.” Avoid questions that can be answered with a “yes” or “no” or that prompt obvious responses, such as “Are you detail-oriented?” Instead ask questions that force the candidate to go into detail. The best questions are follow-up questions such as “How did that situation come about?” or “Why did you do that?” These queries force applicants to abandon preplanned responses and dig deeper.
Here are some suggestions to get you started:
-If you could design the perfect job for yourself, what would you do? Why?
-What kind of supervisor gets the best work out of you?
-How would you describe your current supervisor?
-How do you structure your time?
-What are three things you like about your current job?
-What were your three biggest accomplishments in your last job? In your career?
-What can you do for our company that no one else can?
-What are your biggest strengths/weaknesses?
-How far do you think you can go in this company? Why?
-What do you expect to be doing in five years?
-What interests you most about this company? This position?
-Describe three situations in which your work was criticized.
-Have you hired people before? If So, what did you look for?
Your candidate’s responses will give you a window into his or her knowledge, attitude and sense of humor. Watch for signs of “sour grapes” about former employers. Also be alert for areas people seem reluctant to talk about. Probe a little deeper without sounding judgmental.
Pay attention to the candidate’s nonverbal cues, too. Does she seem alert and interested, or does she slouch and yawn? Are his clothes wrinkled and stained, or clean and neat? A person who can’t make an effort for the interview certainly won’t make one on the job if hired.
Finally, leave time at the end of the interview for the applicant to ask questions - and pay attention to what he or she asks. This is the time when applicants can really show they have done their homework and researched your company, or rather, that all they care about is what they can get out of the job. Obviously, there is a big difference between the one who says, “I notice that your biggest competitor’s sales have doubled since launching their Web site in January. Do you have any plans to develop a Web site of your own?” and the person who asks, “How long is the lunch break?” Also, candidates who can’t come up with even one question may be demonstrating that they can’t think on their feet.
End the interview by letting the candidate know what to expect next. How much longer will you be interviewing? When can they expect to hear from you? You are dealing with other people’s livelihoods, so the week that you take to finish your interviews can seem like an eternity to them. Show some consideration by keeping them informed. During the interview, jot down notes (without being obvious about it). After the interview, allow five or 10 minutes to write down the applicant’s outstanding qualities and evaluate his or her personality and skills against your job description and specifications.
Jeff Casmer is an internet marketing consultant with career sales over $25,000,000. His “Top Ranked” Earn Money at Home Directory gives you all the information you need to start and prosper with your own Internet Home Based Business.
As more and more people are being laid off and replaced by technology, more and more people are finding themselves unemployed. It is sometimes difficult to find a new job in today’s competitive job market. Every year thousands of people are turning to employment agencies as a way to aid them in their job search. Employment agencies specialize in placing individuals with companies that would be a good fit. These agencies have access to thousands of companies that are looking for employees. By signing up with several different employment agencies you are sure to increase your chance of finding the best job available for you.
Employment in UK is becoming harder and more difficult to find every year as more people are graduating from universities and expanding the talent pool. Employment agencies are always looking to add new companies to recruit for, and new employees to place within these companies. While employment in UK continues to become more competitive, employment agencies such as Adecco, which is very popular in the United States, continue to garner more business every year.
A big plus of employment agencies is that they work for you. They do not get paid by their clients, unless they place you with them. This makes the agency more urgent to get you a job, because if they do not, they may be joining the unemployment ranks.
Like employment agencies in the United States, employment agencies in UK generally do not charge the employee for searching a job out for them. Generally speaking employment agencies find you work cost free! They collect all of their fees from their clients. But nothing is that easy, is it?
Employment agencies also do a good job of screening job seekers. They make their money by placing quality employees with their clients, and relying on repeat business. Therefore agencies must screen applicants to ensure that they will provide quality work. Screening may consist of checking into the applicant’s background, as well as testing at their office. Both language and math may be tested. For the majority of applicant these tests are no problem at all. Employment agencies realize this, but must administer these tests as to cover themselves if something does not work out with their client.
Employment in UK is growing every year, which is a positive sign for job seekers. The growth of the technology sector has opened up jobs for many new graduates, as well as experienced professionals.
Though more jobs are becoming available, competition is also heating up! Employment agencies realize this and are prospecting on a daily basis looking to add new clients, and new applicants to place into jobs. The jobs available do come in thick and fast so new clients will keep all those positions within those new jobs filled.
If you are having a hard time finding a job the traditional way, such as classified ads or networking, check out your local employment agency. They should be able to match you up with a job that fits your needs and skills. What do you have to lose?
Kevin Dark is an online marketer. His upcoming project on employment agencies directory is now available.
There are perhaps as many reasons why work does not get done as there are unfinished tasks laying around.
But lets talk about two major reasons and I guarantee you if and when you fix them, life starts getting easier because work is getting done. By the way, one always assumes “work getting done” means that the particular work done actually bring about a product, which is really needed and can be valued by someone else as useful. And only then will another be willing to pay for it or willing to give something in exchange.
For instance, doing all kinds of work to be organized might well be lots of man-hours wasted for nothing. I am not saying that one should not be organized, one must in fact be organized, but being organized for the purpose of being organized means little or nothing. It very often means only “being busy”!!
So, every task done must have a clear product, which clearly contributes to the end product the company wants to produce. There is much more about this to be said but I hope that the few words will give you enough of an idea so that you maybe take a few moments and look over all action you and your staff do and see what actions simply might be eliminated because they simply do not contribute enough to the end result.
Actions, which do not bring enough return, can and usually do cost you, the practitioner, more money than all the bad investments you ever made.
Work not getting done, even in a small business, over a lifetime means millions of dollars lost. Millions of dollars, which could be used for better servicing patients, even more expansion of your practice and that expansion of course could buy many nice things for you and your family, including having time off!!
The two reasons why work is not getting done are:
1) Not enough people to do the job.
2) Wrongly given orders by executives. (Here we mean that even the smartest person in the world could not execute the orders.)
Number One - Not enough people:
Not enough people to do the job have everything to do with the under-estimation of what it takes to do a certain task. Most bosses as well as workers grossly underestimate the time it takes to perform an action. This underestimation does not even put into calculation the fact that there are always other unexpected tasks that turn up. Unexpected and uncalculated jobs like more work during tax season, some computer break down, an employee becoming sick or otherwise just not having a great day, and I am sure you could have nightmares if you think of all the unexpected and uncalculated tasks which just happened to appear.
Don’t ever think that “Now all the unexpected tasks are done!!” They never will be done and will ALWAYS continue to pop up!!
You see, some management people try to tell you that IF YOU PLAN WELL this will not happen. First of all that is BULL and second of all, if it would be possible, you still would have to have someone doing the task and it still would be true that you would have to have more people do the job!!
Be honest with yourself and look at it - it is not only your employees who do not get the job done in the time you think they should, YOU, the boss, is just as guilty of it. Go ahead, be honest with yourself - the above will make much more sense and will open the gates to getting the jobs on hand done and thus make money hands over fist. At this moment you probably think that it is impossible to have more people because you already cannot make payroll. I understand but at this juncture you have not much choice than trusting me. Most of the tasks not getting done are usually tasks that have to do with the creating of new patients and selling them, treating their needs.
Number Two - Wrongly given orders by executives:
This is equally as devastating as not having enough staff. Probably even more so, since I, after all, know lots of doctors and business people who have plenty of personnel and still get nothing done! Sure, it is easy to blame the workers, and no doubt, I know from personally having been in charge of up to 1000 workers that some employees definitely must go. Some employees are simply beyond repair and are down right lazy, or more correctly, are unwilling. But more often than that, it is the UN-DOABLE ORDERS from executives, which snarl the whole production progress up.
You see, I am a bit lazy too which is why I have learned how to give correct orders which can be executed so I don’t have to do it all myself!
I have written a long article with some real life examples for Doctors called “How to Get the Job Done” which you can later read but for now lets just get to the basics.
Most orders that an executive gives are actually not executable because the order talks about something, which means something different to different people. Like it or not, “clean the room” means something very different to a 12 year old than to a meticulous housekeeper!
“Organize the office” - means what? To me personally, it would maybe mean to get everyone on the phones and call clients and prospects and get them in the office so we can enlighten them about our service. To you it might mean clean the office, put the boxes away, etc. To your office manager it might mean to get into the computer to clean up the misspellings in the patients’ records and tell the rest of the workers to be friendlier to patients as well as work harder. (”Being friendly and work harder” of course would be another set of undoable orders)
Can you see that?
What is friendly to one is not necessarily friendly to someone else. Even “file the patients charts” obviously needs more explanation. This above example may jog your memory so you can look over all the times you or your executives gave one of those more or less undoable orders.
Now, remember to look and search for some more concrete examples but please to not forget, or underestimate the effort it will take to start giving DOABLE ORDERS!
Look doctor, you worked hard on getting yourself so well educated and it took quite some effort. What would you think if your son or daughter would tell you that going to school and putting in some sweat and enduring some inconveniences is not worth it and he or she rather start washing dishes in some restaurant or doing filing work in some office because it makes immediate money and is not so demanding on their social life!
What would you think or do?
You doctors, being well-educated and having paid some dues and having all the pressures in life, are sometimes very much inclined to NOT LEARN NEW THINGS because they involve too much time, sweat and inconvenience. But you will, pay the price (as your children would) in the form of unnecessary hardship for many years to come. You know that success would be almost impossible!
Now that you have read this issue I can honestly say that any “financial hardship” or having to work hard without the appropriate rewards which you may encounter in the future, WILL BE SELF-IMPOSED!
You don’t have to do all the work yourself - in fact you can’t. But you also must learn what all the great leaders somehow know or have learned: give do-able orders. It’s easer done than said! Yes you heard me right - it is easier done than said.
Try it - or better, just DO it and love it!!
Read the issue “How to Get the Job Done” in our Mass Marketing Program.
Contained in this issue are examples only, and only some very few examples - you must work daily on breaking your orders in series of doable steps ensuring the results you envision. It is sort like an illness. You don’t say get the fever down. So why would you say “get collection up”? No, you say “do test 1, do test 2, do test 3″. Then you say: “Give that medicine and do that and that”.
OK, have fun giving orders, which can be executed, but most importantly start making money because work is getting done.
Helmut Flasch is a marketing consultant who uses Un-advertising rather than the traditional advertising methods. Find out more information about his marketing strategy at Un-Advertising Info.
To make a blended eMentoring & eLearning initiative a reality, a healthcare organization would need a web-based, total communication solution which would allow individuals to collaborate anywhere and anytime for improved productivity. Specific collaboration tools would include: Email, Instant Messaging, Video Conferencing, Desktop Sharing, Co-browsing, File Sharing, Internet Phone with Voicemail, Group Collaboration, Discussion Groups, Web Collaboration, and Virtual Classrooms.
In particular, one of the challenges of any new mentoring relationship is the availability of time. Traditional mentoring requires that both parties be available at the same time to meet in person. While time is always a factor in any mentoring partnership, it is not necessary for both participants to be available at the same time in a virtual mentoring relationship. Advantages include open correspondence, access to more geographically isolated regions, and efficiency of communication.
Many healthcare professionals feel that there isn
Would you like to reduce employee turnover? Who wouldn’t? Do an internet search of “reduce employee turnover” and you will get lots of technical and complicated advice. Actually reducing turnover is a lot simpler than what many of the articles prescribe. The solution is simple, place the right people in the right job, recognize their performance, reward them occasionally, and treat them with respect. Yes money and benefits are important but study after study proves that they aren’t the most important factors in employee retention.
So why do companies not focus on this issue? There are lots of reasons I hear but frankly they all amount to weak excuses. Take a look at the companies in any industry and you will find a number with high turnover and some with low turnover. The difference is caused by just subtle, but very effective, differences in their hiring and retention strategies. Of course the first step is to have a strategy! Here is a simple four step process to get your employee turnover lower.
First, use a validated and legal pre employment test to screen out people with a poor work ethic and bad attitude that make it through normal hiring processes. They typically take about 20 minutes and they reveal more about that candidate then you will ever get in an interview, job app or background check. Average cost $20. Let someone else hire the riff raff.
Second, use a job fit assessment to match the right people to the right job. A person may interview well, have the right education and background, but doesn’t mean they fit the job. Find out if they have the same profile as your top performers. To do this is very simple with the employee assessment tools available. They are easy to use and understand, and will help you determine if the candidate fits the job. Average time is about 30 minutes with a cost under $100.
Third, do employee evaluations regularly. People need feedback, good or bad. How can we expect change if we don’t communicate? Use a simple online system, so administration is a snap and there are no excuses for not getting them done. Remember, people leave supervisors, not companies. They take about an hour to prepare and about the same to present, with a cost of about $25.
Finally, implement an employee recognition program. Reward employees with gifts on service anniversaries or to recognize significant achievements. People need this recognition and, once again, there are all sorts of online employee recognition programs that are easy to implement. You control the budget but a nice $25 gift says a lot and only takes a few minutes to do. Most importantly, say thank you. It’s free and it goes a long way to making people feel happy and appreciated.
So for a modest investment and very little time, you can reduce employee turnover significantly. That will give you a substantial return, given the high cost of turnover. If you are a company suffering from high turnover, take a look at these four easy steps and get on the road to improvement.
For information on the solutions to handle this issue, contact Robert A. Cameron. He helps employers improve the effectiveness of employee selection, hiring and development. They can be reached at 954-385-8701 or visit their website at http://www.racameron.com