Any hospital supervisor can tell you that pre-shift briefings are an essential part of the efficient running of a facility. Not only do pre-shift meetings benefit the facility as a whole, but they are important for every nurse and supportive staff member on the shift. Here are five benefits of an effective shift briefing:
1.Communication
Pre-shift meetings help to open the lines of communication. Hospitals and clinics run at a fast pace, it can be difficult for first shift to speak with second, and for second shift to speak with third. By holding a ten or 15 minute pre-shift briefing, you take a moment to slow down and open the lines of communication. You can express your expectations for the shift one time, allow the opportunity for feedback, and give leaving and entering shifts a chance to speak with one another.
2.Motivation
Use the pre-shift meeting to your advantage and come up with ways to motivate your staff. Spend a few minutes praising your nurses and supportive staff for the things that they have done correctly and any initiative that they have shown. If you have things that need to be said that may hurt feelings or cause the meeting to have a negative slant, say these things in private. You never want to start an employee’s shift by disciplining them in front of others.
3.Touch on Basics
If there are things that must be focused on during the shift, a pre-shift briefing will allow you to touch on them briefly. Your staff will be better directed when you can refer to something that they’ve already been told. People don’t work well with surprises and contradictions. Plant the seeds at the briefing for the tasks and duties that your staff should concentrate on during their shift. If these things will be a continuation of tasks started during the previous shift, ask the exiting employees to explain where they left off and what still needs to be accomplished.
4.Address Concerns
Having a meeting before each shift will allow your employees to voice their questions and concerns regarding their assignments. If one person has a question, you can rest assured someone else is asking the same thing in his or her mind. By addressing these concerns in a group setting, not only will you clear the air, but you’ll avoid having to repeat yourself several times throughout the shift. You may also want to address any patient concerns that have been raised, provided these concerns aren’t directed at a single employee.
5.Appearance
While it may seem like you’re nit-picking, a pre-shift briefing will give you the opportunity to make sure that everyone is adhering to the facility’s dress code. If, for instance, every nurse is to be dressed in ceil-blue scrubs, you can easily see that everyone is dressed as they should be. A pre-shift briefing will give you the opportunity to discover if you have one or more employees that are consistently out of code or trying to stage their own mini-rebellion.
If you work in a hospital, you work with shifts. Any manager who is in charge of a shift of people should quickly learn the benefits of pre-shift briefings. If you want your staff to be happier, more productive and operate more efficiently, the benefits of these pre-shift meetings cannot be overlooked.
– Sharon Smith writes for health blogs. Nursing supervisors have a difficult task in keeping the hospitals adequately staffed at the proper times. Several hospitals use nurse scheduling software to help them with the scheduling.
