Knowing scientific management theory
Knowing scientific management theory as defined as supervising by way of focusing on task accomplishments rather than interpersonal relationships (Huber 2014). Some routines in health care that seem to be inefficient in regards to scientific management are the overwhelming focus on tasks, the evaluations based on tasks accomplished, and the pressure to join committees to add more tasks to nurses’ duties. A lot of times nurses have trouble tending to the needs of their patients because they are so focused on getting the tasks done so as to not get in trouble. Many times tasks are added to the nurses’ workload making it hard to complete everything on time. This causes incidental overtime which is also greatly frowned upon. Finally, the committees are supposed to be a good thing, allowing nurses to participate in shared governance. The issue arises when the requirements for the committees capitalize on the time the nurse should be working or decompressing from the stress of daily work. Some examples of participative decision-making at the hospital that I work at are unit forums and shared governance council. The unit forums allow for nurses and aides in the unit to meet and discuss issues to resolve amongst themselves. Shared governance councils allow for nurses to meet with administration to discuss issues at the bedside that can only be fixed by administration.
Comment 2
The scientific management theory states that humans are motivated by money, and there should be a separation between managers and workers. The expected result is a dramatic increase in productivity of the workers and profits for the organization. Some of the routines in the health care setting that are inefficient is nurse-to-patient ratio and staff retention. I feel the nurse-to-patient ratios are unsafe as it overloads the nurse and nursing assistants in carrying for high acuity patients with a higher prevalence of medical errors and oversight. When staffing is is done according to census instead of census it creates an unsafe environment for the patients and the staff. Without adequate staffing, patient care is inadequate and the patients suffer. Which in turns causes patient surveys to report negative feedback giving the hospital low numbers.Staff retention is important to ensure there is adequate staff to meet the demands of an aging population with numerous chronic illnesses. When facilities ignore the concerns of staff or do not provide attempt to implement change that benefits the staff and the patients, morale falls and staff leave. When nurses feel their safety and license are in jeopardy, they will seek out a better work environment they feel safe in. The facility I work for currently does annual retention surveys that allow its employees to voice any concerns and share what they feel the facility is doing well or could improve on. The nurses are asked various questions in regards to the leaders and managers they work directly under and whether their needs are being addressed. The facility offers committees that focus on allowing staff to have voice. Some include unit base council for each unit of the facility, committee for staffing concerns and safety committees that focus on sentinel events.