Why nurses come to the Nursing Salon October 2, 2007
Posted by mariemanthey in Conversations.Tags: reflective process, Salon, self-care
add a comment
I decided to query email list I use to inform people when the Salon is scheduled about why they even come to this event. Everyone is soooooo busy, there are many reasons why not to come. Every once in awhile, I’ll send you their answers to that question. Here are two:
The reason I show-up at the salon is for an up-close and personal dialogue about the state of nursing in a variety of settings. Thank goodness we have so many different attractions to different populations and different settings.
That makes for many career options and we all have a slightly different “take” on the state of healthcare and the state of nursing.I also find the different organizational stances really interesting. It makes me feel less alone in both the intimate and public struggle of healthcare. Sometimes it is a transcendent experience, like after the bridge collapsed and Marty said she felt “we built a bridge here today” as our conversation kept veering back to that sad event. Other times I get my energy rev-ed up and then feel a bit of a let down as action is up to me and I don’t always see a way. Most of the time the Salon is a great reflective process to feed my brain and my soul. I get nourished by the people via their hope, humor, and honesty. The expectation to just “BE” in the setting of confidentiality and a meal is pure presence that I have not had very often as an adult and never in my professional life.
In today’s climate of the “Rage Industry,” and where Target customers are called guests, and patients are called consumers, I can come back to my core of nursing in a gentle and intelligent way with good conversation. I find it very good medicine!
DG
Hi Marie,
I came to the first salon having no expectations nor a full understanding of what I was going to experience. What I found was a diverse group of people that care about nursing and where it is headed. I loved that it was an informal opportunity to explore and express ideas that had been percolating without a ready outlet.I came back because I think it is a great chance for people to expand their experiences as nurses beyond their chosen patient population and see nursing as a whole. Though we may choose to work with different patient populations we see mainly the same issues arise on every level whether it be short staffing, inadequate leadership (both formal and informal), or lack of participation in unit related activities.
We also share the same love for our patients and their families no matter what their age. We all felt a calling to nursing, and sometimes we need a reminder of what that calling was and why we worked so hard to answer it. I found this when I attended my first salon, and I hope to continue to renew my passion for nursing and search for further solutions through future meetings. Thank you for the opportunity!
Sincerely
HG
Salon Update June 18, 2007
Posted by manthey in Conversations.Tags: blog, Salon
add a comment
The Nursing Salon has enjoyed some good publicity in the current issue (May/June) of NurseWeek. We continue to experience, with the Salon, a healing of the hurts sometimes created by deep-seated problems within nursing practice. A sense of hope continues to be the most prevalent content on our check-out at the end of each discussion. No matter the number of people, no matter the age, no matter the level of education (we have LPNs and PhDs) no matter the specialty, no matter the setting — when we come together to talk about what is currently on our mind about nursing, the talk is authentic, value-driven, and powerful.
I would love to see this idea spread. I believe some other groups have started up and I would love to hear from you, how it is going. I would be happy to help anyone get another group started, and I have information on how to go about doing so. It is practically stress-free for all of us…..me as the host and all those who come. If anyone wants info or help, email me at mmanthey@chcm.com. I will share our experiences, answer your questions and to what I can to support to your group.
Increased Salon Activity September 5, 2006
Posted by manthey in Conversations.Tags: Code Green, Salon
add a comment
I have always wondered what would happen if salons all over the county were touching the heart of nursing. It looks like I am beginning to find out. Over the weekend, I received this email from Dawn, a nurse in Virginia.
I just wanted to let you know how you have inspired me. I read your article on the Nursing Salon and have since started a nursing salon of my own at hospital. Our salon is a combination book club/discussion group. We read a book and then meet for “lively conversation” and refreshments! We have read Code Green: Money-Driven Hospitals and the Dismantling of Nursing (we used several of your articles and interviews to support the reading and supplement the discussion) and we just finished Suzanne Gordon’s Nursing Against the Odds. The Nursing Salon is fully funded (I applied for a Nursing Morale Grant and was awarded $1,000 from our health system) and so there is absolutely no cost to the participants. We have increased in numbers since beginning in May and presently average 20 participants each month. Thank you so much for all you have contributed (and continue to contribute) to the profession; you are an inspiration to us all.
Dawn, thank you so much, both for your kind words and for starting another salon. I hope your inspire others.
When I first read Code Green, I was sort of heartbroken. It was a book about people I knew and respected tremendously and hospitals I considered among the best in the country from a nursing practice point of view. So I was disheartened. Then I found out about changes at the very top and a refocusing of the facility. I was given the opportunity to conduct rather lengthy interviews with the new CEO and CNO, and my feeling of devastation was greatly relieved. Although the culture changes required in order to merge these two great places was enormous, the new leaders were able to go to the staff for answers about how to improve the situation. Their process and the subsequent turnaround are reported in Creative Nursing a journal published by Creative Health Care Management. You can find a .pdf of that issue here. (And interesting historical note: this issue is also the first published reference to the Nursing Salon in my home.) So, if you didn’t include this latter piece in your book club, it would be helpful to the members of the salon to make this available.
Please keep my blog updated on your salon activities. The same goes for everyone else. Let me know what you are doing. If this idea takes hold, there might be a regular section of the blog devoted to Salon Notes.
Conversations with Ourselves August 29, 2006
Posted by manthey in Conversations, Leadership.Tags: blog, change, Salon
1 comment so far
When I first posted about the overwhelming response to my blog, I left off the comments emailed me by Gary Saltus, a physician colleague. Gary specializes in helping groups through transformational change and is working with CHCM create a program to build Physician/Nurse relationships.
It’s a shame I left Gary’s comments out because they are so vital to this discussion.
Here are the highlights of Gary’s email, followed by my original response (again):
I enjoy and appreciate your constant journey of discovering more and more in nursing and health care. I keep coming back to your primary statement of talking to the different people in health care because it’s something you want to do. I imagine this is your purpose in life at this time –your constant search for discovery, wherever it takes you. I imagine this is the lens you use to see the world: How do we do health care better?
I agree with you about the importance of conversation, but I look at it through my lens of transitioning with individuals, teams, groups, and organizations.
The challenge as I see it is to get the people involved to have these conversations with themselves first, to learn who they are and what their purpose/vision is. They need this self-knowledge so they have the self-permission to present who they are to the interpersonal environment (another individual, team, and group) with confidence.
Before the individual, team, group or organization can tackle the difficult and major issues that you present in you blog, they must go through orientation, differentiation with resultant cohesion conversation with each other first. These are the stages of maturation according to John Cater, PhD at the Gestalt Center for Organization & Systems Development. They also must go through these stages in three phases. Assimilation, differentiation, and manipulation. Each phase brings the system closer with the common denominator being trust. This process is how I facilitate working with groups. So the bottom line is we can’t start tackling the big issues until the system has matured. The dilemma is that organizations don’t think they have the time to let the Nurses/Physicians/Administrators do this group work.
I admire your passion and drive to facilitate change in the Nursing/Health Care arena. Our passions are in attunement. Thanks for including me in your thoughts. I look forward to talking to you in the future about our passions and shared visions.
Gary, thanks so much for your thoughtful and insightful comments. I don’t have the grasp on gestalt that you do…but I definitely get the ‘gist’ of what you are saying. I agree that the transformation has to start with the individual, and then move to groups and teams and that the employing institutions do not yet see the benefit of this kind of staff development.
Throughout my career I’ve been fascinated by how attitudes/behaviors of employees change as institutional and leader values change. I’ve seen so many dramatic changes (both positive and negative) in the lives of patients and nurses that I feel compelled to continue working with these issues. The issue of no time to engage in these discussions is really daunting. Also, the separation between professional cultures has erected many barriers to communication I am beginning to see coming down. Another thing that I find very interesting is that the barriers between nurse educators and practice nurses are also beginning to crack. Real light is beginning to shine through. One of the ways I get to see this is thru the monthly Nursing Salons which I have been doing at my home for the past five years. Attendees vary according to the email lists interests in coming on that evening. It is sort of a blend of the Open Space technology and Socrates Cafe conversation format. I have so enjoyed seeing nurse educators and nurse managers, staff nurses, alternative therapy nurses, public health nurses, etc all sitting around talking about some issue or another in nursing. A retired physician comes whenever he can. And you are right…..it really is about improving Health Care.
Overwhelming Response July 28, 2006
Posted by manthey in Conversations.Tags: Salon
1 comment so far
Wow! This whole activity of blogging has already opened more conversations and doors than I had dreamed of. Thanks so much for your thoughtful and insightful comments. I don’t have the grasp on gestalt that you do…..but I definitely get the ‘gist’ of what you are saying. I agree that the transformation has to start with the individual, and then move to groups and teams and that the employing institutions do not yet see the benefit of this kind of staff development.
Throughout my career I’ve been fascinated by how attitudes/behaviors of employees change as institutional and leader values change. I’ve seen so many dramatic changes (both positive and negative) in the lives of patients and nurses that I feel compelled to continue working with these issues.
The issue of no time to engage in these discussions is really daunting. Also, the separation between professional cultures has erected many barriers to communication I am beginning to see coming down. Another thing that I find very interesting is that the barriers between nurse educators and practice nurses are also beginning to crack. Real light is beginning to shine through. One of the ways I get to see this is thru the monthly gatherings at my home I’ve been doing for the past five years. Attendees vary according to the email lists interests in coming on that evening. It is sort of a blend of the Open Space technology and Socrates Cafe conversation format. I have so enjoyed seeing nurse educators and nurse managers, staff nurses, alternative therapy nurses, public health nurses, etc all sitting around talking about some issue or another in nursing. A retired physician comes whenever he can. And you are right…..it really is about improving Health Care.
Note: When I first posted this, I left off the comments emailed me by Gary Saltus, a physician colleague, which is a shame because they are so vital to this discussion. Read Gary’s comments here.
Going Live March 31, 2006
Posted by manthey in Conversations, Professional Practice.Tags: blog, nurse-patient relationship, Salon
add a comment
So, here we are: after a few months of talking planning and learning by trial and error, we are ready to get my blog up and out there for everyone to see. I go forward in this with very mixed feelings.
First of all I’m excited because I see this as a new way for nurses to come together, discuss important issues, gain strength and focus while recognizing and respecting differences. I believe this kind of discussion will clarify our understanding of complex issues and help us discover new truths.
That is the good news. The hesitation is because I’m not exactly sure what a blog is and exactly how it works. Friends of mine in the office of Creative Health Care Management are helping me with all that and assure me it is a good idea and entirely doable. So….here goes.
I’ve always believed that professional nursing occurs at the point of interaction between the RN and the patient whether that is the bedside in the hospital; the exam room in the office or clinic; or in the patient’s home. So to me, the staff nurse position is the one we need to focus on for development, enrichment and support.
I’ve enjoyed the big challenge of tackling and removing the barriers, both external and internal, which interfere with the nurse delivering the very, very highest level of competent compassionate care during those moments of interaction with the patient. This has involved changing the focus of management to leadership. That means the individual staff nurse’ must mature and develop enough to manage his or her self, relationships, and practice. It also means organizations have to change so they support creative problem solving of the staff nurse at the bedside. Obviously this has been ‘a tall order’. But Primary Nursing was a giant leap forward from which many lessons were learned that are still being operationalized today.
In all my 50 years in this field, I have never been so convinced that we have what it takes to move nursing into true mature professionhood. I have a profound sense of the changes in organizational dynamics that has occurred in my lifetime. Every time I speak with a group of nurses, I am amazed and energized by the incredible passion for patient care alive in nursing today.
A few years ago, I started a Nursing Salon. My intent was to bring nurses together to talk about the big issues of the day and to get in touch with the down-deep values of nursing. These Salon meetings always restored our hope.
Our cumulative wisdom is now so much more accessible due to the electronic revolution. Nurses from all around the world, in all settings and specialties can pool our experience and knowledge, thus increasing the intellectual capital available to all of us in the field. I hope this blog can play a role in energizing and informing the lives of those who visit.
