The agenda

I was sitting in a high-profile meeting, looking at the agenda, when I realized I was in the right place at the wrong time. Or should I say the right time in the wrong place? With its never-ending, nonstop demands to improve, the place I’m referring to felt like a roller coaster. Or was it a new type of management syndrome that had come over us? It was like stepping into a marketplace where everyone wants to sell a bigger and better idea, and become famous. Or was I watching a movie?

Some of the latest concepts and terms were included in the vision and value statements we were considering: excellence, integrative, quality, culture, caring, competence, accountability, responsiveness, integrity and value-based. The words were academically sound, but the challenge was to develop another strategy to build the image of nursing around the world. While still contemplating nursing’s global image, my thoughts jumped to the strategies that were being discussed with regard to nursing agencies and specialties.

How do you sustain competencies of nurses in an environment where Continuous Professional Development (CPD) is not yet a legal requirement? The answer, naturally, has become: Design a new plan, but not just an informal or in-service training program. I remembered that a comprehensive service plan, occupation-specific dispensation plan and annual performance-level plan were already in place, but I suddenly could not recall what the comprehensive service plan was all about.

Staffing is always a standing item on an agenda, and answers were sought with regard to the huge number of retiring nurses, available posts, creating new posts, norms and standards for staff members versus patients, orientation and induction policies, mentoring and coaching programs, succession planning and continuous development of all categories of nurses. Need I continue with the list?

It appeared that new committees had to be established. Listed on the agenda for the next meeting were nominating procedures for the terms-of-reference committee, adjudication committee and succession-planning committee.

Suddenly, I got tired of keeping the minutes.

For Reflections on Nursing Leadership (RNL), published by the Honor Society of Nursing, Sigma Theta Tau International.