How To Appreciative: My Experience As A Clinical Nurse

After twenty years of working as a nurse in both hospital and outpatient organizations, I accepted a position as an admission nurse with a national hospice provider. Almost immediately, I noticed a tremendous sense of unity among the staff and a team spirit that I had never experienced before. The communication skills between the different staff members were superior to any that I had ever witnessed. The entire team from the receptionist to the Medical Director and everyone in between encouraged and supported each other. The motto among the staff was, “am I doing all I can to help others.” It was clear from the start that the organization and management team shared a common vision and actively practiced the appreciative inquiry principles.

I learned that the work environment at this hospice company had not always been positive. Within the previous three years, a new manager had taken over and brought with her the determination to focus on what worked well and modeled the behavior she wanted to see in others. Over time it was apparent that the management team believed in many of the ideals seen with …show more content…
I witnessed both the employee engagement and quality indicator scores rise as a result of the accomplished leadership team who used appreciative inquiry and transformational skill to improve organizational communication, team morale, and patient safety concerns (Grossman & Valiga, 2017). The management team practiced the philosophy described by Grossman and Valiga (2017) where all team members were encouraged to let their voices be heard and participate in the multidisciplinary plans of care utilized for each patient. To ensure that each discipline brought their unique perspective during the patient care huddles, the leader of the meeting rotated each week among the different team members allowing and encouraging active participation from everyone on the