It’s been a minute since shared governance put on a college fair at the hospital.
There are a myriad of reasons so go ahead and pick one.
- The pandemic. The four bulwark members were on zoom meeting for over a year.
- Lack of interest by hospital members. We were too tired, too demoralized by watching the public ignore common sense protections. See reason 1.
- The Great Resignation. This hurt the hospital in so many ways as people sought to make more and go to travel nursing or people left the profession all together because of, you guessed it, reason 1.
But now the units are bulking up their shared governance presence and interest. Even though some departments are still hurting for staffing they survive.
Seems like the perfect time to stage a comeback for the hospital college fair.
At one of the last college fairs we did, there was an overarching theme of “What if healthcare isn’t what I want to do for the rest of my life?” There were a few requests for colleges and trade schools that were not healthcare related.
Fair enough. Because not only do we have nurses and techs and CNAs who want to further their education, they also might have husbands and wives and children who want to do so as well.
I want to make this fall’s college fair at the hospital the most inclusive one yet.
Nursing schools will be represented.
But so will schools that have something other than nursing.
I have to start calling and emailing places soon.
Just as soon as we have a firm date. You know, other than “fall”.
Ideally it would be just before or in the of tuition reimbursement application window. Those dates I know.
Wish me luck. I already informed the president of the hospital that this was something shared governance was hoping to host in the fall. I also laid out the reasons for inviting not healthcare related school. They were fine with it although they would prefer that the team members stay at the hospital.
Again, fair. But we have to allow those team members who want to fly to fly.
You know?
Dispatches from the Evening Shift 