First Fridays: Celebrating the Nursing Profession

First Fridays: Celebrating the Nursing Profession
   Staff nurse engagement is critical to implementing change within the work environment.  In a large, urban medical center, there was a need to implement a new parent education program to meet the needs of our ethnically diverse patients.  However, there was considerable staff resistance to a change in practice.  To try to understand this resistance, twenty staff nurses were asked about how they viewed the profession of nursing, what motivated them about their work, and the meaning of team work and its relationship to quality patient care outcomes.  For these nurses, all agreed that nursing was a childhood dream, and most viewed nursing as a profession due to educational and licensing requirements.  However most expressed that an increased number of tasks conflicted with the professional aspects of nursing.  Rather than trying to find ways to resolve this conflict, most nurses seemed to become disengaged with patient care.
   From these interviews, a program was developed to reengage staff nurses in their practice in a positive, professional way.  First Fridays is a staff development program that celebrates the joy and complexity of nursing through the use of artistic expression.  In the first three sessions, a performance artist used storytelling and song to convey messages that everyone can make a difference, that determination and personal perseverance are essential, and that keeping promises to yourself and others is important.  These messages were reinforced by the use of creative teambuilding activities such as interactive games.  Nurse managers provide direct patient care to enable the staff to participate, and a few nurse managers serve refreshments to the staff at the session.  These actions demonstrated to the staff that the managers value the staff nurse role in the organization.
   Staff evaluation of the program is overwhelmingly positive with active discussion for weeks after each session about the “message” received.  Focus group techniques will be used to evaluate program effects and to make necessary adjustments to the program in order to sustain it long term.  Results from these focus groups will be presented.   
   Many organizations struggle with issues surrounding staff disengagement.  This innovative program offers one way to change work culture by reengaging nurses in their professional role.