Step 1 Read the scenario.You are one year into your first nurse manager position, and you have noticed that your staffing is way below average. Your turnover rate is 13%, and you have noticed that new RNs stay only about six to nine months after orientation. You are hearing complaints from staff about constantly orienting new RNs. You also hear patient complaints that staff members are not anticipating their needs. This is affecting your budget, staff morale, and patient outcomes. Additionally, a number of documentation and medication errors have occurred over the last three months, and these mistakes are contributing to poor patient outcomes.Step 2 Post your response to the discussion board.Discuss short- and long-term decisions to help alleviate problems on your unit. Respond to the following questions and, if it's relevant, include your own personal experience:Discuss the concerns of this unit and any priorities that will need to be analyzed immediately.Explain your short-term (zero- to six-month) decisions and plan.Describe your long-term decisions and your rationale for making these decisions.Step 3 Read other students’ posts and respond to at least two of them by Friday at 11:59pm Mountain Time.Use your personal experience, if it's relevant, to support or debate other students' posts. If differences of opinion occur, debate the issues professionally and provide examples to support opinions.Peer Discussion 1 (Patricia)This scenario is very similar to one I experienced recently and explores some very important issues in my area of behavioral health.Short term decisions (0-6 months)My unit was made up of a team of nurses, social workers, psychiatrists, technicians, and a pharmacist and for this team to function effectively, we needed collaboration and cooperation between the members (Team management principles, n.d., slide 4). My initial step as a manager would be to speak to and listen to each member of the team to ascertain where the problem areas are and attempt to address those issues in order of importance. The first priority is the negative effect on patient outcomes and reinforcing that patient care is paramount. Some other short-term items I would address are:Is additional training needed? Medication and charting errors must be reduced. Is there adequate communication between team members? Are additional resources needed to improve the situation? How can I improve morale? (Recognition, small gifts, time off?) I would ensure that all the members of the team felt respected and their problems were serious enough to be addressed.From a personal perspective, my recent experience led to my resignation and the main problem was a complete lack of response or action from management for a serious safety issue that was reported on more than one occasion over many months. This issue negatively affected the safety of patients, the staff working with me, and staff morale. The impression I got was that the administration of our unit was professionally unqualified and uneducated on the actual workings of the unit and despite numerous resignations, did not feel the need to change anything. "Nurse managers and their actions have an impact on staff motivation" (Finkelman, 2015, p. 222).Long term decisionsStaff turnover is very expensive for the healthcare organization due to costs of orientation and training of new staff, arranging cover for vacant posts, increased preceptor time and unproductive staff while training (Finkelman, 2015). To improve the retention of staff, I would implement the following:Additional administrative support and professional development Promote teamwork Improve staff orientation and perform annual evaluations Provide prompt feedback to staff Ensure open communication between team members and management Offer competitive salaries and benefits (Team management principles, n.d., slide 19). These items will address staff support, improve communication between team members, reduce turnover, improve staff morale and patient care, and retain staff that is well-trained and professional.ReferencesFinkelman, A. (2015). Leadership and management for nurses: core competencies for quality care. (3rd ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson. https://online.vitalsource.com/#/books/9781323400449/cfi/6/2[;vnd.vst.idref=cover]!Peer Discussion 2 (Kristen)The biggest concern from this scenario is patient safety. There are poor patient outcomes due to medication errors and documentation. My first step in a plan to alleviate this problem would be to increase my knowledge to be an effective manager. “A new nurse manager needs to increase their knowledge in the areas of communication skills, time management, and delegation if they are to grow from their previous position as a staff nurse” (Pearson, n.d.). I will need to speak with all staff nurses to understand what changes they see that need to be fixed and how mediation errors can be reduced. Things that go in account would be, errors occurring because of low staff numbers or additional education needed for staff nurses. My next step would be to provide support to the staff. “By offering support such as coming in to unit and assisting with staffing crisis, allows the staff nurses to know they matter” (Pearson, n.d.). Also, it is important to promote teamwork. When everyone works together, it allows for the best possible care for all the patients. Another goal would be to complete evaluations with each staff nurse and provides appropriate feedback. By completing evaluations, the staff are acknowledged of their hard work and job performance. My long-term goal is to have a well-functioning environment on my unit. This will be completed by completing increasing my nurse manager knowledge, providing evaluations and feedback, and offering support to all staff nurses. Reference:Pearson. (n.d.). TOPIC 03: Professional Development. Retrieved August 10, 2020, from https://media.pearsoncmg.com/pls/us/edaff/13236026...

Let me know if you have any questions...PS. My nutrition/ eating goal is to not eat fast food 3 days out of the week