Taking care of each other.

I think there's a lot of emphasis on taking care of our residents. They need to be kept as healthy, safe, and comfortable as possible. What I think we need to talk about more is taking care of our co-workers. Obviously, the residents come first, but taking care of each other eliminates frustration, hard feelings and delays in caring for our residents.

In the last month, I'll bet I've heard "that's the next shift's job" at least six times. Six times too many, as far as I'm concerned. In the last month, how many times have I had to go running for something that should have been in the resident's room, but wasn't because the previous shift used it up, but didn't replace it? Probably twenty.

It would make all our lives easier if we would remember that doing one extra job might make it just a bit more efficient for the next shift. The workers probably won't notice it, but you can bet the residents will.