The Importance Of Continuing Professional Development For Nurses At Wesley Hospital And Election Of WHS/OHS Representative

Continuing Professional Development for Nurses at Wesley Hospital

My project will focus on the importance of Continuing Professional Development (CPD) for me as a nurse at Wesley Hospital, a non-profit private hospital operated and owned by The Uniting Church of Australia. As a nurse, Continuing Professional Development will assist me in maintaining, improving and broadening my skills and knowledge and developing personal attributes which are important in the dynamic field of healthcare. CPD is important in enhancing professional and personal skills. Therefore, as a nurse at Wesley Hospital, I need to have a plan for professional development as it is a career-long process which is essential due to the growth of resources in the organization. CPD assists in promoting self-learning and addresses all inadequacies in previous knowledge and learning.

1. Develop a professional development plan for the next year – this should include relevant training in personal leadership and self-management

• Customer service strategy(introduction of add-on selling products – encouraging customers to purchase further items with the products they have already committed to purchasing. By adding small products to the P.O.S area, salespeople to offer complementary products to larger sales before attending P.O.S area.)
• Continuous improvement strategy(introduction of reporting procedures including reporting statistical data of product purchased such as how many products were purchased and what time of the day. Filling in new document templates to report these issues.)
• Administrative protocols(Requirements to obtain comparative quotes for goods and services including providing an explanation of how the opening was advertised and outlining what efforts were made to negotiate better value service and/or goods provision.  )
• WHS/OHS Practices (election of new staff representative for WHS/OHS Committee including recruiting potential candidates for the role. Advertising the vacancy and publicizing the election process.)

1. Vacancy announcement

The board of management wishes to announce a vacancy for the position of WHS/OHS committee representative. The WHS/OHS committee representative will have different roles and responsibilities including:

1. seeking the assistance of seniors whenever necessary;
2. attending interviews relating to organizational health and safety  as per the members’ request;

• request for the establishment of a committee for OHS

1. accompanying inspectors during the workplace inspection
2. Inspecting all parts of the company where DWG members work at any time.
3. Publicizing the election process

All members of a designated work group (DWG) will be electing an OHS committee representative, who will be a member of the designated work group and who has never been disqualified from serving as an OHS representative. The designated workgroup members will have the authority of deciding on how the election will be run. In addition, they will be mandated to consult the authority in case of any disagreement. The designated work group members will hold a meeting and elect the OHS representative by raising their hands to avoid a complex process of election.

1. Nominating potential candidates for the role

Nominating potential candidates for the role of OHS representative shall be made on the official nomination form and supported by a member of the designated work group. Workgroups with only one nomination received will be required to conduct an online election. Designated workgroups with more than one health and safety representative nominations received, the candidates received will be appointed by the returning officer. Furthermore, the election will be held online if the people nominated are more than the available vacancies.

Detailed implementation plan for chosen change:

• How would you apply your leadership style to the process?

(Discuss this in relation to transformational and transactional leadership).

I would use transactional and transformational leadership in the process of electing a new staff representative for WHS/OHS Committee. According to Shields (2010) transactional leadership aims at execution and planning while transformational leadership is focused on innovation. Through transformational leadership, I would create new opportunities for the members of the designated workgroup to become WHS/OHS committee representatives.

• How would you model and encourage collaboration?

(Design a communication strategy that would incorporate collaboration in the process)

Election of New Representative for WHS/OHS Committee

Collaboration in the workplace is when several people work together towards solving a common problem (Robertson & Huang, 2009). I would encourage collaboration by making it about specific goals, encouraging communication, building a culture of connectivity and keeping everyone informed and discussions focused. By building a proper communication strategy, I would have ensured that collaboration has been implemented in the strategy.

Communication Strategy:

• How would you ensure you controlled your own emotions through the process?

(Particularly when people become un-cooperative and are not happy with changes made).

Stressful situations like staff layoff, budget cuts, uncooperative employees and resistance to departmental changes usually cause emotions (Gray, 2009). Various people may not be happy with the implemented changes which may lead to disappointments. Dealing with disappointment in the workplace is challenging since it may affect my productivity. To control my emotions, I would meditate on my mindset and understand that people may not always a welcome change. Through smiling and relaxing, I would ensure that I get over my disappointment. Furthermore, I would try to work around the problem by identifying its cause.

• How would you evaluate your own performance throughout the change process?

I would evaluate performance by reviewing the whole process and ascertaining whether it worked as planned. Looking at whether the goal of the change process has been accomplished would assist in determining whether the change process has been successful or not.

• Discuss your role and task description as a leader throughout the change process.

According to Bryman (2013) leadership is a style of a leader of the provision of direction, implementation of plans and motivation of people. My role as a leader would be to ensure that the change process runs smoothly. In addition, I would ensure that the election has been conducted in a free and fair manner for members to elect the representative of their choice.

1. Present the implementation plans to the team members:
   • Discuss the changes

The implemented changes include the election of new staff representative for WHS/OHS Committee including recruiting potential candidates for the role. The process has ensured that there is a duly elected person in place, who will represent the staff in the WHS/OHS committee.

• Discuss the legislation relating to changes

The legislation relating to the election of WHS/OHS representatives is the Occupational Health and Safety Act (2004). The Acts’ main objective is to ensure the welfare, safety and health of employees and for the achievement of a healthy and safe work environment.

• Discuss the expected results of the changes

The WHS/OHS representative will represent members of the designated work group in all matters relating to workplace health and safety with the employers themselves or their representatives.

• Encourage collaboration, consultation and contributions from the group

The designated work group should ensure that they contribute to electing the representative and should collaborate and consult with each other regarding the eligibility of specific candidates. Collaboration in the election process will ensure that the members elect a representative of their choice.

• Encourage feedback from the group

Members of the designated work group should give feedback by sharing their thoughts on the fairness and satisfaction in the entire election process. Sharing their thoughts will ensure that the leader understands and estimates the level of success in electing the WHS/OHS representative.

Conclusion

Achieving continuous competence requires employees to practice continuous professional development. CPD is crucial for professionals at Wesley Hospital as it plays an important part for a successful system in healthcare and its practice. In addition, having a duly elected WHS/OHS representative ensures that the members of the designated work group are well-represented in all matters relating to workplace health and safety with employers.

References

Bryman, A. (2013). Leadership and Organizations (RLE: Organizations). Routledge.

Gray, B. (2009). The emotional labour of nursing–Defining and managing emotions in nursing work. Nurse Education Today, 29(2), 168-175.

Robertson, M. M., & Huang, Y. H. (2009). Effect of a workplace design and training intervention on individual performance, group effectiveness and collaboration: The role of environmental control. Work, 27(1), 3-12.

Shields, C. M. (2010). Transformative leadership: Working for equity in diverse contexts. Educational administration quarterly, 46(4), 558-589.