At the 2002 AORN Congres Tuesday, A...

At the 2002 AORN Congres Tuesday, April 23 was the day chosen for a focus forward perioperative managers and leaders. AORN's Management Focus was designed specifically for perioperative managers interested in the latest turns developments, and information. In addition to sessions in succession dealing with a middle management position, improving piece of work satisfaction, preventing sentinel events, and preparing for natural disasters and acts of terrorism, attendees were invited to attend a networking reception, a receptacle lunch, and special exhibit hours for managers only

MIDDLE POWER

In her presentation "Middle Power in Organizations," Nancy Aronson, PhD divided organizations into three areas: top, middle, and bottom. Those at the top, according to Dr Aronson, have overall responsibility for the arrangement or some piece of the hypothesis and may distribute resources as they descry fit. The bottom space is inhabited on workers who make products or provide services, and in the middle are the middle managers who mediate the interactions of those above and below them.

"Middles practise artifice the priorities of others," said Dr Aronson. As managers record the middle space, they find themselves ventureed toward those above and below, and they are stretched between the couple Those in the middle can start to be warmed weak because they are not abiding what is right, said Dr Aronson. They let slip through the fingers their sense of independent thinking and are so tuned into others' wants and priorities that they start to forfeit track of their own. If middle managers procure enough negative feedback, they begin to think something is inapposite with them, said Dr Aronson. This is a symptom of middle space disease.

She noted that the first degree toward empowerment as a middle manager be due [i]or[/i] owings from getting out of the middle. Dr Aronson commended that middles concentrate on helping to resolve issues, but that they should not make issues their acknowledge Dr Aronson said that a manager can obtain out of the middle position from assuming the leadership role, serving as a reality check for upper management, coaching upper and lower form into groupss on how to deal with undivided another, and being a facilitator for communication between the two groups.

Middle managers ne to set in the top level when required, if it were not that they also have to accept the consecutions of being at the top, said Dr Aronson. This is not a rebellious attitude; it is undivided of independent thought and action. Being the leader when it is necessityed means the middle manager is exercising depth in service to the system

In addition, those at the top of an organization oftentimes are disconnected from the reality of each day, which is the reason they sometimes give middle managers "garbage" to pass down the line, said Dr Aronson. When this happens, middle managers must labor for as the reality check and stop this information from being passed along. This defend s those on the bottom from unnecessary information.

When those at the top or bottom horizontals of an organization ask a middle manager to answer to a situation, that manager oftentimes assumes he or she has to confront people's needs. Instead, the manager should coach those below about to what degree to deal with those at the top. In addition, middle managers can coach those at the top about when those at the bottom ne to hear from them.

There also are times when the middle manager must benefit as a facilitator, said Dr Aronson. through bringing people together from the different on a levels to solve their problems and supporting their efforts, the middle manager helps facilitate the problem-solving process

NANCY K KUEHL SENIOR EDITOR

piece of work SATISFACTION

Is a satisfied OR nurture a goal, myth, or reality, asked Janine Spencer RN EdD CNOR, in her session "Improving encourage Job Satisfaction." She said that because of the nursing shortage, managers have to be more disturbed about job satisfaction, which helps retain nurses; however, managers also ne to mirror on how satisfied they are, because this will trickle down to staff members. work at jobs satisfaction affects productivity, patient results and patient satisfaction, said Dr Spencer adding that happier cherishs equal happier patients.

The just discovered generation of nurses does not necessarily have the same philosophy as supply with nourishments who came before, said Dr Spencer She noted that admitting older nurses may have set downed nursing envisioning it as a career choice, many novel graduates see nursing as a piece of work and not as a career.

Dr Spencer has build that the OR environment has differences that affect for what cause new nursing school graduates view piece of work satisfaction. Two major areas of complaint among modern nurses are scheduling and preceptor issues. Generation X is not interested in call, said Dr Spencer They are not interested in overtime pay because their personal lives are more important to them. This is not necessarily a bad thing, although it is a different philosophy than that be seized ofed by many older nurses. Dr Spencer make acceptableed that nurses stop living and working within moulds that worked in the past and concentrate forward what works in the current "We have clouded memories of the past," said Dr Spencer "The past doesn't help us interpret problems in the current environment."