I don't know about you, but even the thought of advocating for change in a hospital system sends a little wave of fear through me. To me, it always seems like this huge mountain in front of me. Which makes the change seem almost impossible to achieve. What has helped me immensely in the past few months has been viewing the opportunity for change as a series of small hills instead of one big mountain. This perspective has helped me better advocate for change and has turned my once negative attitude into a positive one. NOW, instead of feeling like I have to convince others of a huge change, I know that I can start with the smaller supporting changes. This can help me get staff on board before I propose the big change that was really my goal all along. This is actually a tactic used by marketing and business specialists, get consumers to agree for smaller things beforehand, and then the big thing doesn't actually seem like such a big deal after all.
Currently I am advocating for a change in my departments utilization of positioning for comfort during laceration repairs. Staff is really great at using this for some things, but then seem completely unable to fathom using it for other procedures, such as laceration repairs. One of my small "hills" in this example is getting residents to use positioning for comfort, with child life presence, when they suture. This does two really great things for me;
1.) It gets 'newer' professionals utilizing positioning for comfort from the start of their career
2.) When the attending providers observe the residents they get to see firsthand how positioning for comfort can positively impact patient coping and allows for greater movement control
Since I have started doing this with the residents I have had three providers agree to engage in positioning for comfort when they are suturing! I am hopeful that this trend will continue, and then the other providers will learn from watching their colleagues. I definitely appreciate that I’m not starting from scratch, but at the same time know that it can get so much better. The standardization of positioning for comfort is a ways off here. But, I am confident that by starting with these smaller hills eventually I will be able to look back and see that the whole mountain has been climbed.
-K
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