While the doctor may be the one who has their name on the building, it is often the service of nurses that helps keep your office under control. A nurse is often the go-to person for questions or problems that may arise and is generally one of the main people responsible for the ever-impossible task of keeping appointments on schedule. Whether you employ one nurse in your office, or are running a hospital that has over 100 on staff, the job of a nurse can be extremely stressful. Nurses are crucial to the process of patient care, and it is your job as an office manager to make sure they feel their daily list of tasks is manageable. One way to do this is to take some steps toward organizing your office! There are several ways small changes of your office organization will benefit your nursing staff:
1) Take your nurses off the phones. Whether it is providing lab results or following up on a patient’s after care, many nurses get stuck making and taking phone calls during their work day. At Cosmopolitan, we will contact your patients and provide them with their lab results. We can also make sure that they are following through on their after-care instructions. We are 100% HIPAA compliant and likely much cheaper than your nurse! Being able to delegate responsibilities away from your nurses when possible will enable them to focus on what is really important (and more within their pay grade).
2) Make delegations among staff clear. Nurses often act as the middle-men between all the different functions of your office. Make it clear what exactly is expected of them during their shifts. They can certainly help others if they find themselves with additional time, but they should not feel like the doctor or administrative assistant’s tasks ultimately fall on their shoulders. If the rest of your office staff is not completing their share of responsibilities, consider bringing on additional help, or replacing staff members who are inefficient. While a nurse is an extremely valuable asset to your office, they cannot fulfill the role of multiple staff members and should not be expected to.
3) Switch to electronic medical records. Regardless of how efficient your staff is, paper documents have a habit of going missing as soon as they are needed. Looking for missing information is stressful, but searching for it may take valuable time out of your nurse’s day. By switching to an electronic system, the likelihood of documents going missing is greatly reduced, as are your nurses’ stress-levels. At Cosmopolitan, we even offer paperless messaging (sent via alpha page, email or text message), so even your afterhours information can be stored and sorted electronically, never to be lost again! Not only will electronic records reduce anxiety over lost documents, but it will greatly reduce the heaps of paper on your desk, allowing your staff more room to breathe.
Using these tips for organization, and any others you think may benefit your office, will greatly decrease the amount of pressure placed on your nursing staff. If your nurses are able to fulfill all of their primary job responsibilities, they will feel more appreciated and valuable to your team. If you can keep your nurses feeling happy and confident when coming to work, you will lower your turnover and keep your work-environment feeling more positive overall!
