Does Your Facility's State Inspection Demonstrate Your Staff's Wellness?

It is a stressful time. The state inspectors come in to observe patient care and worker performance. Are things clean enough? Are patients' needs met quickly and efficiently with dignity? Is the health care team communicating well with each other? Are the medicines organized and secure? Are mistakes being made that compromise patient care?

No one likes to be criticized by an outsider who has no idea how easy or difficult your particular day has been. The comments are important as well as the team's reaction to the comments.

A highly commended report makes everyone feel relieved. A report that lists a number of deficienies is disappointing. Their nit-picking can be annoying. It can be used to guage the dedication of the health care team. Even with complete dedication to the job, poor training can't be hidden in a poor score.

Can the state report be correlated with staff appropriateness and their wellness?
If the report is rated excellent, it is a time to "strut your stuff."

Stress levels certainly go up when the state inspectors are around. It is a nerve racking time when you begin to distrust your fellow team members. If you don't have condfidence in the person working by your side, you eventually hurt you own work performance.

Let's keep the stress levels manageable. We can all survive this together.