Budgeting

I have always been really goo at budgeting and saving money. I have always spent less than I made and been able to put money aside for savings. My husband and I discussed money and budgeting before we got married. Neither of us were in debt or ever wanted to be, except for maybe a house. We sat down and figured out how much income we had and what our monthly expenses would be. We were both surprised at the expenses since both of us were living at home and didn't really have any expenses outside of paying for gas.

Lately its been somewhat difficult for us to stick to a budget, but we don't make very much every month and it is important to us that we don't go into debt or dip into our savings account if we don't have to. Right now only my husband is working. I am trying to find a job, but the search has yet to be successful. We want to buy a house in the next couple years and are hoping to both get jobs soon, my husband is looking for a better paying job. We hope that when we have the increase in income that we won't raise our budget too much and be able to put a lot of money into savings to buy a house soon.

It was interesting to read about hospital budgets and the things that hospitals have to do to make a budget and to stay on their budget. I am looking forward to class tomorrow and learning more about budgeting and such.

After Class:

I thought class was interesting today. It was fun to go through an actual budget from a hospital to see the expenses that a hospital has. After trying to cut $11,200.00 it would have been nice to know more information initially.

I think it's interesting that so many people believe that you spend what you make. I know plenty of people that do that, but I also know people that spend less much than they make and save a lot of money. I am an avid Dave Ramsey fan and I believe that you can save money and spend less than you make so that you can save for retirement and for the bigger items that you want to buy. I don't believe that everyone spends what they make.

Managing Change

I really liked reading the story "Who Moved My Cheese?" It gave such a good perspective on change while showing different perspectives that people have on change and how different people deal with change.

After reading it and thinking about it I have come to think that I am a mix between Sniff and Haw. I think that I stay aware of small differences that may lead to change, that I can somewhat sniff out the situation. But when it comes to the actual change occurring, I see it, understand it, but like Haw, I may be a little more slow at accepting that change. It really depends on the situation and what that change might be. I am prepared for multiple changes that will hopefully occur soon in my life, but there may be other changes that I may not be so accepting.

Today in class my teacher, Sean, told us that he had changed the syllabus and our grades are going to be calculated differently with the majority of the points coming from participation/attendance. He then walked out of class.

I personally like the change. I have been doing the readings and writing my blog posts and I participate in class when I feel that I have something to share.

This is not really something that I saw coming, I have never had a teacher change a syllabus to this extent in the middle of the semester, but I am not opposed to this change. It made me think back to the reading that we had to do of "Who Moved my Cheese?" In the case of this change I feel like I am Scurry. I quickly ran to the new cheese and I appreciate it. I think it is really good cheese and at this point I am really hoping that it is not a temporary change to make a point on the week we are to discuss change. Although, if that were to happen I would go find the new new cheese and adapt quickly. :)

It has been interesting today as Sean left the classroom and students didn't know what to do. That had never happened before. Some wanted to stay, in case he came back, and others quickly packed their things and left. Now people have been posting things on Facebook about grade changes and how they are not sure if they like this change and how they don't know what is going on. I know that things will work out. Sean told us on the first day of class that this is "a no stress class" and that we will all get A's if we do what we need to do. I feel like I'm doing what I need to do and I don't have anything to worry about.

Change

What is your attitude toward change?

I think that I have a good attitude about change. I look at change as a good thing that will bring new experiences to my life.

Currently I am looking forward to many different changes in my life. I am looking forward to the change of getting a job, although I am having a hard time with the finding a job part. It is getting very frustrating and discouraging. I am looking forward to the change of being done with school. And in the future I am looking forward to the change of starting a family. All of these are big things, but I have a positive attitude about them.

Patient Care Model

Discuss the patient care models used in the organization where you are employed. What works well in the model? What doesn't work so well?

I do not currently have a job, but I am working on finding a patient care model to discuss.

I have found Mayo Clinics Model of Care (MCMC) and would like to discuss that. The "MCMC is a prescription for providing patient care in concert with our mission - Mayo Clinic will provide the best care to every patient every day through integrated clinical practice, education and research. It is the set of objectives that addresses our core principle for practice - Practice medicine as an integrated team of compassionate, multi-disciplinary physicians, scientists and allied-health professionals who are focused on the needs of patients from our communities, regions, the nation and the world."

Currently, I still have more to read through and will add more to this post shortly.

Power

Differentiate among the different types of power and identify strategies to increase your personal power base.

I searched online for different types of power and found that there are 5 types of power. John French and Bertram Raven identified these five bases of power in the 1960's. There are two different categories of power: Formal Power and Personal Power.

Formal Power:

Coercive

Coercive power is conveyed through fear of losing one’s job, being demoted, receiving a poor performance review, having prime projects taken away, etc. This power is gotten through threatening others. For example, the VP of Sales who threatens sales folks to meet their goals or get replaced.

I had a supervisor like this. He kept telling the employees that they needed to work hard, do the job right, and follow all of the rules or we would be replaced by people in "the tall pile of resumes that he has on his desk."

Reward

Reward power is conveyed through rewarding individuals for compliance with one’s wishes. This may be done through [giving] bonuses, raises, a promotion, extra time off from work, etc. For example, the supervisor who provides employees comp time when they meet an objective she sets for a project.

I think that everyone uses this type of power, almost everyday. Parents use it to make their kids eat their vegetables, or to act correctly at the grocery store. I use it to have my nieces and nephews do what I want them to while I am watching them.

Legitimate

Legitimate power comes from having a position of power in an organization, such as being the boss or a key member of a leadership team. This power comes when employees in the organization recognize the authority of the individual. For example, the CEO who determines the overall direction of the company and the resource needs of the company.

Personal Power

Expert

Expert power comes from ones’ experiences, skills or knowledge. As we gain experience in particular areas, and become thought leaders in those areas, we begin to gather expert power that can be utilized to get others to help us meet our goals. For example, the Project Manager who is an expert at solving particularly challenging problems to ensure a project stays on track.

My husband builds cabinets, furniture, and picture frames. He has become the "expert" in both his and my families when it comes to having something built or fixed.

Now that I am a nurse my family calls me with all of their health questions because they believe that I am an "expert" in that now.

Referent

Referent power comes from being trusted and respected. We can gain referent power when others trust what we do and respect us for how we handle situations. For example, the Human Resource Associate who is known for ensuring employees are treated fairly and coming to the rescue of those who are not.

I have been doing interior design work for my family and I am now the person that they come to when they have design questions, whether it be furniture or clothing. They trust that I have a good eye for those things and that I will give them my honest opinion.

Out of these 5 types of power I believe that I have most (if not all) of them in some way or another. I'm sure that I am coercive in some circumstances, there are many circumstances where I am driven by fear. I definitely have reward power, especially when it comes to motivating people to do what I want them to do. I have legitimate power in my home, but not else were. That is something that will come if/when I get a job and if/when I climb up that ladder. As explained above I also have expert and referent power.

I think for me to increase my power base that I need to use the power that I have and add to it. I think that as my life goes on and when I get a job, become a mother, and so on that my power base will expand. I will have more people/things that I have power over.

What are your thoughts about power and how it is used?

I think that power can be used for good or bad. Some people use the power that they have to help others, lift others up, and to help people grow. Others use their power to tear people down and to hurt people. Hitler had great power over Germany, but he used it to do horrible things and killed many people. Bill Gates is a very powerful person, but he uses his money and power to help others.

I think that power can be a great thing and it can drive people to do incredible things if used well. An example would be if I were driven by power and I really wanted to work high up in healthcare. That power could push me to be a manager and continue up that ladder. It could help me grow and learn. Right now that is not something I want and I am not really driven by power, but that's not the point. If people use power for good it can be a great thing.

Reference: http://quickbase.intuit.com/blog/2011/08/26/the-5-types-of-power-in-leadership/

Organizational Structure and Power

In the readings for class tomorrow they mostly talked about the difference between men and women in leadership positions. What I got from the reading was that women are the upcoming leaders in the workplace. In the survey of public leadership traits women scored higher than men on having more of the traits necessary for being a good leader.

I liked when I read that "most new jobs being created today are being filled by women." It gives me hope as I am looking for a job. I know that nursing is one of the professions that is women heavy anyway, but it still gives me hope. Although, I am not really interested in becoming a manager or a higher up postition. I want to work on the floor as a nurse and care for people.

Strategic Planning

Strategic planning is a process in which a company, or departments in a company, define their strategy in accomplishing the things that they want to accomplish. Strategic planning has changed over the past couple years for the better. Before, a group of people would get together and chose one plan to accomplish of a couple years time. Now, a group of people get together and come up with multiple plans to accomplish the goals that they want accomplished in the next 12-18 months.

I liked this image because it shows a simple visual for the planning process. Strategic planning is more than just a plan that gets put on the shelf and forgotten when you are done writing it up. It is a plan than needs to be looked at often, assessed, and modified depending on how things are going.

After Class:

We talked a lot about the patient satisfaction scores that the congressmen have set up. Medicare is planning to start using these scores in October to base the funding/reimbursements they will give the the hospitals. 5 is "excellent" and anything else is pretty much a fail. The problem with 5 being excellent is that not many people use the word excellent in their vocabulary. As nurses if we use the word excellent while giving care the patients may be more prone to mark "excellent" on the satisfaction surveys.

With strategic planning there needs to be goals, short term and long term. If you don't have the short term goals to lead up to your long term goals then you may not make it to your long term goals.