Budgeting and Managing Healthcare Resources

1) I expected to learn about budgeting monies in a healthcare setting and managing my resources effectively.  

2) I actually learned how to understand a budget and manage it effectively by controlling my expenses in the company. I learned it is important to look at monthly goals and how much was actually spent in the month. Then compare that figure to the year-to-date amount. This can help you see where sudden expenses are occurring or what average monthly amounts should be at. By comparing the actual year-to-date amount to the previous years, you can determine trends in your company finances and see where money is going. To me, it is important to continue educating staff members about conserving supplies and not being wasteful with resources. According to an online article, 20-25% of expenses go toward cost of supplies (http://www.ehow.com/how_7456719_calculate-cost-supplies-hospital-unit.html). By being efficient with supplies (i.e. changing from brand-name to generic products or not over-stocking patient rooms) expenses can be reduced dramatically.  

I also learned that “managing my resources” can be applied to actually working on the floor as a nurse and delegating tasks to my patient technicians. In my case, I always under-delegate. This results in an increased work-load for myself, which also increases my stress or feelings of resentment towards my technicians. From the PowerPoint presentation, I learned that the four causes for under-delegating are:

·        - Fear it may be interpreted as a lack of ability

·        - Desire to do whole job yourself

·        - Fear of resentment by subordinates

·         -Lack of experience in job or with delegation

All four of these reasons explain why I under-delegate. Now that I have learned why, I feel more empowered to start practicing delegating so I can become better at it. Also, I learned that it is important to not delegate boring tasks to others. (I have found that’s what I have always done because I didn’t want to seem like I was burdening my techs). Obviously this is not the right way to go about it. By delegating harder tasks, they have the opportunity to “shine”. Also, by delegating ineffectively, poor outcomes can be expected. I definitely want the best outcomes for my patients (and for myself), so I need to practice delegating better until it becomes my strength.

3) I enjoyed the discussion about how to cut our annual budget by 10%. I found I was right in line with what my peers thought. They also considered cutting employee hours and ensuring over-staffing was not occurring.

4) Once again, I plan to start delegating from here on out in my nursing profession. This will bring about better patient outcomes, decrease my stress, and make my relationships with my techs more positive.

5) I really enjoyed learning about budgeting and delegating. By managing my resources more effectively, I can stick to my budget and be successful. This is helpful in my own personal life with our family finances. I feel like I have learned more tips on adhering to our budget better. I enjoyed the portions on delegation as well. I feel more empowered to implement that into my daily nursing practice.