Reflective Journal - Week 8

You’re right Sean, budgeting isn’t the most exciting! I completely agree that all healthcare is about money. Obviously budgeting is a huge part of that. This week did give me a great opportunity to see further into facility management, budgeting, expenses, and how the day to day is managed in the healthcare facility. I feel that knowing these things and keeping them fresh in my mind, working day to day on the hospital floor I can personally work to conserve budget and avoid waste. The articles this week provided deep insight into how to create hospital budgets and how to better understand expenses. Being able to work through these documents allowed me to see step by step how these things are done. I am not sure how active I will be in using these in my career, but I know I will be a better nurse and manager better understanding the implications of budget management. I like what Sean said about how simply good leadership can result in dramatic budget cuts.  Things like educating and demonstrating good use of equipment, gloves, linens, and more, can perpetuate throughout a facility and cut costs dramatically. I appreciated Sean walking through the different parts of the budget report. I feel that I can now much better understand them and when/if the situation ever arises I would be able to participate in budgeting analysis and the like.

I hadn’t really thought about many of these expenses while working the shift. Things like using equipment that then needs to be sterilized, IV flushes, and other miscellaneous things, quickly add up and become expensive. We as nurses need to be more aware of these expenses for our patients and for the facility. It is crazy the amount of money that is spent on things like bandages and gloves. Things like these can easily go to waste and we should pay extra attention to this. I was shocked to hear Sean talk about the cost of soda on his past units. This week’s group activity also centered on budgeting.  It was apparent based on this facilities budget, that staffing changes have to happen. It is interesting viewing it from this side of the situation. We often think about how unfair it is when facilities need to make cuts or transfers, but looking at the budget they simply don’t have the money to afford the staff they currently employ. It is also interesting examing all areas savings can be made.