5 Reasons NOT to Skip Pre-Shift Meetings

5- Professionalism: It shows a great deal of integrity and a measure of your commitment to your profession, your co-workers, and your patients when you participate in something designed to promote safety, communication, collaboration, and teamwork. Even as small an effort as it might seem, attendance and participation make a difference. Will you get fired if you don’t go to huddle? Probably not. Will you miss out on a lot of important information, updates, and potentially munchkins and coffee? Absolutely. When you attend huddle you acknowledge the work of your leadership and their efforts. You show respect to your peers from the outgoing shift, by accepting the highlights they’ve gathered for you and passed on through the shift leader. You engage with the people you’ll be with in the coming hours, and demonstrate your respect for their time and commitment as well. Nursing is a profession, and we have to be professional. We represent hundreds of years of the evolution of one of the most trusted, respected fields in the workforce, and showing up for a pre-shift meeting seems like a pretty easy way to start our day recognizing and appreciating that.

   I’m not saying huddle is magic. I’m definitely not saying each one will be groundbreaking, or change the course of healthcare forever. I can’t promise you anyone will bring brownies, although I have led many a huddle and suggest this every time. And life happens, you won’t always be able to make it. But small actions support bigger actions, bigger goals, and better outcomes. So why not take this easy win, show up to huddle, participate, and see if it doesn’t help even just a little bit. You’ll be setting a great example, and, who knows, maybe this time someone will bring brownies…..

The Nurse Curse / Kitterhi Durgin is a popular blogger and social media influencer. You can see some of her funnies at instagram.com/thenursecurse and read more on www.rn-mfkrs.net