One of the marks of a professional is their willingness to take
personal responsibility for their competence. On occasion, nurses
have told me that they have not learned a new skill or concept
because their hospital has not given them an in-service about that
topic. Does this sound familiar?

As nurses we are responsible for our professional competence and the
competence of the organization that we work for. If, for example, a
policy is outdated it is the nurse's responsibility to obtain the
data and resources in order to change the policy to comply with
current standards. If these levels of personal, professional and
organizational accountability are not being demonstrated in your
institution you need to ask why. What are you doing to encourage
these traits in your nurses? Simply telling people to be more
responsible is rarely productive. Have you shown them how to develop
accountability for their practice? It comes to mind that nowhere in
the nursing curriculum do we teach nurses processes for acquiring
these skills.

Those who have chosen the path to mastery take responsibility for
their own learning and have chosen accountability instead of looking
to other people to provide the resources that they need. You can
encourage your nurses to take the journey to mastery by providing
resources that help them develop personal, professional and
organizational accountability. Do you have ideas for how to empower
your nurses to take professional accountability? Please share them
with us.

Best wishes,

David W. Woodruff, MSN, RN-BC, CNS, CEN
President, Ed4Nurses, Inc.
www.Ed4Nurses.com
www.dwoodruff.com