Today and yesterday we had surveyors come through our workplace as part of our accreditation process. The system we use has something significant happen each year, but every four years is the major survey, where every aspect of what we do is scrutinised. We've had two surveyors over two days. Being a small organization, everyone is involved in some way. There has been heightened anxiety over the past few weeks. As a generalisation we know we do a good job, but there is still some anxiety in making sure we have the evidence to prove this.
We passed with flying colours, although there is always room for improvement. It was a positive experience for us. Two years ago, when we had our mid –cycle survey, the two surveyors we had were very business like and not particularly effusive. Working in health care, palliative care in particular, we can be (a bit too?) warm and fuzzy and like to be treated in similar fashion. So some staff found that process to be a negative one. So today, whilst being given areas for improvement, we were also praised for the many areas in which we are doing well. For some staff it was a healing experience.(!) (See what I mean about the warm and fuzzy!!?!)
In theory we should have our systems and processes all in order so that surveyors could come in at any time and be satisfied with what we do, without the mad dash to have all our i’s dotted and t’s crossed in the weeks prior to their visit.
It never seems to work that way however!
2 comments:
Hi Campbell,
Ha! You’re butting heads with the basic human instinct to procrastinate until the last minute what could/should be done in a timely and orderly fashion every day. Given how you’re detail oriented, this mad dash to get things squared away when facing a deadline must be quite frustrating for you…it would be to me too! Years ago I worked for a bank and the push that we’d invariably go through preceding the auditor’s bi-yearly inspection was something to behold. Like you, I often wondered why things weren’t done efficiently and properly all year long to spare the histrionics and ulcers that inevitably resulted from the intense scrutiny. It’s similar to when there’s a term paper due in school; instead of working on it steadily, a lot of students pull “all nighters’” to get it finished. A community that is an epitome of a larger unit; the microcosm of our lives…delay and delay some more!
You have me right about being detail oriented Miss L., when it suits me at least, but I am a procrastinator as well. Even as a mature age student, I still leave things till the last minute, although have yet to pull an all nighter!
Post a Comment