Donna Hendrix Autobiography

Introduction

I am a member of Association of Women's Health, Obstetric, and Neonatal Nurses (AWHONN). AWHONN is an association that improves the care and outcomes of mothers and infants. I attend the AWHONN convention yearly. I share my knowledge with other nurses as well as learn from them. This last year I reviewed over 50 research projects in the poster room during the convention.

I attended a class on Nurse Staffing Research: Update on Findings and Clinical implications this addressed staffing in labor and delivery and postpartum areas. Some of the other classes I attended was Intrapartum Mythbusters: Test Your Bedside Cred, Labor Support for Every Woman: Changing Unit Culture, The Challenges of Hurricane Katrina: Nursing Care, Leadership and Teamwork, Our Journey to a Healthy Work Environment, In Defense of Nurses: Legal Issues in Obstetrics, Nursing “ The Future is Ours, Research Symposium: Findings from AWHONN Grant Recipients, Poster Sessions (research projects done in the different states), Providing Culturally Competent Healthcare for the LGBTQ Patient, and Understanding Maternal and Fetal Oxygen Transport: Tools to Guide Methods of Intrauterine Resuscitation. I use AWHONN to look at evidence-based practices, new research, read articles, and receive journals.

Ethics is an important part of everyday work and life situations. At an early age, I discovered there were consequences for not completing my chores. Later in life, my outlook changed, and I now relate to the non-consequentialist, although in practice I use a combination of both. I use the principles of ethics when dealing with staff, the patients, the budget, and many other things. The nursing code of ethics is beneficence; improving or benefiting others, non-maleficence; due no harm to others, respect for autonomy; to make decisions on your own care or life, and principle of justice; the decision focuses on actions that are fair for everyone involved.

Some of the theories in ethics are Deontology states that people should adhere to their obligations and duties when engaged in decision making when ethics are in play. Utilitarianism based on one's ability to predict the consequences of an action the choice that yields the greatest benefit to the most people. There are two types of Utilitarian, act and rule. Act Utilitarian is the same definition of utilitarianism a person performs the act that benefit the most people, regardless of personal feelings or the societal constraints such as laws. Rule Utilitarian takes into account the law and is concerned with fairness.

Virtue judges a person by his/her character rather than by an action that may deviate from his/her normal behavior. Nurses must practice with all of these principles and theories in mind, as well as use them in their everyday life. Developing trust and respect between patients, staff members, and other professionals is very important to give exceptional care. The Behavioral values at Lakeside women's hospital I use to evaluate staff is Love, Learn, and Lead.

As things change in health care with budget cuts, state requirements, and insurance modifications, we have had to come up with some creative ways of managing. Finding ways to still provide safe, compassionate care and still have great patient experiences have been challenging. To continue to have great patient experiences is why I manage so many departments. It allows more nursing staff to take care of the actual patients, which is what counts.

Conclusion

In my current position, I have learned much more about management. I now can get a lot more in-depth with budgeting and productivity. I have learned about action plans and different ways to handle staff issues. I have learned different ways to handle grievances, and better ways to communicate. I have developed my leader standard work, which shows what I do daily, monthly, bi-monthly, quarterly and annually. This tool helps with organizing my time.

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