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Negative energy at handover can demoralise any one of us, but is particularly keenly felt by anyone new to the team or organisation
It is my first day at a new job and I have made it to what I call the ‘handover’ room. It was a challenge to find my way to the hospital, let alone here.
Nursing Standard. 38, 8, 29-29. doi: 10.7748/ns.38.8.29.s15
Published: 02 August 2023
As usual for me, I am the first person to arrive – I like to be early when I am starting somewhere. I am nervous and my heart is pounding.
I find a spare chair and I try to sit comfortably but am on the edge of my seat. People start trickling in, some in pairs or groups, others alone.
No one acknowledges me, despite the desperately hopeful look on my face. Once everyone has arrived the only interaction I have is the nurse in charge asking my name to allocate me for the shift – brief, perfunctory, business-like. Then, just like that, the opportunity for connection is gone.
I am not new to nursing, but like thousands of others I have had new roles countless times in my career. The process is familiar and yet every time I start somewhere new, the feeling of anticipation is as fresh as when I first qualified. My mouth feels dry, my belly is in my throat, my hands cold and I am hyper-alert.
There is familiarity in some of the sights and sounds of the hospital environment, but unfamiliarity in the new people, abbreviations, paperwork and systems. Heaven forbid we might one day agree on universal abbreviations.
This daunting feeling is the result of what I have dubbed ‘the power of the handover room’ The handover room is a place where health professionals receive important information regarding patients, their care, clinical status and plan, before they start their shift. The space itself in some ways is irrelevant – it could be the staff room, tearoom or an office. No matter which, it holds the power that those who work there give it.
The feeling in the room comes from those of us who sit in it, who bring our energy to it and make a conscious or unconscious choice to feed it, whether positively – with welcoming warmth and interest – or negatively – with disdain, ambivalence or coldness.
The power of the handover room is often not noticed by those who have worked in one place for a long period of time – you may forget how difficult it is to be ‘the new person’.
When you are new, every smile that comes your way is like gold. Small displays of kindnesses, such as being shown where the tearoom is or how to page a doctor via the computer system, mean a lot.
I have wondered if I have been on the other end of this, where I was not welcoming to new staff members. I became extremely comfortable in one of my former roles and I sank into the familiar and the comfort in my own ability and degree of seniority. This comfort and confidence seeps in and leads to the inability to consider others in the way that they – we – all deserve.
The power of the handover room must not be underestimated, and nor should the importance of being kind and friendly to new, agency or bank staff. It can shape a day and change an experience dramatically.
Mostly, as a new staff member, bank or agency nurse, you are just hoping that the shift will go as smoothly as possible, as patient care is your number one priority. A close second is that your colleagues will be nice to you.
Why aren’t nurses kinder to each other in these circumstances? Sure, it may be 7am, you may be on your third long day in a row and you may have hardly slept, but when did this translate into an inability to be kind to another individual? To be welcoming or, at the very least, say hello?
The power of kindness, or of its absence, is generated by the people who work in an environment. We all have the power to be kind, the power to be harsh, the power to create connection, all of which contributes to the feeling inside the handover room.
So what is the feeling in your handover room? Is it somewhere you want to be? Is it full of warmth and friendly banter? How do you treat new staff who are joining your area for the day, week or month – or for years to come? Are you able to put yourself in their shoes, for even the first ten minutes of the day, to see that they are welcomed and treated kindly?
After all, the handover room is just the room where this happens. The power it holds is the power we give it collectively – no more and no less.
Why kindness between nursing colleagues is more important than ever rcni.com/nursing-kindness
