Perhaps the biggest challenge I will face this summer is going to be scheduling. The residents have a very busy schedule every day, attending different meetings, doctor's appointments, and groups, which frequently interfere with coming to my class. Nearly one-third of the residents were absent for last Tuesday's class, so I met individually with the residents who were absent to tutor them in what we had learned and have them do their make-up assignments. This just doesn't seem like a sustainable system for the summer, however.
We came to another bump in the road on Thursday, which was Staff Appreciation Day. My supervisor invited me to come even though I had only been working at PSI for a week. Since the entire rest of the staff was going, I felt like it would be rude and anti-social to stay behind. To be brutally honest, the celebration was at Orchard Beach and they were having a make-your-own-sundae station, so I was pretty much sold from the get-go. The only problem was I'd have to postpone my Health Literacy class until Friday. Luckily there seemed to be an open slot in the schedule that I could move my class to on Friday at 11:00 AM. Unfortunately, Friday at 10:45 AM my supervisor came into my office to tell me there was a mandatory meeting for all residents at 11, and I would have to cancel my class. I was pretty upset. Especially when I actually attended the mandatory 11:00 meeting, and saw that it was basically just a forum for the residents to ask individual questions to staff members.
To make matters even worse, I'm taking a very poorly-timed vacation this week. So basically we had two Health Literacy classes, then stopped the classes for the next week and a half. I'm wondering how many residents will even bother showing up to class the rest of the summer, now that I have proven to be unreliable and inconsistent. One of the residents even said to me, "They always do this to us! We're finally taking a class we like, and then they take it away from us!" I tried to explain to her that this would merely be a pause in classes, and they would take place regularly every Tuesday and Thursday for the rest of the summer. She seemed doubtful.
I have some problem-solving to do. How can I make sure that mandatory meetings don't pop up throughout the rest of the summer? How can I prevent doctor's appointments and the like from being scheduled at the same time as my class? How can I gain back the residents' trust?
Sorry to hear about the scheduling problems. Good luck pushing past them! The residents are probably used to administrative complications and mismanagement, and it probably doesn't reflect poorly on you. I doubt they think you're unreliable and inconsistent.
ReplyDeleteAba, thanks for your well wishes. I'm hoping that's the case, and we can get right back on track next week.
ReplyDeleteI certainly don't have half the knowledge you have about the people and the situation...but, for whatever it's worth, I am skeptical the patients distrust you.
ReplyDeleteIf what you say about the scheduling is true, then this must occur all the time. If it occurs all the time, they probably do not take it as a sign that you are unreliable; it's just the system.
Erratic or not, people will come back to a good thing :)
Not knowing anything about the individuals in question, and relying on stereotypes only, I would offer this:
ReplyDeleteAre you really less reliable than many of the other things that go on in the lives of your patients? I would think you to be a very reliable aspect of their lives, compared to facing nightmares like drug addiction and HIV.
Dancing_Scientist, thanks for the reassurance.
ReplyDelete