Swine flu or just swines?

As you know those at the 'front line' of nhs care are being 'encouraged' to have both the flu and H1N1 vaccines.

So how come 75% of my colleagues do not want it?

As line manager, I am 'expected' to model good practice and attitude (according to the hospital management) by getting the jabs, then persuading those I line manage that they 'should' have it too.

I do not believe I am wrong (or paranoid) in thinking that if the shit hits the fan re - swine flu, human resources and over zealous managers will come up with the idea of either disciplinary actions or, more likely, financial penalty, for those not having it.

A scenario I can foresee is that a nursing assistant with a poor health record goes off sick with swine flu. I, as charge nurse, am then tasked with finding out if they have had their vaccines, and if not, why not. If there is no good reason given, then some phrase along the lines of "not doing enough to maintain health" or "refusing preventative measures to maintain health" will be used to justify either unpaid leave while off, or disciplinary procedures being commenced.

I am not so sure this is as far fetched as I first thought when started writing, as similar expressions have been used with employees when they have been off sick.

I recall a friend was off work with a depressive illness (severe), getting through the recovery phase, they were asked to go ice skating with a small group attending the a day centre she went to for support. While skating, she fell and broke her ankle, thus changing and prolonging her time away from work.
Her line manager and human resource person had a meeting with her and suggested she had been "participating in activity likely to hinder recovery" and as such sought to proceed to disciplinary.

Ah the joys of working for the NHS never cease to amaze me.

charge nurse confusion

There are a lot of different people up and down the country, with very different jobs, but who are, or are seen as, charge nurses.
The role takes many different forms, from those who work 9-5 managing the ward, staff budget etc, to those who work shifts, and/or work with patients directly, almost exclusively.

Sometimes the title changes, be it charge nurse, ward manager, clinical manager, etc etc etc.
I believe in Scotland there is currently a review of the role of the 'senior charge nurse'. I have no idea if that encapsulates all the ward managers, clinical area managers, (even the occasional clinical lead, or nurse specialist?), but would be interested to hear how it is going.

Another difference I see in different clinical areas is that a ward can have one charge nurse, or many. I have personally always been a fan of the one charge nurse if it is an inpatient ward. At least then everyone knows who is in charge (within reason, see previous post).
I once had dealings with a 16 bedded acute admission ward with 4 charge nurses, all at the same grade and none identified as being 'in charge'.

Granted, the above scenario would be ideal if things were going a bit hairy, at least senior management would not be able to 'blame' an individual if budget overspent etc, but I just feel that each department requires an identified 'head', so that the 'body' knows what it is doing and where it is going.

Feel free to let me know if your department has one charge nurse, or many, and what works best for your area.