Read Chapter 35 – Case: Where Does the Time Go? Complete the two questions for the case. APA format.
Case: Where Does the Time Go? Kay Thatcher, director of staff education, decided she had to get organized. Recently, her workdays had been running well beyond quitting time, cutting noticeably into the time required by family responsibilities. And all the while her backlog of work was growing. Inspired by an article about planning and setting priorities, Kay decided to try planning each day’s activities at the end of the previous day. This Monday Kay came to the office with her day planned out to the last minute During the morning she had to complete a report on a recent learning-needs analysis, write the performance appraisals of two part-time instructors, and assemble the balance of the materials for a 2-hour class she was scheduled to conduct that afternoon. After lunch she had to conduct the class, complete the schedule for the next 3 months’ training activities (now 10 days overdue), and prepare notices-which should be posted this very day-for two upcoming classes. Kay got off to a good start; she finished her report before 10 a.m. and turned her attention to the two per- formance evaluations. However, at that time the interruptions began. In the next 2 hours she was interrupted six times-three telephone calls and three visitors. The calls were all appropriate business calls. Two of the visitors had legitimate problems, one of them taking 30 minutes to resolve. The other visitor was a fellow supervisor simply passing the time of day. Neither performance evaluation was completed, and the training materials were assembled in time only because Kay put them together during lunch while she juggled a sandwich at her desk. Kay’s afternoon class ran 20 minutes over time because of legitimate questions and discussion. When she returned to her office she discovered she had a visitor, a good-humored, talkative sales representative from whom Kay occasionally bought audiovisual materials. The sales rep, who “happened to be in the area” and just dropped in, stayed for an hour and a half. After the sales rep departed Kay spent several minutes simply wondering what to do next. The performance appraisals, the 3-month class schedules, the class notices-all were overdue. Decıding on the class notices because they were the briefest task before her, she dashed off both notices in longhand and asked the nursing office secretary to type them, copy them, and post them immediately. Then she tackled the training schedule When Kay looked up again from her work it was nearly an hour past quitting time. She still had a long way to go on the schedule and had not yet started on the two performance appraisals. As she swept her work aside for the day, she sadly reflected that in spite of all her planning she had not accomplished two-thirds of what she intended to do that day. She decided, however, to try again; when she could get a few minutes of quiet time late in the evening, she would plan her next day’s activity. On her way out of the hospital she happened to glance at the main bulletin board. The small satisfaction she felt when she saw the posted class notices vanished instantly when she discovered that both were incorrect-the dates and times of the two classes had been interchanged. Questions 1. What mistakes did Kay make in attempting to improve her use of time by planning and establishing priorities? 2. How should Kay plan her Tuesday?
Reference Π Bergman C, Shubert L. Interactive strategies. Nurse Educator 2013:38(4);137-138. hitps://doi.org/10.1097 /nne.0b013e318296dcb6
