Veterinary Nurse Appraisals

RE: Veterinary Nurse Appraisals

Sal the 1st — Thu, 18 Dec 2014 11:17:17 GMT

must admit I do set dates for goals - and all goals are agreed between both parties and they are realistic and attainable, I also don't like vaguaries. ie if the goal is to run more nurse clinics then we would look at how that was going to happen and set dates for different stages of development. Its no good using terms like 'as soon as possible' because that might mean as soon as a week, a month , a year or sometime never.

For me the most important thing about appraisals is actually learning and using something from them (and that again applies to both parties) - if they sit in the drawer ignored until the next one comes along and nobody implements anything then its time effort and paper wasted, and I have seen that happen so many times. Appraisals don't need to be onerous or take a lot of time unless you want them to.

RE: Veterinary Nurse Appraisals

Mark Hedberg — Wed, 17 Dec 2014 09:20:27 GMT

Appraisals don't need to be desperately formal. Sal's suggestion to adapt some ACAS forms is a good one, when you're looking to document what has been going on.

The fundamental point of an appraisal is to assess:

- have the goals you set been met?

- is your team member happy with how their job or role is progressing?

- what issues do they have with the workplace?

- what goals or strategies do you have that need to be tackled?

I have very intentionally left out "what problems do you have?" - because if you have a problem with the work or the team member, you shouldn't be waiting for the appraisal to tackle this. Any problems you or they have should be tackled as and when they come up, rather than leaving them to fester like a wound under a dirty bandage left unchanged. (ok, i'm being a little too poetic here but bear with me. )

The other tricky thing about an appraisal is that it's very difficult to assess if goals have been met, if you haven't actually set any goals to meet. "Run more nurse clinics", "do the preop checks faster", and "use less bandaging material" are not valid goals, because you haven't set any way to measure success.

Oh, and don't use 'stack ranking', 'bell curves', and anything else that compares one colleague to another. It doesn't work when your children are 4, and it doesn't work for highly trained professionals working in a veterinary healthcare environment either.

Good luck!

Mark

RE: Veterinary Nurse Appraisals

Selena Carnell — Tue, 16 Dec 2014 20:44:14 GMT

our bosses used to do them but they seriously don't have the time any more, so i as head nurse am looking to reintroducing them in the new year. i don know where my nurses interests lye so it is my job to do this and help them.

RE: Veterinary Nurse Appraisals

FINNIGAN — Tue, 16 Dec 2014 20:29:03 GMT

I'm a head nurse but have never had to do this, personly I think it's up to the boss/ bosses to do these, ours do

RE: Veterinary Nurse Appraisals

Karen Carver — Tue, 16 Dec 2014 16:32:03 GMT

Hello,

We used to fill out pre appraisal forms and were told to be as truthful as possible - dislikes/likes/changes that could be made etc. When it came to the chat our boss tried to make it as informal as possible and relaxed with cups of tea, which i found did help.

Just remeber its as daunting for you as it is them. Good luck!

RE: Veterinary Nurse Appraisals

Ariana Gooderham — Tue, 16 Dec 2014 11:42:38 GMT

Hi,

Our appraisals are based on 6 main areas; Results focus, quality of work, customer focus, adaption to change, communication and teamwork.

We have to fill in strengths and weaknesses, rate ourselves and then discuss with our assessor.

The appraisal form is given out a week before the performance review and we fill it all in as much as we can before reviewing and discussing on the day.

We are told in advance that these meetings are not for discussing other staff, whinging, disciplinary meetings or salary review. it is purely to assess and discuss personal performance from the previous 12 months and plan for the next 12 months.

Hope this helps in some way! Good luck!!

RE: Veterinary Nurse Appraisals

Sal the 1st — Tue, 16 Dec 2014 11:31:31 GMT

I adapted a couple of the ACAS appraisal forms (free online) and found them very handy. I did use a pre appraisal questionnaire as I felt it would highlight any points for discussion that I may have missed and gives everybody the chance to make the appraisal worthwhile and stops it getting all one sided.

http://www.acas.org.uk/index.aspx?articleid=1438