Work-related Blogs and News

An article in today's Guardian (see G2 section) looks at a blog kept by a Japanese nurse in the aftermath of the recent tsunami.

A quick snippet from the article:

...Painstakingly tapped into the nurse's mobile phone at the end of exhausting days touring evacuation zones and hospitals, the blog chronicles eight days that begin with trepidation and end with a reluctant return to Tokyo.

In between, there are moments of despair and optimism, even humour.

And floods of tears...

For more details see 'Do not cry': a nurse's blog brings comfort to Japan's tsunami survivors by Justin McCurry.

Yesterday The Guardian reported on how "Nurses are to be scored on how compassionate they are towards patients as part of a government plan to improve quality in the NHS".

The current health secretary, Alan Johnson, "believes putting a smile on the face of nurses and encouraging empathetic care is as important to recovery as the skill of doctors in the operating theatre."

The initiative will take the form of a "compassion index".

It will be compiled by health regulators using surveys of patients' views while in hospital, including feedback about the attitude of staff.

I'm not convinced the NHS is the right place for tactics typically cynically exploited by retail outlets, airlines, hotels and call centres ('smiling down the phone' and telly ads).

See Nurses to be rated on how compassionate and smiley they are by John Carvel for more details.