The Fish Market

Can you imagine gutting fish in a market every day, from the wee hours of the morning?  Close your eyes and smell the fishy aroma, hear the constant roar of demanding customers, and feel the lack of pay.  Now imagine going home and saying that today you had the time of your life.  This is a real story, started in a fish market in Seattle.  It is also now a best-selling, intriguing training video.  

(You can watch the preview version here - it is worth a few minutes to do it.)

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  • Could we do this in our workplace?  
  • Do you already?  
  • Do you work hard to have fun, despite the serious nature of what we do?  
  • Can we have fun in the midst of sickness and death?  

Let's look for a second at the key principles of this philosophy:

1. Be There.  We all have days when we have to work despite what's going on in our real lives.  You know what I'm talking about! I don't have enough money to make my bills this month . . . I can't believe so-and-so said such-and-such about me . . . I'd rathere be anywhere than at work today.  Being there is about checking all your baggage at the hospital door.  Once you are at work, you are there.  Nothing else matters for the time you are at work.
2. Play.  This is a little tricky.  In the fish market, they throw fish around, and they have customers throw fish around.  They yell and have fun.  I choose my words carefully here, because I suspect throwing Mr. Smith down the hall because he's always so demanding won't be accepted very well.  We should, however, take time to enjoy those we are working with - have a brief conversation with someone about something not work-related.  
3. Make Their Day.  How often I have failed at this one!  I can get so caught up in the demands of the job, that I forget my profession.  I can make a difference . . . we can make a difference by sitting and listening to someone who feels that they haven't been listened to.  We can take the time to explain what we are doing to family members, so that they feel like they are informed.  We are educators, experts, on the frontline of providing patient care.  Administrators spend time calculating results, and planning for the future, but it is between us and the patient that the true magic comes.
4. Choose Your Attitude.  Sounds so simple.  Are you the person in the department that refuses to talk badly about your co-worker, despite what you really think about them?  We can, despite the circumstances, choose to be a great Health Professional even on a bad day.  One of my goals is to make sure others never know I am having a bad day.  I don't always succeed, but I work towards this goal daily.  Oh, and guess what?  The happier you act, the happier you end up feeling!

Okay, enough for now.  Four basic principles.  Principles that will transform how you provide patient care.  Principles that will help transform your job into a career.  Pick one, try it out, and see if it changes anything.

Now, go make a difference :).