[fab4fan]

Oh, please...Advance is just as bad. I remember an article where they interviewed nurses from one facility, and one dingbat said, "I used to get upset about short-staffing, but now it doesn't bother me anymore."

Can anyone say, "Sucking up to mgmt.?"

I guess the only really good nursing journal I get is the one from ENA. As I said, I don't care for AJN, because it is the mouthpiece of the ANA. Nursing 2003 is a bit dumbed down, although I realize they are trying to reach nurses with a wide variety of levels of experience.

And I hate those, "Chicken Soup" articles too.

[suzannasue]

The last time an article in a nursing mag made me angry was when the unit manager made copies of it and passed it out during a staff meeting...the article was written by a nurse who considered it " an honor " to be required to "wear many hats"...
such as televison repairman, housekeeper, cook, troubleshooter for computer problems, plumber, while working...first of all, I had already been pizzed by reading it in my own copy of the mag, but to have it thrown in our faces as an example of "how we should feel " ...well, I almost went nuclear right there in the meeting !!!!
Needless to say, my comment to the manger was "this is SO VERY CONDESCENDING, I cannot believe you have the nerve to expect us to take this article seriously "...then I ripped it to pieces right in front of her...

My subcriptions to nursing mags have become little more than a tax write off...I read what I feel is pertinent to my performance and blow off the rest...

[fab4fan]

susannasue: You are my hero!

[SherRN]

Revolution is the mag that is the best. I get RN and had gotton AJN and Nursing 2001-2 I let them lapse. I like Advance also but have not had an article crammed down my throat by mgmnt.

[liberalrn]

Query: what is ENA? And how does one acquire same?
I stick by my equivalency and do agree about the subtle coercion re: job performance and "the good nurse" myth. Reasonable and prudent, my aunt Fanny--how about I did the best I could given the circumstances? Sorry for the heat of my post, but just finished a fairly stinky shift. The mags only make it worse--d'think they're that way d/t being primarily female prof? Sort of an extension of the "YOU--only better!" nonsense touted by the women's mags.....

[NRSKarenRN]

ENA= Emergency Nurses Association and have their own journal.

Re AJN= ANA sold the magazine to Lippencott several years ago--ANA has control only over a few pages these days---take a second look.

[gwenith]

What I think we have to do is beocme more vocal emailing the magazines with out opinon of the content - yes keep it professional but keep up the rebuttals - they nearly all have "letters to the editor" pages I am sure you can get at least a hearing. If we all let them know that we, as a profession, have had enough of this sort of writing then they will change - and quickly!

[Orca]

I was once passed over for a nurse management position in large part, I believe, because I told the interview committee that I understood the needs and responsibilities of the staff on the floor, and would be responsive to them. What management wanted was a lapdog, someone who would nod and smile while the worst staffing ratios in the hospital were rammed down the throats of the floor staff. They got their lapdog, and she was fired after less than six months for incompetence.

The company that runs the unit (they provide administration under contract while the nurses work for the hospital) has decided that they are saving a bunch of money by not having a nurse manager at all, leaving a MSW in charge of the unit and making nurse staffing decisions. The problem is that the program director believes that she can assess acuity from behind a desk, and she believes that she fully understands what nurses are going through (when, in fact, she could not buy a clue about it).

The place I primarily work now is notorious for sending out condescending memos to staff. The DON writes them as if he is scolding a group of errant teenaqers rather than addressing licensed professionals. His management style smacks of the kind of subliminal coercion that has been alluded to from the nursing management magazines. I subscribed to one for a brief time (it made such a profound impression on me that I don't remember the name of it). I soon dropped it when I found the advice to be total garbage, and I learned not to trust people with too many letters behind their names. It screams, "I haven't touched a patient in years, but I know how you ought to be doing your job!"

[liberalrn]

Hear, hear, Orca!!

Our VP/Nursing does the same thing: quote:"This is not intended to be punitive; these progress notes are not numbered. (followed by 5 other picayune c/o's)" Yes, "they" expect us to number our notes sequentially........

[liberalrn]

Sorry-meant to post that I am taking a complimentary issue of RN to work with me. We in the TICU will exercise strict impartiality in analyzing and critiquing the magazine. As published findings are important to further the knowledge base, I'll be sure to post our conclusions soon......