charge nurse and nurse manager

[vedm]

what do you think about charge nurses or nurse managers, that never work the floor anymore? do they think they are above and beyond their call to duty? do they think they don't need to do the "hard work" anymore? Even, if people call in sick and they let their staff work short because they have "other things to do?" please, your opionion matters.

a nurse is a nurse in my opinion. I know our managers are busy, but if you were a manager, would you let your staff work short, rather than picking up the slack? This is a big issue with me

[RNPATL, DNP, RN]

Originally posted by nursemaa

But it seems that no matter how much I help, some still feel that since I'm not taking a patient assignment, I'm not working hard enough. Very frustrating......

My point exactly! That is one of the major reasons I left the position. I hated the fact that some of the nurses felt I could be doing more for them when I knew that I could not possibly do another thing. I was a good manager and the majority of my nurses were very sad when I left the position, but there are times, most times that is, when the role of the nurse manager is simply thankless and overwhelming .... I am glad to be back on the floor and to work my regular shift, go home and have no call responsibility or worry about how the unit is running when I am not there. What a total relief!

[barefootlady, ADN, RN]

A manager has to manage the unit. They do have a very important, thankless, overwhelming job. That said, I think this poster is having a problem with a manager that NEVER helps out, no matter what the situation on the floor . I have been there, done that, and could have easily strangled her. When the weather is bad, many call-ins, patient load is heavy, and no relief in sight, then manager could and should do charge and free up that pair of hands. This is not the usual situation, just the extreme ones.

A charge nurse should be in charge and have an idea on what is really happening on the floor, who is stable, who is not. What nurse is having trouble with family or patient issues. She should be helping the nurse who has a heavy load check labs, report critical info to Doc, and etc. She may be required to attend staffing meeting or some other type of meeting, but if unit is having a unusually heavy day, then charge nurse's place is on the floor.

I have worked with some really good managers, 3 come easily to mind. I have worked with some really good charge nurses too. I have had some bad experience with the last 2 managers. No more education than myself, no real bedside experience, and no interest in learning about bedside care. I plan to be very, very careful choosing my next manager, if she/he never does a walk through on the unit and "sees" problems, if manager has same issues at every staff meeting, like overtime vs patient/nurse ratio. If manager does not fight for staff, or say good job when we have pulled through a particularily bad patch, then I will mosey on down to another unit.

Sorry this post is so long, but this a close to my heart.

[geneann64]

i have been a staff nurse rn,bsn for 9 years and before that a nurses aide for 12 years. i understand how hard it is to work on the floor especially on the holidays and weekends when call outs are high. i have recently been asked to become manager of the unit i work on which is med surg. i love being on the floor and am concerned about the transition from floor to manager and what effect this will have on my home life and my relationship with the people i work with.

[jjjoy, LPN]

In many cases, it's the usual problem of giving too much to one person to do... if the nurse manager's role in regard to payroll, scheduling, personnel, quality control, etc doesn't leave time to deal with day-do-day floor matters, then there really ought to be another person with that responsibility who DOES have the time.

In other cases, it's a matter of the individual choosing the administrative tasks over hands-on nursing assistance. These folks could help but they use the other responsibilities as an excuse to avoid "getting their hands dirty."

Without knowing the person and the facility, I can't know which the case for any individual manager.