Does anyone have a GOOD manager

[Teacher Sue]

I have been reading some of the recent posts about rude and unprofessional Nurse Managers. As a manager myself, I am appalled at some of the behaviors described here. I have been an RN for over 20 years, and a manager for a total of seven, and I have never seen or heard one of my managers behave inappropriately. Perhaps I have been lucky, but I have had a number of kind and supportive managers throughout my career. So can anybody share some stories about good managers, just to let me know there are some out there?

[LaurenBoog]

My former manager was awesome, I really respect her because she actually was a tech on the floor, then a staff RN, then the nurse manager. You can't ask for more than that! She had done the job, she knew the job, so she did not tolerate B.S.

When I was new to day shift, and really had not interacted with her much, she stood up for me in a he-said-she-said situation in which a patient's family member lied and said I had said something that I did not say. She sent a letter to administrators defending me, stating that although I was a new nurse, I was very professional and had never received a complaint, etc. I was very thankful to her.

[MomRN0913]

I like this thread. I will start off by saying, I have had a great nurse manager. He was very supportive, and was very flexible with our schedule. When I went through IVF to have my daughter he understood and gave me time off at last minute when it was time for my retreival. I went per diem when my daughter was born, then a few months later my exhusband and I split and needed to go back full time because I had an infant to support! He took me back AND was flexible with my schedule.

And he got me an interview at my current facility which got me my current job as a nurse manager! He has guided me when I had bad administration when I first came on. He still guides me, becaues i have only been there 2 full months. I try to model myself after him and I hope I can be one of those wonderful NMs!

[tokmom, BSN, RN]

Mine is pretty good. He has an open door policy and truly does care and wants to fix things. He will tell people to stay home if sick and not lay the guilt trip on anyone. When my step dad became suddenly ill , he offered to drive me to the hospital. He told me to call him with updates. My step dad passed later that night. My manager found out via some co workers, and called to see if he could do anything. When I showed up to work two days later, there on my computer was a card from him. He enjoys photography and had hand made the card. The picture was taken on the day of his mothers funeral. He shared the story behind the picture, which was symbolic of life.

Yeah, he can be annoying, but so can I. I'm lucky to be able to work with him.

[txredheadnurse, BSN, RN]

I have had 3 outstanding managers in my career. The first one I met while I was still active duty military. She was a mentor to me and molded the foundation of my nursing practice from classroom ideals to real world pragmatism. She always encouraged me and pushed me to keep learning and not be solely task oriented. I succeeded in several challenging environments because of the skills and outlook she taught me.

The second one saw my thirst to incorporate non nursing related skills and learn more about the global nature of forming policies, budgets, approaches to work issues. She nurtured my problem solving and analysis skills and helped me realize just how much I actually enjoy doing QA audits and devising strategies to solve unit issues.

The current boss is the best one to date. She expects a lot of us but she gives us the tools and freedom to accomplish our jobs. She empowers us to resolve issues and doesn't feel the need or desire to micro manage. She shields us from a lot of the power struggles that occur when different disciplines attempt to fix a problem and gives us the space to be effective troubleshooters focused on the actual issues and not worrying about soothing egos.

Upon reflection I wouldn't be able to appreciate my current manager if I hadn't had the other outstanding managers in my career. They helped to mold me into a nurse who feels she is more than a pill pusher or someones' handmaiden. Thank you ladies.

[Multicollinearity, BSN, RN]

My supervisor is good, and my manager is great as well. Both are reasonable people who support the staff. Both are basically nice people, in-charge, and have astute observations.

I about died when 4 months into my job as a new grad, I had to take 6 weeks off for surgery. My bosses were fantastic about it. One even insisted on bringing me groceries when I couldn't lift heavy bags.

Thankfully, I have not had bad experiences like I've read about here on this board.

[cubbieblue]

I am a new nurse with about six months under my belt. My nurse manager is one of the most supportive, kind hearted people I have have worked for. I work evenings on a very busy med surg floor and she always stops me and takes the time to make sure I am doing well and asks me if i am happy working there. She even has a sixth sense and knows when I have had a few bad nights and pulls me in her office for a pep talk. It is a long commute, super busy and hard to be away from my kids, but I feel very lucky to have this job with the best manager in the world. I wish everyone could have a manager like her. It makes being a new nurse so much easier.

[dlatimer]

I have had a couple of good managers over the years, but find they are just like people: some good, some not so good. It seems the managers attitudes have changed over the years. Here is my story one manager.

When I began my nursing career if I did what was the best for the patient, and I didn’t step on the doctor’s toes too much, then everyone thought I was doing a fine job. Now, when my supervisor, a member of the ruling class in one of these healthcare conglomerates decides I no longer am doing what is best for the company or as is currently explained ‘not a good fit for our organization’. Then they can fire me ‘for negligence or incompetence’ as they were the ones deciding the definitions. The healthcare organizations can also ‘weed out’ the nurses who become too smart or compassionate or the personnel that require too much pay that would threaten the profit margin of the institution. Which explains why there continues to be a nursing shortage if nursing schools are churning out graduates at a breakneck pace? I continue to see ads for nurses and pleas from nurses who can’t find a job. There seems to be a disconnect.

I have recently found out that my state Board of Nursing has the same investment in these healthcare conglomerates. I recently had a hearing to determine if I was negligent and incompetent. The accusations were: 1) I neglected to write down one value in a list of vital sign values present on the evidence. The evidence did not include the nurse’s notes, which could explain why the value wasn’t entered (the wave form could have been abnormal or the value could have been faulty). The evidence also didn’t include the physician’s assessment of the patient at that time. The accusation also implied my inaction caused the patient to die 7 days later. 2) That I had knowingly disabled monitoring alarms. Alarms are going off all the time in an ICU. When I respond I turn the alarm off since it has served its purpose in alerting me. There was no death mentioned with this accusation. 3) That I had responded to an alarm only when the daughter of a patient alerted me. I was documenting the care delivered to this point and was finishing a sentence. The daughter was very aware of her father’s condition and I considered her interest in his condition as more than mine. And, since I was sitting in front of the patient I was quite aware and expected this alarm to happen as the patient’s heart condition indicated it was more than probable. The treatment was the same regardless. No one died.

What the accusations didn’t mention was my supervisor threatening me with Board of Nursing notification when I told her I would quit because I wasn’t able to deliver quality care in this ICU. My patients and their families always come first and if I can’t perform by own principles and morals; it is time for me to leave.

I was more than a little surprised at the hearing when the Board of Nursing objected to my statement that other nurses declined to be my witness as they feared retribution by the healthcare organization. I wasn’t something I would make up. I was under oath.

To complicate employment matters even more for me was my self-reporting alcohol addiction treatment to the Board of Nursing, as required, and placed on 5 years’ probation. I didn’t complain. I just wanted to do the right thing. I was dismayed to discover no healthcare organization in this metropolitan area would hire anyone on probation. I have been without a job for over 2 years. I am working on another degree in another profession, but can’t get a job anywhere (one business hired me, I was in orientation, then told I couldn’t be hired without an explanation when I asked.) even McDonald’s. I will soon be living on whatever social aid I can get and become a burden on society. This doesn’t have any logic. If I am such an incompetent nurse: why didn’t it come up before 30 years? Why didn’t it come up previously at mentioned healthcare institution before being employed there 4 years? If, indeed, I was incompetent and negligent why didn’t they contest my unemployment compensation?

These are the questions that keep me awake at night and fear for the quality of healthcare in this state and country. The current rankings by various healthcare monitoring organizations make perfect sense to me. I have been present and seen the changes.

[Poi Dog]

I wish my NM rolled like some of yours do.