If I hear this one more time I'm gonna scream!

NICU_Nurse, BSN, RN · Sep 8, 2002

First - This is not Kristina, but her husband.

I was just scanning some posts as my wife asked me to keep an eye on one of them for her and I came across this one.

From what I've heard, coming from her and her mom and you good people here. It doesn't sound like much of a staffing problem, rather it sounds like a management problem.

Now, I kinda know how it works in some/most hospitals, and what it sounds like to me is that these people just simply aren't trained to handle "Management" responsibilities. They're trained to be nurses/cna's, etc.

There's a big difference between dealing with a budget, staffing schedules, and other misc. problems that will occur in a day to day business, and dealing with patients, meds, etc. etc.

The problem is your managers suck $ss, and their managers suck #ss and THEIR manager suck #ss. All the way to the top of the mangerial food chain where the Administrator of the hospital might choose to spend 15 million to redecorate the lobby and forego hiring more staff.

So how do you fix it? short of having every single nurse walk off the unit and threaten to quit if the hospital doesn't find a competent manager?

You don't!

The Deal is that the problems you are suffering from are widespread and not relegated only to hospitals and nurses.

Colleges are breeding middle management employees who can handle #'s, but not people issues, they get 0 sensitivity training, next to nothing in real world psychology training and because of this they look at human beings as just more numbers to be crunched.

Granted, I think in some cases nurses may have it worse because they have been stigmatized from the very beginning of the professions creation, but the only real way to show that how fed-up you are is to quit and go into another profession.

Or walk off the unit and force upper management to dump your crappy boss. I've seen this happen only one time in my life, and it was not in a hospital situation.

Just briefly - Up until a year or more ago I worked for a major fortune 500 company. We had a manager come into our department after she had resigned from another fortune 500 company after charges of harrassment had been brought against her.

In 2 years time she ran everyone into the ground, so much so that 20 year employee's with a lot to lose were walking off the job because they couldn't handle the pressure anymore. I was one of them. I knew if I stayed much longer I probably would have put a firebomb in the %%#%# pannies. Shortly after I left, I found out from a friend of mine that all 67 employee's in her department called a meeting with her boss. Every single person in that department threatened to walk off the job, right then and there, if they did not get rid of her ASAP.

It took two additional months and 5 more resignations before they promoted her out of the department. hehe. She was promoted to an advisory permission, no longer in charge of any people, and she was quite happy with the double in her salary and her new lexus.

Some people are good leaders/managers, most aren't. Nobody cared that she got promoted, they were just glad she was OUT. The next manager wasn't much better, and he was quickly replaced by someone with better people skills and is still in the position.

There is power in numbers. as long as you complain individually, no one will hear you. Already they are estimating a crapload of nursing shortages because people are leaving the profession to go onto other things due to poor management and under-staffing. Some of the bigger and better hospitals are taking note. It will be years before the poorly run hospitals get the idea, maybe even decades.

Stand together or don't bother standing. You won't be heard. they may listen and nod their heads, but they aren't hearing you because most of them don't care. All it takes is ONE bad manager in the long line of managers from unit manager to administrator to ruin everything for everyone.

Me, I'm back in school, and currently destressing from a 5 year stint in hell. (i didn't mention it because it wasn't pertinent, but I hated my job too. I stayed only long enough to help support my wife while she was going to school and not working.)

I don't care what my next job will be, if i'm working with good people then i'm there even if the pay sucks. If not, i'll walk out. I won't take that kind of hell from anyone ever again, life is too short to be miserable for what amounts to as 1/3 to 1/2 of your life. (the working part of it).

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sjoe · Sep 8, 2002

Kristi-husband: sounds about right to me.

live4today, RN · Sep 8, 2002

Thumbs up to Kristi's husband! Preach it, brutha man! :nurse:

Thank you for that wonderful and inspiring contribution to this thread. I agree with you wholeheartedly! :)

SOCRATES SOUL · Sep 8, 2002

well to the male management i would love to say "could you come here please and let me give you a pr exam, i think you're megaly prostate is pressing up against your brain"........:chuckle

or how about they all have cerbral lavages??

or how about "i would love to see things from your pov but i cant get my head up mr orifice far enough".........or even "is that a frown across your forehead or just you're circumscicion scar you dickhead".............. :cool:

but then again i suspect that management are all too busy sticking their toes into each others orifice and giving each other 'toe jobs'.........

an to female management?? only one i have coined so far for them is 'are you as self absorbed as your tampon you stuck up c*#@!!!!!'!!!!............naughty but nice.........

st4304 · Sep 8, 2002

Originally posted by BBnurse34
My all time favorite is "We apreciate that you have been working your butts off due to short staffing and high patient acuity. We apreciate it so much that we got you pizza"
Neither me or my patients care about pizza (that I won't have time to eat). What we want is safe staffing.

You guys get pizza? We get a certificate for a free 'SLICE' of pizza from the cafeteria. Great for the night shifter who would have to come in on his/her day off for the free slice since our cafeteria isn't open at night. :rolleyes:

Sherri

zudy · Sep 10, 2002

Sherri, that is so typical. :rolleyes: And then try to explain that to the suits. They just stare at you like you are speaking a foreign language. As I have said before, I just thank God they realize on some level that they( the Suits) are too stupid to attempt pt care.

BBFRN, BSN, PhD · Sep 12, 2002

Originally posted by BBnurse34
My all time favorite is "We apreciate that you have been working your butts off due to short staffing and high patient acuity. We apreciate it so much that we got you pizza"
Neither me or my patients care about pizza (that I won't have time to eat). What we want is safe staffing.

LOL!!!!! I know!!! What is it with the pizza????!!!! It just makes me madder than hell when they do this!!! Who thought up this brilliant idea of trying to placate us with pizza after a hell shift???? Sorry, this subject really gets to me.

P_RN, ADN, RN · Sep 14, 2002

WE got a coupon for one free soft yogurt....expiration date 3 days from issue.

MQ Edna · Sep 14, 2002

My first job out of nursing school was med-surg in a rural hospital. The patient load was murder. I was shift leader to one CNA and took care of 10-12 pts. I was slow because I spent alot of time looking up the 3 million meds that I gave and documenting by hand for all 12 pts. My shift ended at 7am but I never went home before 9-10 am. Just making sure that I had left NOTHING for the day shift and finish documenting.

Well I finally had enough and spoke with my unioun rep. I told her that if things don't change than I'm bailing and going down the road. She went to the DON and they revamped the matrix of staffing. Granted its better but occasional its still bad.

My unioun rep stated that con't to fill out the unsafe staffing every time that we are short handed. (I have) The state has come a calling once because of all the unsafe staffing. (I'm not the only one who fills them out)..

Unsafe staffing reflects your DON license. She is responable for the staffing and is accountable to the state for it. So EVERY TIME that you are short staffed fill out the paperwork and it will get better or your DON will get he!! from the state....

TRY IT, IT WORKED FOR US:chair: