Nurse manager email - Opinions?

[RaggedyRN]

Just wondering how other nurses would interpret this email.

"I am looking for motivated staff that are interested in rising to the challenge of providing care to patients with heart failure and be part of developing a unit of excellence. There is no need to apply if you; lack interest in staying updated with current trends, have a profound interest in gossip, or lack team work capabilities. If you are interested please try to attend the staff meeting on July 6th at 0600

(name withheld) our nurse practioner has set up Heart Failure Education Modules which are mandatory to all. The modules will include

1.Heart Failure Pathophysiology and symptoms

2.Heart Failure Treatment: HF guidelines and Therapies

3.Continued Treatment

4.Patient Education and Self-Care

Dates and times as below (rooms to be announced):

9/28 0800-1200

9/28 1430-1830

9/29 0700-1100

9/29 1400-1800

10/9 0700-1100

10/09 1400-1800

10/10 1100-1500

10/26 1300-1700

Please let me know ASAP what session would be best for you and we will schedule workshop time so that it is part of your hours.

If you can not make any of these sessions I will assume your interest lies outside of moving forward with rest of the heart failure team."

Thanks in advance

[Gabie Baby]

She should make the program accessible to Night shift and she should drop the sarcasm. Unprofessional.

How's it going? Anyone responding?

[Gabie Baby]

Angie, you've said a mouthful!! Excellent points.

I once asked a co-worker if I got paid for something (I'm "casual", so sometimes I don't). She looked @ me and said "if you set foot in this place, charge 'em". So I swipe in, put it on my time sheet, and if I'm not supposed to get the $, I've still documented that I showed up.

And how often do you let them get by with requiring you to show up at work but not have to pay you? At the very least they should pay you travel time and gas mileage.

[GooeyRN, ADN, BSN, CNA, LPN, RN]

Who peed in her Cheerio's? She sounds very frustrated with how the unit is. I don't think this was the best approach to take, since Im sure not all staff members are gossipers and skip out on meetings. It is a good way to get the guilty parties attention, but its disrespectful to the innocent parties. I bet that email caused quite an uproar! For everyone's sake, I hope the gossip lessens (although Im sure it is quite high right now, with this email being the subject) and the unit can be motivated. Good luck! Let us know how the meeting goes. (I assume you will be attending, right?)

[burn out]

I kind of liked the part about the education, I wish my hospital would provide us with that much education. Just from experience if it is not mandated education with pay then no one where I work would show up for the classes. I would rather be mandated to a class thean to have to work over. The part that bothered me about her note is what kind of a challenge do you have to be up for? Does she mean the kinda of challenge of working short staffed, unfair nurse/patient ratios, mandatory overtime? Sounds like there is a hidden threat there somewhere.

[mandana]

There are a couple of assumptions being made.

First, is that I approve of the email. No I don't approve of it but I do understand where it comes from.

The OP received this email, not necessarily the whole unit. Thus the email may indeed have been sent to the individual/s that the manager is dissatisfied with, or feels is involved with the problems. We do not know.

And the email basically states that if you are not interested in being part of this, do not bother coming. That means that s/he will not have to waste the "good, toe the line" nurses' time chastising the problem nurses. It also lets the gossipers and whiners know, that this will not be tolerated there.

So it indicates bad, wasteful behavior will not be tolerating, encouraging the good employees to go since will not have to deal with behavior.

It is also not indicated by the OP whether this is a one-off or a regular issue. That there is no indication of any other issues with the manager in question, I feel that it must be a one-off. And therefore feel that it is probably someone who is at the end of her/his tether after a long haul of problems.

I have worked on good units and I have worked on bad units. And I have learned that gossip does not occur in a vacuum. A person gossips, another listens, and then passes it on. If the first listener or two, states "I don't like that/I don't want to hear that/I don't think that it is right to say that", the one that gossips gets no satisfaction and the gossip does not get spread. Either the gossiper ceases or moves elsewhere.

The manager can rarely pinpoint where gossip initiates as everyone plays a s/he did it first game.

Apathy spreads like a virus. First, the slackers give the manager and excuse, "I can't go because....the dog ate my homework", then when they get away with it, those who came at inconvenience to themselves start to become apathetic and make excuses. Or the "I don't want to change how I do this, because this is how we have always done it" - one person slides by and then the rest slack.

As such, as a good employee, I cut my manager a little slack if s/he gets aggravated and it shows ocassionally. And some of the problems with the "bad apples" involve at least some facilitation from the "good apples".

Actually, the OP did state that this was sent to the unit. You are correct, I don't know if this was a one time thing, or if it's standard behavior. I did make an assumption that this was par for the course, and I still suspect that it is - nonetheless, you're right - it IS an assumption.

As to the rest of it, I think we're just going to have to agree to disagree. I will never work for a manager that expects me to respond to this sort of missive again. Just not worth my time. Isolated incident? No problem. I'll even mention to him/her privately that I find it a little offensive and give them an opportunity to clear the air about any issues they might have with me personally at the time in a non-confrontational fashion. Second time, I'm turning in my resignation. There are too many great managers out there, and too many options for me to tolerate working for someone who is this frustrated with the department that he/she has created.

Amanda