Read this email my NM sent to all the nurses.

Nurses General Nursing

Published

"Nurses,

It has come to my attention that BREAKS are being taken at the BEGINNING of the shift DURING BUSY times on the unit. This is unacceptable and it is the responsibility of each staff member to come to work prepared to work and NOT shop online, take multiple breaks, and gossip. It is very unprofessional to be socializing LOUDLY at the nurse's station and I will not tolerate it. I need staff that are committed to making this the best unit and providing the BEST care. The charge nurse and myself do not have time to babysit and instruct you on how and when to do your job. The charge nurse is responsible for leading the team and if she feels at any time that a particular staff member is not performing standard care, she will not hesitate to take action and dismiss the staff member from work for the rest of shift without pay with instruction to follow up with me before returning. Please forgive me in advance to the staff dedicated and prepared to work full throttle each shift, this email is not directed to you."

...........

Really? This is the kind of work environment I have to deal with. Does this sound like something any manager should say? I had to laugh to myself reading this. Your thoughst?

Sounds like fair warning to me. In situations like those described in the email, anything less threatening would probably not be taken seriously.

My ward has these exact same issues. My OIC has done the same thing in email form before. It's not that she hasn't talked to specific nurses about their behavior, but this is a blanket message that gets the word out in case someone tries to say they weren't told that the type of behavior described was no longer going to be accepted on the ward (as if it should even have to be said!).

All that said, I've received emails like this at work, too, and being that I do my job, I enjoy getting those emails. It tells me that the leadership is about to get to work and things are about to improve for me.

Think about a co-worker suspending you without pay from your job. Cannot be legal.

In my world, coworkers can strip each other of their rank--their entire career. Being suspended by a charge nurse who (despite pay differences) is clearly in authority and acting under the authority of the NM seems perfectly reasonable, especially if they are not doing their job and in doing so, endangering patient safety, tanking ward morale and pushing their work off on other nurses. THAT is bullying, not being sent home because of failure to do one's job.

It sounds histrionic and desperate. I would imagine this is a unit that has had ineffective leadership for a significant period of time.

Specializes in PICU, NICU, L&D, Public Health, Hospice.

It's easy to be an armchair critic...or manager.

It may not have been impressively eloquent but it conveyed her meaning...she means business and is fed up with the embarrassingly unprofessional behavior of the nursing staff.

I am distressed that the OP read the email, laughed, and thought it should be posted on AN...makes me wonder.

Specializes in Public Health, L&D, NICU.
The taking breaks in the morning, used to KILL me. 7-9 is hands down the worst time to take breaks and is just poor. Talking loudly around patient rooms is just rude. I understand its important to have fun at work, but there is nothing worse than being a patient and trying to sleep/stay calm and hear a bunch of that. JMHO

That drives me crazy, too. I worked with nurses who would get report and then promptly go down to the cafeteria, come back with breakfast and then sit in the breakroom and eat it. Which is absolutely fine if you have nothing to do, but how often does that occur? Then the doctors are coming in to break water (L&D) and the nurses are busy eating. Our doctors are very kind, and would then feel like they were intruding if they asked for a chaperone. Eat at home! Or eat in the car, if that works better for you. But don't come in and immediately feel the need to to have a meal break.

Specializes in Orthopedics and Telemetry.

I think this is a good way of getting everyone's attention. During "all staff" meeting might be another way but not everyone will be attending. Just don't send it to me via text while I'm enjoying my real meal at home and that's what I consider unprofessional and harrassment.

I am just a nursing student. BUT before I was a nursing student, I was in HR, and most of the work I did in HR was in employee relations, and a good deal of that was in a hospital (it was working in the hospital that gave me the nursing bug.) In other words, I was the person in HR the NM would come to in order to get guidance/approval on such an e-mail.

In my professional opinion, mass e-mails are not a good idea in most cases. Those who said that individual warning are more appropriate are spot on. The tone of the e-mail was not professional. However, the issues addressed were legitimate issues.

Regarding the Charge Nurse being able to send other nurses home, that is perfectly legal, at least in my state, and I can't imagine it not being legal in other states either. It may not be good policy, but if the DON and/or HR are OK with it, it can happen. Someone should be sent home if half the issues described in the e-mail are taking place.

I take issue with people being sent home because it actually ends up punishing the people who are left behind to pick up their workload. Just give appropriate warnings and then fire for cause.

Specializes in PICU, NICU, L&D, Public Health, Hospice.
I take issue with people being sent home because it actually ends up punishing the people who are left behind to pick up their workload. Just give appropriate warnings and then fire for cause.

No intent to punish the other workers...also no intent to allow people to work and get paid when they are not following the "rules".

Given the decline in common sense and professionalism across the board, I'm not surprised to find that a manager in any profession found it necessary to send out an email like that. As an IT Director, I regularly have to send out nasty-grams (as I call them) reminding people that Media and racially insensitive content has no place in a business environment.

Specializes in OB.

I just don't know why this manager can't call out the people she feels are adding to this issue individually. Why send an email to everyone when you've stated everyone isn't the problem? Also, you can send out an email stating your disdain for certain behavior without sounding like a desperate and threatening. Also, why bold and underline and yell at the whole staff via written communication? Again, I don's have a problem with the contect, I do have a very big problem with her delivery. This wouldn't exactly make me respect her more as a leader.

The mass email may have been sent out to give those childish nurses the opportunity to correct their behavior before they are embarrassed by being called into her office and threatened with being fired.

Maybe so, but should she allow the hard-working, policy-compliant nurses to be involved so the "childish nurses" aren't "embarrassed"? I would never peruse FB, other social networking sites, or shop online at work. Should I be grouped in with staff who behave that way to make them more comfortable?

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