What's the weirdest thing management has said to you?

Nurses Relations

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Based on the thank you card thread, what's the most bizarre thing said to you by management or administration? I can think of a few that will always stand out in my mind.

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When discussing our patient satisfaction surveys, our manager told me in a staff meeting, "Monkeybug, a patient would much rather have a nice nurse than a smart one. They don't care how smart you are, it doesn't matter. The "little things" are what matter! In fact, a family probably wouldn't care if you killed a patient if you were a really sweet nurse." My reply was rather colorful, and culminated with me saying, "give me the smart ***** any day if I'm the patient."

I had a negative survey once because the patient had rolling veins. The patient's comment was that I should have kept this from happening. I asked manager how I was to do this, for future reference. "Well, of course, you can't control rolling veins. But I'm sure if you just apologized enough, you wouldn't get these negative comments!" (my only negative that quarter, but enough of an issue to get called to the office)

Obviously your manager doesn't know the Labor Laws which makes her a delinquent manager. When I was a nurse manager, I was taught eveything about everything, so I could quote chapter & verse as rebuttal to stupidity !!!!!

Specializes in Med Surg.
I also had a nut-zo experience with Reglan! I thought I was literally going to CRAWL out of my skin!! It was the worst thing ever..... talk about "twitchy"!! EEK... I get all skeeved out just thinking about it.

I have such a severe dystonic reaction with both reglan and compazine that I list them both in my med allergies. There was a time when ER docs thought it would be cute to try to end migraines using reglan (you know, no analgesia, just reglan alone). That's how I first found out about the thrilling side effects. You're right, it literally feels as though you are going to crawl out of your skin. Later, I had the same experience with compazine.

I talked to one doc who said he doesn't use either because he'd seen the horrible dystonic reactions in several infants after they had been administered (reglan) and the images never left him.

Unfortunately not all nurse managers have a pt. care background & judge you on what you should be doing when they don't have a clue. I came up from the trenches & knew what my nurses should be doing !

WTG ! All patients are VIP's !

Specializes in Hospice, corrections, psychiatry, rehab, LTC.
WTG ! All patients are VIP's !

Precisely. I have never based my patient care upon how much money and influence the patient has, or who they were related to.

Anyway, a nurse brought up the suggestion that she might be able to leave earlier if we had acuity-based assignments instead of blocks of rooms (i.e., currently one nurse has rooms 20-25, the next 26-31, etc. without regard to acuity; with acuity-based assignments, one nurse might have rooms 15, 19, 23, etc. which would result in fairer assignments).

Manager's excuse why this cannot be done:

If we had acuity-based assignments, the nurses might get their patients mixed up.

Huh? If I can't keep my patients straight, how can you trust me to give meds?!

Reminds me of another one: when I was still fairly new at hospital nursing (six months, I think?) I had been working 7p-7a on med-surg. One evening I got my evening assignment (along with the other two or three nurses that would be staying through) and went on my way.

At 11pm, instead of having just two or three new patients handed off from the crew that was leaving, we were shocked to find that the charge nurse--a fill-in float from the OR no less--was completely changing our assignments so that we were all in "blocks" of rooms. Never mind that we had all already assessed our patients, charted on them (making initial notes, etc) and prepared our MARS for the night. No, we were all expected to switch around so that SHE could know "at a glance" which call bells were for which nurses!! Yes, so she could SIT at the desk and read, and know who wasn't answering the bells! Out of our 8-patient assignments, each of us had only one, two, or three of the patients we had the previous four hours.

As a special bonus, although charge usually took two or three patients, she would be taking none AND giving us the admissions.

We complained at the time of the assignment, and her answer was "I'm doing you a favor by being here at all, because none of you can do charge." Nice.

We complained to the nursing supervisor about the New Regime, and were told "she's charge, she can do it the way she wants. Talk to your unit manager in the morning if you want, but tonight it's going to be this way." Super nice; way to support us newbies.

I was employed in a sub-acute skilled facility which also housed a long term section. The administrator was notorious for saying 'Don't see the admissions as people-they are only dollar signs to us' Seriously? He also told me 'I don't care that your mother is in CCU after being shocked 16 times with non-converted VTach, if you leave work to be with her, you no longer have a job.' Needless to say, I am no longer employed there.

That is truly one of the most DISGUSTING and shameful things I have ever heard. He and his administrators would have received a very strongly worded letter from me along with my resignation.

All I can think, though--rather sadly, is that at least he was honest about it. So many think the EXACT same thing but have the hypocritical good sense to not voice it aloud. But they think the same exact thing--unless of course it were their family member.

My boss said,

Here sign this, I am writing you up. BTW, can you do me a favor and pick up an extra shift tommorrow.......

Seriously?

Specializes in Trauma Surgery, Nursing Management.

"WHAT?!? You want ME to put in the foley while you do chest compressions?!?"

We got brand new white, dry erase boards in the pt rooms with all sorts of fancy new stuff added to them a few months ago (used to be the regular boards that just had our name, the tech's name, their Dr, etc, but these were oh, so much better). I was lucky enough to work the first night they were used. In our am "huddle" the director asked how we liked them. I spoke up and told her that they don't erase well (she was looking for feedback on how we liked all of the information we were now able to "provide" for our pts, but for the sake of functionality, erasing is important). She replied, "Well, you probably don't know how to erase." Really? I must have been out during that day of nursing school when they taught erasing. To this day, they become this horrible mess of black smudge after they are written on just once, and we apparently have 1 bottle of the official cleaner for the board, that we share between 3 units. Luckily, alcohol swabs work decently. Perhaps next, I can pursue a post-Master's certificate in dry erase board erasing.

Specializes in Neuro ICU and Med Surg.
We got brand new white, dry erase boards in the pt rooms with all sorts of fancy new stuff added to them a few months ago (used to be the regular boards that just had our name, the tech's name, their Dr, etc, but these were oh, so much better). I was lucky enough to work the first night they were used. In our am "huddle" the director asked how we liked them. I spoke up and told her that they don't erase well (she was looking for feedback on how we liked all of the information we were now able to "provide" for our pts, but for the sake of functionality, erasing is important). She replied, "Well, you probably don't know how to erase." Really? I must have been out during that day of nursing school when they taught erasing. To this day, they become this horrible mess of black smudge after they are written on just once, and we apparently have 1 bottle of the official cleaner for the board, that we share between 3 units. Luckily, alcohol swabs work decently. Perhaps next, I can pursue a post-Master's certificate in dry erase board erasing.

I hate those white boards. Ours were replaced in our ICU for hourly rounding. (Really in the ICU is the 6 P's necessary? especially when they were put where the pt couldn't possibly see them.) I stopped using mine when I had to squeeze between the vent, IV Pole, and whatever else was in there.

Our manager acutally scolded someone doing CPR that the white board wasn't filled out. Seriously?? Let me get right on that even though my pt is pulseless.

Specializes in Psychiatric Nursing.

DON: "Why is the medication room door open?"

AtivanIM: "I'm just throwing away these documents." (The shred bin is literally 10ft. away)

DON: "You need to NEVER have the door open if your not physically inside the room, regardless of just walking a couple of feet away."

****** The very NEXT day ****** As I was running around giving meds to 15 patients, going in and out of the room

DON: "WHY WERE YOU IN HERE WITH THE DOOR CLOSED?!" (After a patient became violent and we had inadequate staff)

AtivanIM: ...... "because you told me to."

Then she had the nerve to still be huffy about it! Such a space cadet!

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