Anyone go from DON to floor RN?

Specialties Management

Published

HI,

I have been in management in LTC for a while now and am getting sick of babysitting adults(meaning staff members) and was thinking of going back to the floor at the hospital..has anyone done this and was the transition between being and DON and giving the orders to RN Taking the orders difficult?

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Specializes in LTC, assisted living, med-surg, psych.

I was an ADON in a nursing home, and before that I was the DNS in an assisted living facility. I left the wonderful world of management 2 1/2 years ago to become a worker-bee on a Med/Surg floor, and have never regretted it. Although there are times when I admittedly have sort of a tough time taking direction, the fact that I can do my 8 hours and go home to my family without a) being on call 24/7, b) putting in 60-hour weeks and getting paid for only 40 hours, and c) living, eating, and breathing the job, makes it well worth NOT being in charge.

:)

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you sound just like me. i am kinda unsure about wanting to change things and not being able to like i do know being a DON. but i think about the facility all the time and am constantly being called from work and can't get a break. what did you think about the changes that you thought needed to be made but couldn't?

I was an ADON in a nursing home, and before that I was the DNS in an assisted living facility. I left the wonderful world of management 2 1/2 years ago to become a worker-bee on a Med/Surg floor, and have never regretted it. Although there are times when I admittedly have sort of a tough time taking direction, the fact that I can do my 8 hours and go home to my family without a) being on call 24/7, b) putting in 60-hour weeks and getting paid for only 40 hours, and c) living, eating, and breathing the job, makes it well worth NOT being in charge.

:)

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Perhaps your strength as a leader will develop the team??? Even though you are not in a formal managment position - your leadership will likely shine through.

What you are describing is one of the wonderful things about nursing.

best of luck to you in your new endeavor...

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Specializes in cardiac/critical care/ informatics.

I work with an RN who was DON at a LTC and now she works on the stepdown unit with me.

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I was a Chief Nursing Officer at an acute care hospital until just a couple of month ago. Like the original poster here, I became sick of "babysitting", but not just my nursing staff -- I also "babysat" several members of our medical staff and our CEO. I am currently making the transition to a different avenue of healthcare and will only return to the hospital setting (especially management/administration) if an opportunity presents itself somewhere that has a strong corporate-mandated structure.

During the past several years in this administrative role, I found that conflicting interests (owners vs. physicians vs. physician-owners vs. other "stakeholders" vs. staff vs. what's the "Right Thing" to do) kept the daily waters so muddy that Clinical Services were unable to improve patient care and work processes in any meaningful or consistent ways.

I've viewed leaving my CNO/DON role as waking up from a bad dream...

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I was an ADON in a nursing home, and before that I was the DNS in an assisted living facility. I left the wonderful world of management 2 1/2 years ago to become a worker-bee on a Med/Surg floor, and have never regretted it. Although there are times when I admittedly have sort of a tough time taking direction, the fact that I can do my 8 hours and go home to my family without a) being on call 24/7, b) putting in 60-hour weeks and getting paid for only 40 hours, and c) living, eating, and breathing the job, makes it well worth NOT being in charge.

:)

My boss has done this two times; :bluecry1: originally the 11-7 nurse when I started, she then became DON. Left to move closer to her mom and step dad. Came back, as she wanted to pick up extra hours, and got asked to "do the DON thing" again. :eek:

She, too, hated the on call 24/7 bit, but did get in her contract that she would get paid for working the floor.

She's pretty decent, though.

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