Nursing manager Vs. Floor Nurse

[donia_sadaf]

Hello to all,

I am 25 years old nurse who has been lucky to have had so many chances to grow in short period of being a nurse (2 years). My main specialty has been mental illness and behavioral health. In only being in a new (very good, research and teaching) hospital for 8 months I have had the chance to become charge nurse and an interim RN manager. I am a hard worker like many other people and I am future goal oriented. In a year from now I am planning on hopefully getting accepted to a DNP program for psychiatry specialty. Since I have taken this interim RN manager role I have exceeded at it, and I feel like I have become a better leader, and have been able to save more money however I am not happy. My dilemma however is that since I have told my senior nurse manager, other managers, and my director that once my interim position is done and I like to go back to the floor, they have not been happy with me. They keep asking me to apply for the position permanently and that i'll be letting those people down and I'll be making them short staff. However the truth of it is I told them I will step down once the new RN manager is fully trained and they'll have the same amount of RN managers they once had before me. I am not happy, and I miss the team work environment, and I like dealing with patients NOT administration. Also the problem is I'm afraid once I have fully stepped down they might not be willing to write me recommendation letter for school. So I'm so lost about what to do. I have told them that in the end of month I will be going back to floor but I feel like it's a fight for me to go back everyday. Any advice of how else I can handle this or what to do would help. Please help me! Thank you in advance.

[adventure_rn, MSN, NP]

That really stinks.

Unfortunately, one of the things they don't teach you in nursing school is that once you train up to any role (charge, preceptor, etc.) it is very hard to step back down if you no longer want to do it. There's such a limited group of people with these specialized skills that it's way easier for your managers to just keep you around. You're either 'voluntold' to keep doing it, or given a serious, ongoing guilt trip if you request not to do it anymore.

There really isn't much you can do, and we can't know how sympathetic or petty your senior manager will be about your decision. If they've changed your status with HR, it's totally within their rights to tell you that your bedside position is 'no longer available' to you; in that case, they can simply refuse to put you on the schedule and continue to schedule you to fulfill management duties. If they really won't budge on this issue, maybe you could look for another job to start fresh without any management expectations. Regardless of whether you stay or go, if you're worried about bad blood affecting recommendations I'd look for another nurse in the unit who is more sympathetic to your situation and can write one for you (a former preceptor, a charge nurse, etc.)

[Nurse Beth, MSN]

You cannot control their reactions or behavior. Just remain professional and repeat your decision "It's been a great experience and I am choosing to remain in clinical practice"