Administrators

Best advice I can give you

1) don't forget about your night shift workers...they are very often left out the loop/activities/rewards/inservices...it's kinda like a kick in the teeth

2)keep you word. If you say you're gonna do it...Then you better do it...If you can't do it...Don't avoid it, let people know why you can't do it.

3) and NEVER EVER NEVER EVER scream "tornado, get everyone inside"....then jump in your car and drive away

Best advice I can give you

1) don't forget about your night shift workers...they are very often left out the loop/activities/rewards/inservices...it's kinda like a kick in the teeth

2)keep you word. If you say you're gonna do it...Then you better do it...If you can't do it...Don't avoid it, let people know why you can't do it.

3) and NEVER EVER NEVER EVER scream "tornado, get everyone inside"....then jump in your car and drive away

HILARIOUS!!!! Great metaphor! SO TRUE

Don't micromanage, please. I understand wanting to be in on everything and know what's going on, but I had on ED who was a nightmare. I got in trouble because an RNA came to talk to me about a problem and I brought it up to her instead of the RNA bringing it to her herself. She thought everyone should bypass the chain of command and go straight to her. And I got in trouble for it o.0 No one was allowed a day off unless she approved it, either. I wasn't even allowed to step out of my office without her approval because who knows what I was doing out on the floor

Don't spend 45 mins every morning in stand up chewing the dept heads out.

Work with the staff to find out what their depts need, rather than blaming them for being behind, or something going wrong. When you find out what the problem is (12 hours of work needed per day and only 8 hours to do it in), work with them to rectify it. In one job, I was doing 1.5-2 persons worth of work by myself (Calculated by the coorporate standards, so I could prove I needed help). I told my ED we were 3 months behind because I needed help, the company consultant said the same, and we were told "sorry, it's not in the budget," by the ED. And at the same time I was getting berated daily for being behind.

Support all depts equally. If two depts have mandatory meetings, then those who are required to should attend both meetings. Not "Everyone needs to attend this meeting, but the other one should suck it up and quit whining when no one attends your meeting."

Don't go behind people's backs or spy on your staff or be divisive. If your staff is afraid to talk in the hallways and are always looking over their shoulders, something is not right.

I have a great ED now who supports his DON. If something needs changing for the better, he's quick to get behind it and support it (which isn't to say he gives her a blank check, just that he recognizes when things legitamately need changing).

HILARIOUS!!!! Great metaphor! SO TRUE

The sad part is that this is no metaphor. I had an administrator do this.

I am not an RN, but even if I was, I would leave clinical decisions to my Director of Nursing. Her job is to run the nursing department, and making clinical decisions is part of that. I am involved in the process, but my DON makes the final call.

Yes, but not exclusively. My job is to oversee all departments and to ensure that the facility is run appropriately. There is a lot more to that then financial statements, budgets, etc. I deal with HR, marketing, public relations, resident/family issues, staffing..... However, my DON is involved in the financial process, as well. She is interested in making sure that the facility brings in enough money to operate and to make improvements, give raises, etc.

I involve ALL of my dept. heads in the process of hiring a new dept. head. We need to work together as a team, and so they should have a say in who they have to work with.

I agree! I often have employees in my office complaining, and the first thing I want to know is if they have talked to their supervisor. If not, then I tell them that they need to do that first. If they have, then usually I ask to meet with both the employee and supervisor to get both stories. Right now, the nursing staff in my facility is in an uproar over time changes for med passes. Instead of talking to the DON (she's fairly new to the facility), they are coming to me. I can't solve this problem for them! I refer them to the DON.

Thanks to everyone for the responses! I appreciate it!

And in the day and age of email, PLEASE do not encourage employees to email the DON/DNS or yourself with interpersonal conflicts that cannot be resolved because they are petty and small. Yes, I know that everyone doesn't see eye to eye all the time; however, the worst thing you can do as an administrator or DNS is to play one employee against another and have favorites. I just left a job where I had a nurse manager who had no idea how to be a manager, had her little snitches that reported everything to her, and then sent nasty emails to everyone if a problem needed to be corrected. Put on your big girl panties and talk to the individual who is causing the issue and don't involve everyone who has no clue what is going on.:)

I am a fairly new administrator in LTC and I am wondering what the general consensus is among nursing about the administrators you work for?

What are some of the things that administrators do that drive you crazy? What are some things that you actually like?

I see quite a few posts that are fairly negative towards "upper management"....I'd like to hear why. Give me some examples of both good and bad management.

Thanks!

A prior admin I had, told my scheduler to cut staff back to one cna and one nurse on night shift without any knowledge of resident care needs. Over 60% of the residents were a 2 person assist, 4 residents who were behavior problems were also night owls, up roaming the halls wanting to have coffee, go out to smoke, asking for snacks etc, and an 80 yr old sundowner. The needs of the 2 person assist residents left the halls empty of staff for as long as 30 minutes at times, depending on what the only 2 staff members had to clean up in a room. One of the problem night owls with behaviors, convinced another night owl to leave the building at 3 am when staff were stuck in a room. Should I finish the story or can you guess how that turned out?

Please listen to the DON when she says "that will not work". The DON is your eyes and ears. Your DON can tell you ahead of time if an idea to cut cost.... will end up costing more than what you saved in payroll. If you add up the cost of the fines, the new security system in your POC, etc.

Unless you're an RN as well as an administrator keep your clinical opinions to yourself. MY job is to oversee all things clinical. Your job is the financial. Please don't disrespect the other managers..

Especially the DNS and especially not in public. Although important, yours is not the only opinion that counts. Please remember it's the team not just you and, really at the end of the day, it's the residents who count. One last thing, if you're interviewing someone for a dept head position involve the DNS in the process. Since everyone needs to work together to be successful, the team should have some input. Oh and one last thing, don't sock your DNS on the shoulder because you think it's fun.

The Last 3 administrators always want to get involved with Nursing.... its where the action is. But that is my nest... Don't mess in it....