Always Complaints, Never an Attaboy

[Bezoars]

Do you ever feel like all you hear are complaints and ways that your screwing up from management? Between all the "you need to do this better" and the lectures on ways we need to seriously improve.... You NEVER hear a "you all are doing a great job". Maybe it's just me, but a pat on the back would be nice every once in awhile... especially considering all the butt-kissing, holding your bladder, skipping lunch, hostility, and nonsense jacho prep we put up with.

[canigraduate]

I've worked in a few of those places, but not for long. I'm not one of the suck-it-up-and-deal types. I say something to management, and if nothing changes -- I'm OOUUUUTTT!

When I don't feel appreciated, my work life suffers tremendously. How hard is it to say "Thank you," anyway?

[No Stars In My Eyes]

I also think this proven evidence-based research.

If some organization was willing to pay me, I'd do all kinds of "DUH!" evidence-based research.

Just gimme the bucks and I'll draw up all kinds of graphs and charts!

[tarotale]

i wouldn't really care only if i felt like i was being paid adequately compared to the work we do.

A couple of shifts back, each time that I would see a certain colleague, I would be effusive with my happiness that she was working that day and what a great job she does. It was sort of a joke (because I sometimes would act as though I'd just seen her for the first time that day despite the fact that we both pre-shifted together) but, particularly as it went on, it became more and more sincere, too. I really do value her and I really do think she's a good nurse and I am always pleased when we draw parallel assignments.

Several people asked me what I was doing and I said, "I'm trying to make sure that, for this entire shift, she knows that she is a valued member of our team... regardless of what she may or may not hear from any other person."

I also decided that we could really benefit from integrating something like this into our culture at work because we are so often criticized.

[HappyWife77, BSN, RN]

Did you mean to specify 'in a hospital setting'? Because my brother is a software engineer for a travel company and is salaried. He'll work 8-5 in the office and then go home and often work until 8 or 9 at night because his company assigns projects with impossibly short deadlines. Many professions have to put in way more effort than should be expected due to poor working conditions.

I am thinking they meant WHILE we're at work as a nurse.....since this is a general discussion of nurses on a nurse website forum.

[kbrn2002, ADN, RN]

Did you mean to specify 'in a hospital setting'? Because my brother is a software engineer for a travel company and is salaried. He'll work 8-5 in the office and then go home and often work until 8 or 9 at night because his company assigns projects with impossibly short deadlines. Many professions have to put in way more effort than should be expected due to poor working conditions.

Well, since this is a nursing forum I was of course focusing on nursing, and definitely not just in a hospital setting...a lot of nurses, myself included, don't work in a hospital, SNF all the way for me! That being said, I know there are a lot of careers that have a ton of take home work, my teacher friends come to mind right away.

[klone, MSN, RN]

OP, love your username. Reminds me of my husband. He was a forestry major before he became a nurse (that sounds like a non sequitur, but he had a lot of experience with owls and birds, which apparently create a lot of bezoars).

[amzyRN]

It depends on the facility one works in. My last job was all about positive reinforcement and it worked to increase morale and improve patient care. Our HCAPHS scores improved and it decreased employee turnover. People seemed happy.

I've also worked at facilities that promoted punitive methods of assuring conformity and compliance, fear of being "written up", scolded for mistakes, rather than a pat on the back for a job well done. The employee turnover was higher and people seem less happy. There's less team work and less positive morale. It's a bummer. But it can change if people work together.

So, I think that there are jobs out there for nurses that can be positive enriching opportunities, it's just a matter of finding them. But, I think it's more common to work at a place that can be a pit of despair, if one is working in a hospital anyway. What to do about it? Either work with management to change it, form unit counsels, etc. or if one really hates it, get a different job. Life is too short to stay at a job that is generating misery. This can also have a negative impact on health.

[stevengarbs]

Everybody needs some appreciation and gratitude once in a while. Money doesn't always bring up real happiness, just saying.