Anyone happy with their facility administrative team? Unhappy? Neutral?

fultzymom · Sep 17, 2007

Around here the universal thought is we are unhappy. Here is why: we are told on a regular basis that EVERYONE is replaceable. Yes, I know that but you do not want to be reminded by your management that they see you as so. Does not do much for staff moral. We are constantly low staffed, whether it is nurses or STNA's there is never enough people. They have taken away almost every perk that we had due to budget crunching. Also right now I do MDS and our case mix is in the toilet because we have admitted a huge amount of independent people and therapy is in the toilet. I was told by someone who's office is right by the administrators office that if the score does not come up, he said he will find nurses who will get it up. Now tell me, how can I have a good MDS case mix when you have all independent people? Also, only one TF, one dialysis patient, no one getting IV's, restorative load is down right now......so what am I supposed to do? I am doing the whole visit/order thing but that will only help so much.

Sorry to go on and on!!

NursingAgainstdaOdds · Sep 17, 2007

Well, in every experience I've ever had with administrators, all signs point to "not to be trusted". I wish it were different.

At my current facility it is the same and then some.

justavolunteer · Sep 17, 2007

I am 'justavolunteer' on a pt unit. In the past, I have spoken up to management on behalf of the nurses and CNA's on my unit. (They are a great, appreciative bunch of people, so I am glad to do it.) The usual response is "Who put you up to this?". They just can't believe that I am thankful for the appreciation I get, so I don't have to be "put up to it"!

Also, our hospital has various marketing campaigns vs the other hospitals around here. I have gently suggested that volunteers be informed about these, so we can explain them to pts. who ask. You might think I said "Let's throw all the pts out the window" for the reaction I got.

It seems to be a common affliction of management these days that they can't be told ANYTHING by employees ( or volunteers) because they already know EVERYTHING.

gonzo1, ASN, RN · Sep 17, 2007

At the 250 bed hospital I work at now we don't view management in quite such a bad way. They do seem to have their ups and downs and sometimes do things that staff feels is totally stupid.

I feel that they do listen to us though and most of us think they are okay. I have worked at one other hospital 85 beds where management was considered okay too.

Maybe things are better at smaller places and worse as the place gets bigger.

It does seem like they live in a different world and I wish they would visit the trenches once in a while

RNforhire07 · Sep 17, 2007

Currently my facility is on the verge of a no confidence vote against administration. I have worked in 2 hospitals and 1 nursing home in my 14 years as a nurse, and in all these places administration was absolutely loathed by the nursing staff. I was wondering how universal this problem is. Perhaps part of this is the mob mentality?
One co-worker of mine who has worked in many facilities says that hospital administrators are, for the most part, practically Satan's Spawn. He tells me that, for some reason, hospital administration people always put their careers ahead of anything, couldn't care less about patient care unless it means lawsuits, view nursing as a necessary and expensive evil, etc, etc... He says they're all alike and that they go to seminars to learn how to manipulate and intimidate employees and prepare paper trails in order to fire people who get in the way of their sociopathic agendas.
I'm more moderate in my view, but I wanted to put this out for some feedback. What is your opinion of the administration of your facility?

Your coworker is right on!! I've worked in four different hospitals now and nursing administrators are pretty much ALL Devils Spawn!!

Where I am at now, a small community 135 bed hospital, the DON could care LESS about our staffing or lack thereof. I am frequently left alone in the ICU with one patient while the other scheduled RN is either on-call or out "floating" elsewhere in the facility. Our nurse aide/ward clerk is frequently floated out of the ICU leaving 2 nurses to care for up to 6 patients. All the DON cares about is the bottom line...$$$

And our manager doesn't give a hoot about the issues that need addressed in the ICU since she's too busy putting out fires in the OB dept since she's the manager of that unit as well....we are basically running the ICU on our own.... I'm fed up and hopefully won't have to put up with the stuff much longer

FireStarterRN, BSN, RN · Sep 17, 2007

And our manager doesn't give a hoot about the issues that need addressed in the ICU since she's too busy putting out fires in the OB dept since she's the manager of that unit as well....we are basically running the ICU on our own.... I'm fed up and hopefully won't have to put up with the stuff much longer

Wow, that sounds like our managerial situation. Our manager is an interim traveling manager, and is running OB, Med/Surg, and ICU. It's crazy. That's all because our CNO is, undoubtedly, the Devil's Spawn. :angryfire

TheCommuter, BSN, RN · Sep 17, 2007

Here's how my day progressed yesterday. . .

On one particular unit, there were 50 patients staffed with only 2 CNAs. The administrator does not want to keep the place fully staffed, because he receives a monetary bonus if he comes in under the budget every month.

Patients were complaining that their call lights were not being answered in a timely manner. Sorry, but when we're short-staffed, you've got to wait to receive your shower.

Family members were complaining that no one was answering the phones; however, our receptionist must help pass out lunch trays when we're short staffed. Therefore, she cannot be at her desk to answer phone calls if she is passing out food trays.

Patients were complaining that they received cheese sandwiches for dinner when they circled the Beef Brisket option on their menus. Dietary was short staffed, so sandwiches were the quickest and most time-efficient meal to prepare. Sandwiches also save the administration money at the end of the month.

Yes, I absolutely loathe administration, especially if they place financial savings as a priority over the quality of life for the patients.

RN1989 · Sep 17, 2007

I have found very few places that have a fabulous admin team that puts the patients and staff ahead of finances and their own career goals. I have also found that the longer you have been in nursing usually increases the amount of dislike for the admin team. Why? Because you are no longer the newbie that thinks that nursing is the best job in the world because you get to help people. Because you have enough experience to know what is right and what is wrong and don't simply accept mediocrity and lack of information as the norm. Because you are no longer overwhelmed with trying to assimilate information and are no longer just trying to make sure that you don't kill your patient that shift so you now have more time to actually think things through. I am sure that somewhere out there are some good managers but my guess is that there is only one in each facility and that one person is not enough to fix the entire messed management team.

EmmaG, RN · Sep 18, 2007

In the hospital where I'd worked so long, it started with an awesome administration... then the CEO (who had in the past worked as a nurse, btw) was replaced by corporate and the guy they brought in was a wuss in every sense of the word. Once he showed up, the evil DON went wild and made us all miserable. A couple years later (after a MASS exodus of staff to the other hospital in town) she AND the wuss were fired and replaced by my former manager and a career hospital CEO. She'd worked her way up from a flexi-pool ADN staff nurse to VP of nursing. She is positively awesome. Once she was given the job, almost everyone who'd jumped ship came back. So it sorta waxed and waned, I guess. I left because my manager was insane, and the one over her covered for her. Both ended up being 'asked to leave' within a month after I quit.

Tweety, BSN, RN · Sep 18, 2007

Disappointed more than unhappy. They have their good points, and I understand sometimes their hands are tied. The top dog nurse doesn't really have a clue as to how his decisions (buget cutting) affects the staff morale and patient care. Yet continue to push 'customer service" and physiciaion satisfaction down our throats.

My manager has been very good to me personally over the years.

EmmaG, RN · Sep 18, 2007

Some years ago, the 3-11 shift showed up to find there were only 2 nurses for 30 patients. And no tech.

So they refused to clock in, and called the CEO. Told him if he expected them to work, he'd damn well better get someone in there to help them out.

He called the nursing administrators--- DON and ADONs. When they said there was no way they could work a floor, he told them they had RNs after their names just like our staff :lol2: :lol2:

It was great... and the stories from that evening are legend. (i.e. one of the bigwigs had to ask the proper way to place a bedpan lol) One of the few regrets I've had in my career is not being scheduled to work that night.