Bad nurse manager

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Ugh. I was wondering how important you all feel managers are to the success of their units and the nurses they employ. I'm not kidding when I say that every nurse manager I ever had seemed to sit in her office, doing nothing (or maybe makeup, hair, or texting) while her "floor" nurses made do with short staff, lack of adequate aides/techs, and unresolved seemingly unnoticed, personal conflicts, low morale, and unchecked nasty attitudes.

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Specializes in geriatrics.

I'm a nurse manager and I could not be successful without the staff who work the floor. I thank them regularly and help on the floor whenever I can. Not all managers sit in their office.

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My nurse manager is one of the hardest working, most caring people I know. She is there 24-7. When I was new to the role of charge nurse (which I do PRN) she texted me a couple of times in the middle of the night to check in with me on how it was going. If I some to her with a proposal (not just a complaint) she seriously considers it and tries to make it happen.

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Specializes in Critical Care, Med-Surg, Psych, Geri, LTC, Tele,.

I've had some excellent nurse managers. I understand that their job is not to be with me all shift On the floor, but to handle administrative duties. My best nurse managers were available when needed, either via cell phone or by stopping by their office. My nurse mgrs were frequently seen on the floor.

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Two of the three nurse managers I've had leave early every day. One literally panicked when she had to fill in for call-offs and work the floor. She claimed that she couldn't get her med admin card to work (there are extras for when they won't work, anyway) now this nurse manager I have now can't tell me anything about the computer system at all. Ours is the busiest Med Surg floor I have ever seen and the only thing she *might* ever do to pitch in is start an IV.

The regular, well-oriented nursing staff are overwhelmed and overworked with a million things just about every day! The various floor shift "care supervisors" who monitor our charting for core measures / maximum reimbursement compliance even look like they are pulling their hair out. One said she couldn't stand the job (but doesn't want to do direct patient care) the other I heard saying she was gonna drink a whole bottle of wine after work. It's just that stressful on this unit! I have even started drinking! I was absolutely exhausted from running around like a mad woman for 13 hrs. yesterday. Had a few drinks and my second meal of the day at 930 pm. I could barely keep my eyes open, but I still couldn't sleep.

My boss seems to ask if we need help, but won't help. I only got seven days of floor orientation with various nurses, and the people orienting me seemed so tired from working like dogs that they utilized it as some kind of chance to have an easy day! So aside from the basic passing meds, assessments, and putting in orders - lots of things regarding the charting didn't get shown to me. When I ask my nurse manager, she doesn't even know. All others are very, very busy so I ask, but I can tell they don't have much time to help me.

I have only been at this place for 2 months and the last straw was yesterday when I called the tech (aide) to help a patient get changed simply because I was addressing a patient's low Hgb (needed transfusion) and another recent post-op patient that needed clearance from their surgeon for treatment of PE--- and got attitude. Actually insubordination and told on to this unit manager. And what did our unit manager say? 'Usually, if the nurses on this floor see that a patient needs changed, they just do it themselves'. I explained all that I had going on and trying to get figured along while doing my morning med pass, and still got no backing from the unit manager. I am thinking of quitting without notice.

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