Lately, it seems that as a manager, my offers to assist with tasks or learn new roles are being declined. For example:
-Admissions Coordinator: No
-Infection Control: No
-Daily Charting and Other Assessments: Usually no
-Entering orders: No
-Scanning documents: No
Clearly, I am not offering to help with the right things so am wondering what others would actually like help with or what I should be offering to help with
You are not needed for paperwork,.You were needed for nursing assistant duties. Doesn't that tell you that , as a manager.. you need to advocate for more nursing assistants ?
Definitely. The source of many of our problems is simply having enough staff. I am not sure if they are simply having a hard time hiring to begin with, convincing people to stay, not pursuing applicants hard enough, or a combination of all of these. The lack of staffing is a daily discussion, including the multiple call-ins that happen for almost every shift. However, other than bringing forth concerns regarding staffing and holding people accountable for repeated call-ins, there is unfortunately not more that I can do. Until then, I'm sure the expectation is that I will fill in wherever is needed, no matter how much this may extend my work hours. With that said, paperwork is rarely the most important need to be fulfilled. Most of the time, there are many other things that take priority, especially when there are multiple patients and/or family members that are competing for attention.
55 minutes ago, LibraNurse27 said:
As a manger do you have any input on hiring more staff?
Unfortunately, no. I can bring forth the need for more staff, but that's about it, and stating so doesn't bring any news forward that they don't already know.
You are not needed for paperwork,.You were needed for nursing assistant duties. Doesn't that tell you that , as a manager.. you need to advocate for more nursing assistants ?
Also, sometimes the need for be to be a nurse--not a manager, but a nurse--is simply going to be the stronger need. Yes, we can keep insisting that the scheduler and others in administration ensure adequate staffing, but there's always the possibility that there simply may be empty gaps. Since I am a registered nurse, there really isn't any reason I can't assist with filling in if they absolutely cannot find anyone else, which ended up being the case for four hours last evening. It shouldn't be a chronic issue if they also expect that I keep up with the management duties, but there should be no need for panic or resistance if the need for me to be a nurse is greater than the need for me to be a manager. After all, at one time I was also a very effective floor nurse, which was probably why I had been promoted to begin with.
Thanks. No abandonment charges. I stayed from 8am Friday to 12:30 am Saturday
I also ended up only working the floor for four hours during the late evening when they absolutely could not find anyone else, although did help out with various miscellaneous nursing tasks (such as getting an I&O UA) throughout the day because we were short staffed again. However, in exchange for being willing to stay to help fill in the gap, some of my coworkers took over some of my other duties that were overwhelming me, such as the large amounts of orders that needed to be entered since we had three admissions with over 40 medications each to input. I completed one admission and let someone else do the rest so I could be ready to assist with medications, vitals, etc. The nurses on the other units were appreciative that I stayed to help out so they wouldn't have to float between multiple units as they, too, were dealing with new admissions.
SilverBells, BSN
1,108 Posts
Definitely. The source of many of our problems is simply having enough staff. I am not sure if they are simply having a hard time hiring to begin with, convincing people to stay, not pursuing applicants hard enough, or a combination of all of these. The lack of staffing is a daily discussion, including the multiple call-ins that happen for almost every shift. However, other than bringing forth concerns regarding staffing and holding people accountable for repeated call-ins, there is unfortunately not more that I can do. Until then, I'm sure the expectation is that I will fill in wherever is needed, no matter how much this may extend my work hours. With that said, paperwork is rarely the most important need to be fulfilled. Most of the time, there are many other things that take priority, especially when there are multiple patients and/or family members that are competing for attention.
Unfortunately, no. I can bring forth the need for more staff, but that's about it, and stating so doesn't bring any news forward that they don't already know.