bosses working on the floor

[jmznurse]

I'm a nursing student precepting and I was listening to some of the nurses talk about this new program they are instituting. It's a program on how to be nice to the patients, it my understanding that it's a special program that the administrator had purchased in order to make the stay of the patients better. While I was listening to these nurses talk about this, I wondered if this administrator had ever been on a nursing floor. I asked one of the nurses if this administrator had a medical degree and the answer was no apparently he has an M.B.A which is great, but my question is how can he decide about what is best for these patients if he doesn't have any experience on a medical floor, I feel that these people should have to get out on the floor and work with the patients in order to get a better feel for what the nurses are going through. Any thoughts?

[wooh, BSN, RN]

Forgive us. From what I've seen on tv, you can become a company CEO about a decade after you're born if your father is out of town. And if you wear makeup, you're obviously more than qualified to create and run a cosmetics division. So I'm not sure that it does take that much to be an administrator.

Considering healthcare management seems to think that a hospital only needs about as many nurses to run it as one would see on House or Grey's Anatomy, as evidenced by the continued cutting of nursing staff, I'm going to base my views of their job on tv too.

[DixieRedHead, ASN, RN]

Nursing is a highly respected profession. Business Administration is a highly respected profession. I think it makes people look very unprofessional when they make statements like "I've thought about getting my MBA. I could develop reports and nifty graphs filled with data that supports how nursing staff is doing it wrong." Its like someone saying, "Oh, I should've been a nurse, so I could read magazines and gossip at the nurse's station." These are obviously very wrong, false, and ridiculous statements. There are good administrators and bad ones, just as there is good/bad nurses. The well-managed and successful facilities are ones that implement teamwork, staff input, and an overall good management. The animosity between the nursing staff and administration is not resolving anything.

Spoken like a true administrator.

Rainbows, unicorns, lollipops, and spring flowers.

[madwife2002, BSN, RN]

I am a nurse manager and I frequently work with patients, I am not afraid to do anything that is required on the floor to help staff and no job is beneath me.

However I am very busy with my own work too. I have so many objectives to meet, so many state requirements that I never finish.

A large part of my role is HR staff continuously come to me to complain about their co-workers and to throw their co-workers under the bus.

There isn't one member of staff who is not willing to 'dish the dirt' on their colleagues, and as a manager It takes hours of my time to work through these personal problems and try to bring peace to my staff.

Also I have many staff members who do not follow policy and procedures which can get us into deep trouble with the state. I have to work constantly to bring compliance to P & P. If you knew how many times a day I see staff not following P&P it would shock you.

Lastly but not least patients and relatives spend hours complaining about staff, either in person or calling me on the phone. They have to be reassured and pacified.

After all without patient satisfaction we would have no job.

There was a study which found you can please 9/10 customers, but upset 1 they will tell 10 people minimum about the poor care they recieved

I wonder if any non managers can actually understand how much work is involved with managing staff, budgeting or balancing the budget. If a manager does not manage the budget effectively that could cause somebody to lose their job, somewhere within your corporation.

[DixieRedHead, ASN, RN]

It has always been my position as a manager that it is my job to know what is going on on the units. I watch, and see.

It has also always been my position that people who throw other staff members to the wolves really don't have enough to do. Don't come to me and tell me. I already know. I will handle it. In the mean time, if you got some business you can mind your business, if you got not business, then make it your business to leave other people's business alone.

[dishes, BSN, RN]

I am not a manager, but madwife's description seems like an accurate description of many healthcare managers. I have worked with managers from a variety of educational backgrounds and believe as long as they can manage effectively, it doesn't matter what their background is. I would not be willing to trade my work life balance for their increased pay, the managers in my area make about $20,000 more a year than a staff nurse, and I do not think that is enough to put up with the stress and job dissatisfaction I would feel if I were a manager.

[Guttercat, ASN, RN]

Nursing is a highly respected profession. Business Administration is a highly respected profession. I think it makes people look very unprofessional when they make statements like "I've thought about getting my MBA. I could develop reports and nifty graphs filled with data that supports how nursing staff is doing it wrong." Its like someone saying, "Oh, I should've been a nurse, so I could read magazines and gossip at the nurse's station." These are obviously very wrong, false, and ridiculous statements. There are good administrators and bad ones, just as there is good/bad nurses. The well-managed and successful facilities are ones that implement teamwork, staff input, and an overall good management. The animosity between the nursing staff and administration is not resolving anything.

My humor-hyperbole flew right on by you, didn't it?

[nguyency77, CNA]

I'm not sure the administrator at my facility ventures out of her office too often. When she does, she never goes further than the nursing station. I do not understand how in the world our HR thinks hiring these random diploma-mill MBAs with zero healthcare experience to be our bosses is a good idea.

If we took her to our supply closet and asked her to identify which is a Foley catheter kit and which is a urinal, I highly doubt she could differentiate. I have never met anyone so out of touch with reality. :uhoh21:

[madwife2002, BSN, RN]

I am not a manager, but madwife's description seems like an accurate description of many healthcare managers. I have worked with managers from a variety of educational backgrounds and believe as long as they can manage effectively, it doesn't matter what their background is. I would not be willing to trade my work life balance for their increased pay, the managers in my area make about $20,000 more a year than a staff nurse, and I do not think that is enough to put up with the stress and job dissatisfaction I would feel if I were a manager.

My charge nurse earn't $11,000 more than me last year, because I am salaried so anything above 40hours is free.

I frequently work 50 hours a week and I get called all the time out of hours and weekends.

I am on call 24/7

[SHGR, MSN, RN, CNS]

A bunch of the MAs were late yesterday, so I was rooming patents. "The boss" was standing by the time clock so she could yell at people when they came in, I guess, rather than letting the computerized time clock tell her to the minute what time people got there. So I got yelled at by the docs, who were disappointed that they were getting to their patients late. Would have been nice for "the boss" to have rolled up her sleeves too.

[KelRN215, BSN, RN]

I firmly believe that managers should be required to do shifts on the floor. My own manager doesn't know how to use our computer charting system (and refuses to learn it) and doesn't have access to our pyxis so she "can't" do patient care. If we are understaffed and can't get help, we just work under unsafe conditions. And this is at a nationally ranked institution.

I know someone who is a manager at a small community hospital. Their hospital requires nurse managers to do a shift of patient care at least once every other week. I think it's good to keep the people in charge in touch with what goes on at the bedside. TPTB at my institution are so far removed from the bedside yet they're the ones making the decisions that affect care at the bedside. Just one of the reasons I am leaving hospital nursing.

[That Guy, BSN, RN, EMT-B]

Medicine is business therefore you need MBAs........

[GitanoRN, BSN, MSN, RN]

admittedly, i agree with most of the previous post. in reference to the mba degree, one has to give him a little credit for trying to understand, what we nurses cope on a daily basis.

on the other hand, an mba program prepares individuals with the knowledge and skills to comprehend the theories and practices of management,decision making, problem-solving, and managing strategically in any business.

having said that, on behalf of the mba degree i will state the following, hospital management is difficult and demanding. therefore, this individual will need to keep up with advances in medicine, computerized diagnostic and treatment equipment, data processing technology, government regulations, health insurance changes, and financing.

with that said, while doctors and nurses strive to keep the blood flowing and the heart beating, the hospital administrator is doing his/her job in keeping the hospital alive and healthy.

however, most staff members don't realize that a management position, requires the individual to have a lack of social life per say, since they are on duty 24/7.