Brand spankin' new Assistant Nurse Manager!

Specialties Management

Published

Specializes in Med/Surg, Cardiac Stepdown, Telemetry.

Hello, everyone!

Lisa here. I have been a nurse for four years, and all four of those years were spent on a variety of cardiac units, from Med/Surg Tele, to acute care telemetry to Post-Surgical Stepdown.

I have just become a brand new Assistant Nurse Manager in the unit where I worked as a floor nurse, so now I will be supervising my peers. While this may be awkward at first, I am hoping for a smooth transition.

This is my very first management position, and I am looking to you all for any tips, tricks, feedback or advice.

Thanks!

Lisa

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Good luck! I start Monday as a unit manager. I'm looking for tips and tricks as well to get a bit ahead of the learning curve.

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Specializes in Surgical, quality,management.

Remember to take of yourself. When I started as an ANUM I was very bad at going to breaks. I was worse off for it because those 15 min having a cup of tea and something to eat and a read of the paper do make all the difference in the world.

Realise that you are not going to be in on all of the gossip and chatter as some staff will assume that you will go to the NUM. Accepting that can be tough for some. Another one of my co ANUMs wants to be liked by everyone and found it very hard not to be part of the gang.

Learn how to say no. you cannot grant everyone leave over the same period.

Learn how to say no to your upper mgt. They will try and squeeze you and your team. I had a great argument once with the access manager who wanted me to move a pt out of a single room to a triple to get an iso pt in. the pt was DYEING with PR bleeding. They say he was not infectious. I said he needed the dignity and 2 other pt did not need to smell that smell.

Don't check your work email at home. It can wait......if it can't someone will ring you, trust me.

Be open and honest with your team If there are changes happening tell them as you know.

Good luck!

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Specializes in Critical Care, Education.

Congratulations!!! Is your organization providing you with training to support your transition? Depending on the scope of your new responsibilities, you may need to work on competencies related to employment law, staffing & scheduling, regulatory compliance, conflict management, communication skills, team building -- - whew! (can you tell it's not my first rodeo?) FYI, Those are all topics that we include in our 'first line manager' development program.

If you don't have access to a training program, I urge you to seek out the training on your own. Join AONE - subscribe to Nursing Management (your organization may already have a blanket subscription so you can access it), and Nursing Economics - they have great CE offerings.

Management Pearls:

* Never Lie to your staff - if they don't trust you, your only option is to instill fear

* Never breach a confidence

* Never accept hearsay or 3rd hand information... gather your own information

* Always Respect, Defend & Support your staff - praise in public, correct in private

* CELEBRATE - share your joy, acknowledge important & not-so-important accomplishments of your group & individual members

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