Burnt out nurse manager

1 Post

Hello,

I am currently an interim Director of nursing due to the departure of the previous DON. I was left to pick up the pieces after 6 months of poor management and mass staff exodus related to the above. Upon taking the position I looked at my nurse schedule and determined I have 6 full time and 5 part time schedules open. This has been a challenge but it shouldn’t be after having been in this role over a month. I find my management team is not completing essential duties because all managers including myself are constantly having to work on assignments to meet resident care needs an ppd. I have done every analysis and report asked of me to prove our staffing issues. This has lead to no assistance from the company and lead to more resignations of nurses. Two factors are to blame. First we had a poor leadership team prior to our current administrator and then the departure of our DON. There was no respect for the staff before these changes but sadly it was not done in time to save employees. The second is that our facility is not competitive with wages and sign on bonuses so the nurses are applying and accepting jobs elsewhere. My frustration is having to force my leadership team including myself to work over our typical schedules and not appearing like I care about their work life balance (I feel the same way talking to my regional leaders). I have demonstrated the lack of staff every time they ask for it and yet there is little to no action being completed by the company. I have also reviewed and trended serious issues that have increased negative outcomes to multiple residents, increased dcf visits and complaint surveys. The lack of response had put me in fear of being responsible for all resident care because we are not doing everything that needs to be done leading to resident harm. I don’t want to quit but I feel I have no choice. Advice or help welcome.