Define the Assistant Nurse Manager's Job

[Deb2300]

I work on a very busy 18 bed Med/Surg unit.Our staffing pattern for 18 patients is 4 nurses (this includes the ANM) She will take a smaller and easy patient assisgnment, which we are all OK with, but she does absolutely nothing to help the rest of us.

She is consistently 10 -15 minutes late every day. She often leaves the floor without telling anyone where she is going or how long she'll be. She once left as one of her patients was being transferred to ICU. She had to interview an applicant. She had not called report to ICU, nor was the patient prepared for the transfer.

She takes 1 hr. lunch breaks without telling anyone in advance and we never get a report on any of her patients before she leaves.

We've gone to the NM, but get no support. "Oh, she's probably doing something for me."

In a code situation, she suddenly becomes busy with something else. She's really scary and we don't know how to get her out. It's obvious we will get no support from the NM.

She continually makes demands for OT shifts, extra weekends, and holidays. Does she pitch in and help with the shortage. NO!!! She's quite content working Mon.-Fri. and no holidays. Morale is very low and near the exploding point on this floor.

We've considered going to the VP of nursing, but not sure of the protocol nor are we confident anyone would listen in this hospital. Any suggestions would surely be welcome. HELP Thanks. Deb