Disagree with hospital philosophy

[kdc290]

I recently did a conference or inservice about positivity in the work place. I feel like this has been done because a lot of nurses are disgruntled and I feel like for good reason. Basically they want us to just be positive and never complain. Like a grin and bear it sort of philosophy. It made me angry on so many levels. I will probably be in someones black book but I mentioned to our head of nursing that our complaints may have validity. Many times we are frustrated because we feel we are doing our best for the patient and can't seem to make headway on their care and need input. Another reason we may complain is because of staffing and we are feeling stressed over this. I wanted to mention this if they loose 6 nurses and wonder why the grin and bear it philosophy didn't work they know why. Any thoughts ?

[Libby1987]

Are people trying to work there?

[Anna Flaxis, BSN, RN]

I'll share some thoughts.

I've worked inpatient, outpatient, Emergency, and more recently, Administration. Wow, what an eye opener!

Not knowing the specifics of your particular facility, I will say that in general, larger facilities have a greater ability to adjust, adapt to, and absorb fluctuations in patient census than smaller facilities - but that being said, it is a difficult tightrope to walk. If you have too many nurses on staff, then people are put on stand-by or low census too often, which creates frustration since people need to make a living, and so they move on to other facilities where they will be worked. Too few nurses, and they feel overwhelmed and unable to provide a level of care that they can feel good about. Other considerations are the ratio of experienced staff to new grads, staff mix such as ancillary and support staff, how to attract and retain experienced staff, how to support new grads, etc etc. Finding just the right balance can be difficult if not impossible. In the meantime, morale suffers as staff feels the stress of trying to do a good job with too many patients and too little time.

I don't have any solutions - I'm in the trenches too, and so I understand your frustration. Having been in healthcare for over 10 years now, I can say that "grin and bear it" has been the norm almost everywhere I've worked. There are a few little pockets here and there where all is lovely, but those tend to be highly competitive jobs, and for me, boring. I prefer the challenges of working in acute care.

I wish I could be more helpful.

[RNperdiem, RN]

I would take what I need out of this and ignore the rest.

That said, positivity is a useful tool to cultivate. It especially concerns unreasonable self-criticism. Building in resilience in yourself pays off.