Disrespectful

[martymoose]

Hi - just another vent.Was told by one "higher up " that we are just going to have to "suck it up" when we c/o not enough staff scheduled, call ins,techs being cut. The other "higher up" told us that "we've been spoiled, and we better get used to things the way they are now."

Do these comments seem professional? The whole staff morale is completely in the toilet, I am sad for my co-workers who work their behinds off, and sad for myself for being so stupid as to stay where I am.

Is it like this everywhere else?

[kbrn2002, ADN, RN]

Yet another example of incompetent management.

The OP's manager was completely out of line - instructing staff to "suck it up". Horrible. Disrespectful. Guaranteed to undermine professional practice & overall staff morale. A competent manager would have been transparent - letting everyone know what was going on and the changes that were taking place. Then s/he would have asked for staff input/assistance on the best way to meet these new challenges & come up with a clear plan that everyone could agree on. Finally, s/he would be there, jumping in to help out whenever things get hairy.

I am sure I am not the only one here on AN who can recall times when we had a very heavy workload, but because EVERYONE was working hard right alongside us putting in the same amount of effort - it was still 'good'. Nurses don't leave jobs - they leave managers.

You have apparently been lucky enough to work with good managers and I am happy for you [seriously]. Not all of us are so lucky...my management team isn't quite so awful as to say "suck it up" but we would get a rah rah go team go, you can do this! speech and then watch all the managers disappear into their offices or out the door if they saved the speech for the end of the day. Actually pitch in and help? Not gonna happen.

[youngheartoldhead]

your higher ups must not know how the circle of life works. i've seen first hand admin treat nurses like garbage....then when issues come up where patients complain to nurses about the poor care, the nurses simply agree with them by underlining the fact that they're working short staffed, and remind them not forget to fill out the survey.

[DedHedRN]

Sometimes when I think of being a nurse, I imagine myself as a monkey in a clown suit, with circus music playing in the background and a ringmaster with a whip snapping it at me all the while taunting me with useless requests and demands to please the screaming crowd.

Yeah, I know, its sounds crazy....but sometimes I really think this scenario really resembles nursing.

[noyesno, MSN, APRN, NP]

Sometimes when I think of being a nurse, I imagine myself as a monkey in a clown suit, with circus music playing in the background and a ringmaster with a whip snapping it at me all the while taunting me with useless requests and demands to please the screaming crowd.

Yeah, I know, its sounds crazy....but sometimes I really think this scenario really resembles nursing.

Doesn't sound crazy to me, AT ALL. I often think of it like the show Super Market Sweep. Running around frantic, throwing things around. The shift ends, not enough things in your cart. Next shift disappointed.

[Been there,done that, ASN, RN]

your higher ups must not know how the circle of life works. i've seen first hand admin treat nurses like garbage....then when issues come up where patients complain to nurses about the poor care, the nurses simply agree with them by underlining the fact that they're working short staffed, and remind them not forget to fill out the survey.

I like it! However, every facility I've worked at..

it's not ALLOWED to mention short staffing. Some will even start the disciplinary process.

[elprup, BSN, RN]

There are over 740,000 allnurses.com members.

Nursing is the largest health care "profession" in the USA.

Just think what we could do if we ALL stood together?!

Amazing things.

Yes, still an optimist. But, until we all do something, nothing will change. I am ready for some great ideas.

[canigraduate]

First thing is to stand up for yourself and others in those "meetings." They only say crap like that because you stand there and take it. If somebody ever told me I'd have to suck it up, there would be lots of words exchanged and letters written to executives. With quotes.

My favorite thought about being a doormat is that it takes two. One to do the walking, one to do the lying.

Don't lie there.

[OfficerRNBSN]

Ah, yes, I remember those days, and that's why I'm repulsed by hospitals and other inpatient settings, lol. Like another, I now work in a jail, and I frequently tell inmates that we're not here to please them, don't come back, quit smoking the rock and you won't have screwed up teeth, I'm not going to do anything about your problem, etc. In the hospital we had to coddle them, wipe their bums, serve them beverages, do the health-related work, and as charge nurse I had to make assignments and do all the assessments and IV pushes every shift for all the LPNs I had. I was the only shift with only me as a RN and the rest LPNs. Every other shift had an even distribution of RNs and LPNs. Yeah, I hate hospitals.

[RainMom]

OP, do we work together? Just this week in a meeting including all floors, new management extolled the great teamwork on my floor, couldn't say enough about how good our scores of upper 80-90's (compared to 30-40 on the others). Then within a few minutes when questioned/pushed on a couple areas (staffing, equipment) by my coworkers, she turned to nurses from the other depts and the comment was then, "Well, aren't we spoiled!" Felt like a slap in the face.

... the nurses simply agree with them by underlining the fact that they're working short staffed, and remind them not forget to fill out the survey.

Have to confess to that one!

[proud nurse, BSN, RN]

My last job in LTC was like that. It was really bad on the CNA's, though. They worked short staffed all the time. And our managers did not hesitate to tell them that their nurse would pick up the slack. I'm all for teamwork, but was it really my responsibility to pick up the slack because the facility couldn't keep CNA's?

[Palliative Care, DNP]

I really think this sort of attitude comes from the "Nursing Shortage". Meaning that they know that does not exist and have a virtual plethora of candidates to fill your position should you no longer decide to "take it". While you may hate your job there are a bunch of new grads that would love to have it for less than what they pay you.

[martymoose, BSN, RN]

^^^ yeah, I guess that's kinda obvious.

Like I said, it sucks to see my coworkers run with their heads cut off.How can 1 tech/aide be on hand for 28 stepdown pts, 70 percent are on bed /chair alarms who will not stay put, and the rest take 2-3 people to change/toilet them. The one or two walkie talkies- who are going to be the ones who fill out those surveys, are the one's gonna give us bad scores, only confirming to mgmt how useless we are.

You are right, MT4, how stupid of me to think that maybe we were worth something to the company. That's another subject- how what you describe is exactly what is going on- many new people with less than 1 yr experience. I was going to have a surgery at my place of employment, but now I am having second thoughts. I'm not so sure I feel comfortable with new grads with no experience taking care of me.