Do your nursing supervisors do anything?

[tirednursedude]

I have a question. What do your nursing supervisors do for you and your floors? Do they merely walk around looking cool,having the title,not wanting to be bothered? Or do they actually still do some nursing things? I was just wondering if they are all washed up has beens who can't handle the floor anymore or if any of them actually still do some nursing things to help the staff out in a pinch.

[november17, ASN, RN]

Our unit has our own personal "Clinical Coordinator" which is an ex-floor nurse. He likes to tell patients he is a supervisor...haha.. He helps out wherever he can and is a blessing to the night shift for the short period of time he is with us (until midnight). Often he is at the nurse station asking if there is anything he can do to help us, etc etc, and is more than happy to do whatever we ask him to do. When not helping us he is rounding on our patients and will bend over backwards to take care of their needs. Yes, he is a living breathing press-gainey machine but it is a huge help to have him around. Even when he was working on the floor as a staff nurse he was the same way and was a good choice to put in the position he's in. He doesn't badger us about anything at all. if he sees something that needs to be done, he just does it.

There are also 2 hospital-wide clinical coordinators that pass through from time to time. They kind of plug themselves in wherever needed. I've caught them doing things like answering our call lights and assisting patients to the bathroom...things like that. Supernurses! They're usually more than happy to do all kinds of stuff if you catch them, and have pagers if you need them asap.

All of the above are the go-to people for hard IV starts too! Also when you have a patient that needs to travel to that MRI with tele?? Who do ya call...

[tirednursedude]

Wow are you lucky,your clinical coordinators sound like our off shift supervisors. Ours unfortunately are has beens who cant work the floor anymore,think they know everything,yet just walk around not wanting to be bothered.When you tell them you need an ICU bed you would think they have to pay for it out of their own pocket.

[crb613, BSN, RN]

Our night supervisors are good. They will come to the ER take pts & work just like we do. When things get back under control they go help other areas or to their office. Day shift supervisors.....I have never seen them touch a pt.

[november17, ASN, RN]

Wow are you lucky,your clinical coordinators sound like our off shift supervisors..

The only drawback is that he observes our performance and communicates his impressions to the unit manager (since she's generally gone for the day by the time we show up on shift). I had my second day as a charge nurse last night and I practically had to tell him to shut up about "productivity" and told him I don't give a damn what the manager thinks about me calling an extra nurse in because I didn't ever wanna/ask to be charge anyways. At least everyone had a good night with a lighter patient load :)

[kcochrane]

My night supervisors range from really great to useless. I have a couple that just want to stay in the office and sleep. The other two are helpful and will come whenever you call. They know when I call there is a problem. The sleepy ones like to delay to the point that when they finally realize that the resident needs to go out, it is right during the last and heaviest med pass. Then they stand and watch you do the discharge paperwork.

[chazzy69]

i was wondering if anyone knows the laws on the qualifications of a supervisor over RN's?? Do they have to be a medical entitiy and if so, what is the minimum requirement? And also, where do you find this answer? I have looked in the nurse practice act, the nurses bill of rights and standards of nursing, and i can't find the answer.