Explaining Absence During Colleague's Vacation

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SmilingBluEyes

20,964 Posts

Specializes in Specializes in L/D, newborn, GYN, LTC, Dialysis.
On 8/22/2021 at 5:31 PM, SilverBells said:

Another reason to possibly stay home that week: We are due for state survey anytime.  If they show up next week and I’m the only manager there, well...you can see how disaster would arise.  

It is not ideal for there to be no manager for a week, but the honest truth is that everyone would be receiving a favor in exchange for my absence. 

As a staff nurse, I would be FURIOUS if you passed on your responsibility during a state inspection. OUR managers and admins are present and accounted-for during these inspections.

Seriously, just resign. Do yourself and others that favor.

1 hour ago, Hannahbanana said:

Alas, I'm not completely convinced that SB is really looking for constructive answers from eperienced nurses, because she routinely discounts or ignores them. I would be happy to be convinced otherwise, if only for the sake of internet hygiene.

Yep. Hence why I keep telling her to resign. This is a no-win with the OP.

amoLucia

7,736 Posts

Specializes in retired LTC.

Wishing there was a multiple LIKE LIKE LIKE button for posts like ^.

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hppygr8ful, ASN, RN, EMT-I

4 Articles; 5,049 Posts

Specializes in Psych, Addictions, SOL (Student of Life).

SB! I got no words! Well I do but you're not going to like what I have to say. From the first time you posted you have admitted that you are not very good at nursing. You dislike, are not interested in bedside nursing and admit that you have never been good at bed side skills which makes you uncomfortable doing them. I suspect your assessment skills are lacking as you have very little insight into which conditions REQUIRE a resident to be sent to ER and which do not. Your inability to manage staff who run roughshod all over you makes you a poor manager at best. In fact the only actual qualification you have stated for being made a manager is that you write "Excellent SBARs" and an SBAR is only a basic interdiciplinary communication tool. You should be teaching all of your nurses to do this. What will happen when your other manager is on vacation and you are nowhere to be found and an SBAR needs to be written? You personal life is a mess and you have no ability or insight to even see any of it. You say you strive for perfection but nothing you do or says points to that. It just stymies me that you would consider leaving your facility and the residents you say you care for without any kind of mangerial support because you feel you are not up to the task of actually managing your facility.  You fish for complimants by saying you are incompetant (Which you clearly are) and when people don't respond the way you want you just start another attention seeking thread. A person could do a whole thesis on the disordered personality based on your posts alone. 

You are clearly intelligent from a book stand point but you belong no where in patient care until your mental health house is in order. I would suggest you look into a research position which would take advantage of your education and might even pay you a professional salary, but you should not attempt any career that asks you to work with people. Your willingness to abandon your residents as well as your organization in the face of an upcoming survey is unconscionable. Survey's while annoying are nothing to fear if your organization is doing the right thing. However the problems they will note is your inability to manage your staff, questionable transfers to the ER and very poor time management are things that will get you cited and put you on the radar.

Sorry to be so blunt but it had to be said - Good luck, take care!

Hppy

 

Specializes in Gerontology.

Well said Hppy!

 

SilverBells, BSN

1,107 Posts

Specializes in Rehab/Nurse Manager.

FYI: All of the ER transfers I have made were recommended by the provider who also saw/assessed the resident.  I do not frivolously send residents into the ER and most of them end up being admitted with significant findings.  Having one or 2 patients return from the ER after having ruled out anything serious isn't necessarily a reflection of poor assessment skills.  

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hppygr8ful, ASN, RN, EMT-I

4 Articles; 5,049 Posts

Specializes in Psych, Addictions, SOL (Student of Life).
2 minutes ago, SilverBells said:

FYI: All of the ER transfers I have made were recommended by the provider who also saw/assessed the resident.  I do not frivolously send residents into the ER and most of them end up being admitted with significant findings.  Having one or 2 patients return from the ER after having ruled out anything serious isn't necessarily a reflection of poor assessment skills.  

There you go! Doing it again! Good Luck! Take care!

 

amoLucia

7,736 Posts

Specializes in retired LTC.

hppygr - she DOESN'T see it! I think it's part of a disorder personality that she doesn't.

SB - Get some prof help and good luck.

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NRSKarenRN, BSN, RN

10 Articles; 18,303 Posts

Specializes in Vents, Telemetry, Home Care, Home infusion.

As a recent MS in nursing grad, what are you planning to do with that degree?      Good managers don't run tail when the going gets tough.  It's time to submit your resignation as staff deserve a supportive leader who empowers them to perform their position to best of their abilities.

SilverBells, BSN

1,107 Posts

Specializes in Rehab/Nurse Manager.
1 hour ago, NRSKarenRN said:

As a recent MS in nursing grad, what are you planning to do with that degree?      Good managers don't run tail when the going gets tough.  It's time to submit your resignation as staff deserve a supportive leader who empowers them to perform their position to best of their abilities.

I honestly have no idea anymore.  I think the right thing to do is to push myself through the next week and then look at taking time off for myself to decide what I should actually be doing.  I'll be extremely overwhelmed next week with 15+ discharges, 10 Care Conferences, numerous admissions, and whatever acute issues arise, but someone has to do it.   If I felt I needed PTO, I should have taken it.  I can't just back out because someone else took their deserved time off.

Meanwhile, I feel as if I have become so obsessed with orders and paperwork, I've forgotten about the most important aspects of nursing.  I also wonder if I've let the title of manager get to my head.  I'm overwhelmed and lost.  Yet, I continue to fail to find any solutions, so I'm also losing credibility.  I'm not sure what to do but maybe a break from Allnurses.com would be healthy 

Specializes in Physiology, CM, consulting, nsg edu, LNC, COB.
53 minutes ago, SilverBells said:

I'm overwhelmed and lost.  Yet, I continue to fail to find any solutions, so I'm also losing credibility.  I'm not sure what to do but maybe a break from Allnurses.com would be healthy 

Well, it certainly wouldn’t do us any harm. 

Specializes in Critical Care.
55 minutes ago, SilverBells said:

I honestly have no idea anymore.  I think the right thing to do is to push myself through the next week and then look at taking time off for myself to decide what I should actually be doing.  I'll be extremely overwhelmed next week with 15+ discharges, 10 Care Conferences, numerous admissions, and whatever acute issues arise, but someone has to do it.   If I felt I needed PTO, I should have taken it.  I can't just back out because someone else took their deserved time off.

Meanwhile, I feel as if I have become so obsessed with orders and paperwork, I've forgotten about the most important aspects of nursing.  I also wonder if I've let the title of manager get to my head.  I'm overwhelmed and lost.  Yet, I continue to fail to find any solutions, so I'm also losing credibility.  I'm not sure what to do but maybe a break from Allnurses.com would be healthy 

Your experiences echo those of the OP who wrote to Nurse Beth.  Check it out under the blog Just want to cry and quit.  You are not alone, others are going thru the same issues.  Please check this out as I and others have given advice that would help you too.  I copied the OP's comments and Beth's advice and you can go from there.

 

Dear Nurse Beth,

I am currently feeling lost and let down by nursing. I feel like I made a huge mistake by taking a gamble with a nurse manager job at a facility I did not know was failing (I did know that there was an issue with them keeping managers, so that one was on me and my inexperience in leadership positions to see it as a HUGE red flag) before the pandemic hit, but they were in a state of transition. So many of the issues that would come to break me I did not realize were the norm, not a product of the transition.

The job I had at my other facility was one that I was well suited for and paid well but the commute was taxing and I was in school for my MSN in leadership and management and I viewed the open position at the new facility as an opportunity to grow and learn, I also had the new nursing team at the new facility asking If I would put in for the position so I confidently took the leap. Fast forward through 2020 and after being asked to give more than I ever wanted or agreed to, after being pushed and demoralized and asked to cross lines repeatedly that I did not agree with and forced to ask my staff to give and give when there was nothing left and told we didn't have value over and over and over again, I stepped down from the position.

I am now trying to piece together PRN jobs for survival, the job I left at the old facility no longer exists and has been broken up and given to 5 other people, I have a useless masters degree as I will never ever again seek out a management position and I am completely disillusioned with the whole thing. Working in a rural area my options are extremely limited, I'm just so very disappointed and don't know what to do, I'm tired, nursing is exhausting and it feels like it just isn't going to get better anytime soon.

I screwed up and lost on a huge career gamble. I have chosen to go back to school for my NP because at the end of the day I really just want to take care of people and to help the system be better. But after this experience, I just want to cry and quit. I guess I really just want to ask how after all that I do how do I even start to love nursing again? How do I reset and reopen my mind to giving more than I will ever get in return? Why is it expected that we break ourselves for facilities that will never value ones personal sacrifice? Why can't it be better?

 

Dear Demoralized,

I had a very similar experience years ago. I took a high-level job at a poorly-run facility as soon as I completed my Masters degree, eager to change the world.  Turns out they wanted a yes person, definitely not someone like myself who raised questions and wanted policies in place.

Chalk it up to a learning experience, my friend. Do not let them win by breaking you down and squashing what you have to give. You were not let down by nursing, you were used by an employer. There are many good organizations out there that would appreciate your skills and dedication.

A Masters degree is never useless, and opens many jobs.  Often employers who list a Masters degree as required or preferred just want to see a Masters in nursing, no matter the specialty.

If you decide not to pursue your NP or need a supplemental job, you could teach online with your Masters since you live in a rural area, or look on indeed.com for remote jobs. 

JadedCPN, BSN, RN

1,476 Posts

Specializes in Pediatrics, Pediatric Float, PICU, NICU.
1 hour ago, SilverBells said:

I'm not sure what to do but maybe a break from Allnurses.com would be healthy 

Good luck, take care!

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