Help

Talino · May 20, 2002

Regardless the pay or amount of work, what inspires the little peons is see those in the managerial positions lend a hand or share the load.

Don't let those in management be seen calmed and relaxed when next door pandemonium is going on.

raiderron · May 20, 2002

I agree with Talino....best managers I had jumped in when things were hectic. When we were so short staffed and swamped with new admits, they jumped in and helped. It sure made a difference on morale at our facility.

eltrip · May 20, 2002

Self-scheduling...rotating holidays (if you work it one year, you're off the next year)...finding a crew who WANTS to work on the weekend to decrease the number of weekend shifts required for the rest of the crew...allowing set schedules, where possible.

These were quite attractive to me when I worked at a large teaching facility. My fellow nurses appreciated these options...it kept some folks there despite the workload & that it was night shift.

fedupnurse · May 20, 2002

Respect! Plain and simple. When I relay an issue to a manager I expect that issue to be addressed. I expect that if I am in the right and a doctor doesn't like the fact that I corrected him, that the manager will say "she was right. Your order could have seriously harmed or killed the patient." When I say I cannot handle another patient, do not assigne that patient to me. If need be, you (mgmt.) pick up that patient until it is safe for the staff to do so. When I am doing a good job tell me! Don't only tell me when I don't dot my i's or cross my t's. Roll up your sleves and pitch in ungrudgingly!

Good luck at you meeting.

jevans · May 20, 2002

Have to agree with all the rest but also add development and training. Positive feedback on Appraisals and Knowledge that when things need to be addressed that they are done promptly with all staff involved in the problem solving.

In the UK we have attempted to look at family friendly working hours. We have many staff who work around the needs of their family with some who have shorter shifts etc

Good luck as this is not an easy task

j

LasVegasRN · May 20, 2002

Sometimes, it helps to let the staff know they can be heard. Can they meet with a manager or admin person one on one if they want without fear of repercussion?

I'm not sure if this can be done in the clinical setting or not, but when my staff had heavy caseloads in case management and found themselves getting behind, I'd give them "breathers". I took their calls, allowed them to forward their voice mail to me so they could have 4 hours of uninterrupted "catch-up" time. When we would get new cases in, I'd pick up some of them to do the equivalent of an admission to a nursing floor (we did initial interviews and assessments). Like someone else said, having management willing to pitch in meant a lot. I never lost any staff.

live4today, RN · May 20, 2002

DITTO to all the above! I especially like the idea of putting into place "family friendly" hours for nurses to work. It is always BEST to hire nurses to the shifts that THE NURSE deems best for her/him and her/his family, and not according to the hospital's need irregardless of the nurse's request to work a certain shift. Put nurses who love nights on nights, those who love evenings on evenings, and those who love days on days. Have a "weekend staff" in every hospital to allow Monday thru Friday nurses to have every weekend off. Nurses who wish to split and switch shifts should be allowed. As long as the shifts are covered, what should the hospital care which nurse is working? Hospitals need to get on the ball about building on-site child care centers for their staff AND staff that center 24/7 since hospital round the clock care requires staff to man the units 24/7. Why are hospitals so slow in implementing this very crucial necessity today? Perhaps if the hospital admins viewed their staff as human beings with a life and needs beyond staffing their hospitals, these implementations would become a priority and not just a budget thing with them. It cost to have a stable and secure staff. It cost to have a committed staff. It cost to run a business period, so administration needs to stop sitting on the fence and jump into their businesses wholeheartedly and try to do whatever it takes to stay up and running with staff that patients and their family members are proud to call a great place to be hospitalized if they have to be.

jevans · May 21, 2002

It took me many years to persuade senoir management to take on the family friendly hours but it works

I've just spent the day at an Open Day for recruitment with the aim of entising qualified nurses back to the hospital. It was exhausting. Spoke to 24 people so hopefully it's a success

fedupnurse · May 21, 2002

Hey uncRN!

How did the meeting go???? Feel positive about it??

Curious!!

uncRN · Jun 11, 2002

i will keep u updated not, just alot of brain storming during the first meeting....2nd meeting is next tuesday ..thanks for your input

MPHkatie · Jun 11, 2002

Hey there, I am assuming (maybe incorrectly) that you work at UNC hosp. I worked there for 4 years and would have loved to become vested. This is why you couldn't retain me-

* lack of support from managemnet.

* crazy floating rules

* unpleasant coworkers

* low pay, except on weekends

* lack of shift options.

*lack of positive feedback

in general, I must say, the place was like home to me, I left and was very surprised to find a happy home close by, I get lots of positive feedback in my mailbox, double time for any overtime, no floating, decent co-workers (they aren't all disgruntled by management), excellent shift options, and management that actually works on saturdays and at night.

I MISS UNC lots, but I don't miss the low staffing and high acuity and grouchy stick-it to you coworkers, mostly, I think UNC needs to work on team building because I worked all over the hospital (floating remember) and only in the ED was there any cooperation and teamwork. On some floors, the Nurses refused to help me because I was floating, you see?