Published
Hello all,
I've been lurking around for quite a while, and I had a discussion with a fellow nurse yesterday that has just set my blood boiling and my blood pressure near the stroke zone.
I am employed as an RN in a Magnet Hospital and have been there for over 17 years. In the last year we have lost many of our long term fellow nurses to retirement, disability, and job changes. On my own unit, one nurse who was employed for over 25 years went back to school and now works as an APN. Another nurse left to get a job a little closer to home, she had been employed here for over 20 years.
I had lunch with "Peggy", the 20 year nurse, who told me that the only thing she was told the day she left was to "return your badge and locator, and... don't forget to do your exit survey". She told me she cried every day for 2 weeks because she didn't even feel that ANY of her years were considered valuable by any of the management. Now, she's just ANGRY.
So I called "Kerry", the 25 year APN nurse, and asked her. She basically said the same thing. No one said "thank you for all your years of service". She feels like she came from a hospital devoid of caring managers. She was a great staff nurse, nurse educator, clinical specialist, assistant head nurse, clinic nurse in her time there, and never had any discipline problems. In addition she was "Nurse of the Quarter" on our unit so its not like she was just a warm body or anything. She (as well as Peggy) were respected by their peers, physicians, and patients in our community.
Maybe I am too emotional over this, but... I feel like I have a few feathers in my cap, but just CANNOT understand why these 2 valuable, talented women were allowed to leave without some sort of tribute to their many years of service from management! We hear all about the Press Gainey Scores and now our raises are tied to our Patient Satisfaction scores. The questions that are asked on our Satisfaction surveys don't address issues like this.
I want to address this with our CEN. I am sure she isn't aware of it.
Do you think I am crazy or overly emotional about this? I am just thinking about how I would feel if I left in a month with my 17 years of service there and all they said was "dont forget to give us your badge at the end of the day". Gee even a little ice cream and cake would be nice...
Any hints on what I can say when I meet with our CEN?
And if any of you are in upper management positions, you might want to ask your managers on Monday who has left with quite a bit of time spent there, and were they recognized by the management for all their valuable contributions to your organization?
Geez... and they are a Magnet Hospital on top of it all!!!:angryfire :angryfire