Should Supervisor help??

Nurses General Nursing

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Specializes in telemetry, med-surg, home health, psych.

Would like to know how others have handled this situation or what their experienced have been...Anywhere I have worked, if we had call-outs or were overloaded with admits, the supervisor would help out. Well,we have a supervisor that refuses to do anything.

Past Sat. had 42 pts. on a Dual Diagnosis unit....3 nurses were there on Fri. but only 2 scheduled for Sat. well, one called out.. So there I was alone with 42 pts. must chart 5 pg. note on each one, tx. plan mtgs. c drs., and numerous problems...I asked the Sup. 3 different times when she paraded by with clipboard in hand, if she could help me out. She never did.

The last 3 Supervisors that we have had always helped on the floor if we were short.

Isn't it their job to help out if you are so under-staffed ???? I was so close to saying, if you don't help out, I am leaving. But then I would have gotten written up, for sure.

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Specializes in LTC, Med-SURG,STICU.

I am so sorry to hear what happened to you. What your supervisor did was wrong! This behavior was wrong to you and the patiets. How on earth did she expect you to give good quality patient care, but then again she most likely did not care. Sorry, this kind of behavior just burns me up!

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Specializes in Med-Surg, Psych.

That was ridiculous! She certainly should have helped, but in my experience some supervisors & charge nurses don't seem to want to work much. Suggest you go up the chain of command next time this occurs.

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Specializes in telemetry, med-surg, home health, psych.

Thanks so much for the feedback....I was wondering whether or not to notify my nurse manager tomorrow...I think I will....;)

I am going to tell her that I will not work again alone with that many pts. and I expect some help from our Supervisor if the situation arises again or I will clock out. :bluecry1: I am also going to notify our CNO....

Thanks again....(this is the same supervisor that I posted about in another post regarding "incessant talkers") well, she didn't talk my ear off Sat. !!!

she steered clear !!! but it really was a horrendous day.....

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Specializes in Home Health, Geriatrics.

I once had a supervisor on the evening shift in a psychiatric hospital that never did a single thing except go to the lockdown unit and talk to the patients, (who were mostly men), and talk to the employees, one who was her sister.She would give us a cell phone number, but wouldn't answer.Other times she sat in the employee lounge and did nothing. She had been there for 18 years and I imagine that becoming evening supervisor made her more lazy than ever. I could never imagine her passing meds or doing anything.

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Specializes in Women's health & post-partum.

Many years ago I worked nights on postpartum. Our night supervisors were responsible for the entire hospital, but when we were getting slammed with deliveries they would come to help. When #1 was on, she would come to the unit and help with routine care (vs, prn's etc). # 2 didn't do any patient care, but would take off orders, answer the phone, and so on. We loved those gals.

Your supervisor reminds me of a clinical instructor I had lo these many years ago when I was in school. When anything critical was going down on the unit the woman disappeared!

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Specializes in ccu cardiovascular.

The supervisor was wrong, but unfortunately what she did is probally the norm for alot of upper staffing. I've had supervisors that would pitch in to do admissions, put orders in with no secretary or take patients down for tests when I could not. I also had the ones that would disappear, just depended on the person and their work ethic.

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Specializes in ER/ICU, CCL, EP.

The two supervisors that I work with most often are like day and night.

One shows up to every code and pitches in, will even take her turn doing chest compressions if necessary! She will help you turn a patient when you peek out of an isolation room looking for some help, etc. Great person!

The other will 'supervise' from the door during a code, never help you with anything, even if you look directly at her and state that you need a hand....while every nurse on the floor is running their butt off.

Sigh.

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Specializes in Nursing Professional Development.

Have any of you ever been a supervisor? What are the supervisor's other responsibilities? Were there other responsibilities that needed to be taken care of? What does the supervisor's boss want her to do in these situations? etc. etc. etc.

Without that information, none of can know what the supervisor SHOULD have done. However, if she could not help you out, she probably should have given you some sort of explanation as to why not.

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Specializes in telemetry, med-surg, home health, psych.

I just don't understand how some of the Sups can be so, what is the word?, cold, uncaring, indifferent.....I know that if I was in that position, knowing what my fellow nurses are having to do, I would have to pitch in and help.....I believe "what goes around, comes around", so maybe after I talk with CNO and nurse manager, things will change...

but I won't hold my breath .............

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Specializes in telemetry, med-surg, home health, psych.

llg.....Sup handles staffing and on the weekends not much else...we have a needs assessment team that takes care of all the walk-ins, initial assessments, etc. she is usually found in an office, sitting....or unning around talking to everyone about things having nothing to do with what is going on..... "an incessant talker"... the last 3 Sups that we have had always helped on the floor.....

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Specializes in floor to ICU.

House sup doesn't help with regular grunt work but does show up for rapid responses and codes. My director will help out in emergencies, etc (Mon- Fri). I'm not sure I would have accepted that assignment ...

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