Going behind manager?

[capybara123]

Hello!

I am interested in becoming a wound care nurse and asked the hospital's wound care specialist to shadow him for the day.

I enquired if I could do this through the professional practice team at the hospital and they agreed and no further steps needed to be taken, so we booked a date.

When I came in my units clinical educator inquired if I told me manager. I said no as I contacted professional practice. She said that if I were to come into contact with my manager during the day she may be upset because I didn't ask her and puts her in a middle man position as she knows but didn't tell my manager. I fully was aware that I may come in contact with her and I was never intending on hiding the fact from her.

I am only following to see if I would like the career. I would still have to apply and attend school for a year before leaving my current position.

Should I tell my manager that I did follow the wound care nurse and apologize for not telling her in the case that she does find out ?

I was planning on asking either of them (educator or manager) for a reference sometime in April as applications are for May. Now I feel uncomfortable asking my educator.

[JKL33]

On 3/11/2020 at 5:21 PM, capybara123 said:

Should I tell my manager that I did follow the wound care nurse and apologize for not telling her in the case that she does find out ?

Yes.

If manager knowledge and approval were considered necessary at your place (whether for reasons of practicality or collegiality) I would think the professional practice team would see to it that manager involvement was a part of the process of approving such experiences.

Irrelevant, though; now Ms. Educator is the problem. Classic pot-stirrer. She doesn't have anything to do with this situation, but she has made it clear that she wants to be in the middle of it anyway.

So yes, ask for a few minutes of your manager's time and say that you aren't going anywhere any time soon, you love your job, etc., but you have an interest in wound care and took some steps to learn more about it. Because you aren't planning any immediate changes it didn't occur to you do extra notifications or seek additional permissions, but that you regret and are sorry if having gone about it that way was not the proper collegial thing to do. Etc.

This seems like kind of small potatoes; hopefully you can smooth it over without too much difficulty.

[amoLucia]

On ‎3‎/‎13‎/‎2020 at 12:39 PM, JKL33 said:

So yes, ask for a few minutes of your manager's time and say that you aren't going anywhere any time soon, you love your job, etc., but you have an interest in wound care and took some steps to learn more about it. Because you aren't planning any immediate changes it didn't occur to you do extra notifications or seek additional permissions, but that you regret and are sorry if having gone about it that way was not the proper collegial thing to do. Etc.

This seems like kind of small potatoes; hopefully you can smooth it over without too much difficulty.

Again, add my YES!

Above post just about says it all. You'd be showing some classiness by approaching the subject with her. Try to mend broken fences without being overtly apologetic. It'd be the professional thing to do. And you do want to leave a professional image when you may need that future reference.

[DJSexton, RN]

For sticky situations, Allnurses.com seems to be the place to go. Yes, it would improve your relationship with your direct manager to have a conversation. In fact, if you do not, you will have broken trust, and further exacerbated it by circumventing accountability. I wouldn't be surprised if it were a topic in your annual appraisal. Asking for forgiveness is hard. But it is a strength of character to admit you were wrong. Mistake or not.

The relationship with your Nurse Manager (NM) is one that can help or hurt you. Take a moment to jump out of yourself and imagine you being the manager. You are responsible for so much that is going on, and much of it in the detail that you don't know until it comes to your attention. When a senior leader asks a NM what is going on with his/her employee after hearing from the Nursing Practice Director, I assure you it will not be a comfortable conversation. That unpleasantness will eventually reach you I assure you : ) Any staff member should go through their direct supervisor for permission to do any training with an ancillary department. At the very least, keep them in the loop. Communication is everything! Good luck with your wound care learning!