good management or complete contempt for staff...what's your thoughts please?

[scared'o'needles!]

I recently did a night shift and the night co-ordinator called in to say that a named member of staff on that day was to work in another ward as they were shortstaffed.

This is normal procedure so I thought not a lot about it until she then added (looking & sounding very pleased) that she specifically chose this SN as she (the SN) was on days off after this shift and the ward she was going to was closed with due to infection (norovirus). She then went on to say "so it won't matter if she gets the bug".

:angryfireI think it will matter to her if she is ill on her days off! The NC did not even blush when saying this..

[oramar]

Maybe some higher power somewhere in the universe will hear that remark and the NC will get the norovirus. Then we will know there is justice in the world. That is another way of saying it will serve this NC right if she gets the bug.

[canoehead, BSN, RN]

Unbelieveable. I bet if she did get the bug it wouldn't be covered by workers comp either. The same supervisor would say she could have caught it in the community.

[leslie :-D]

my goodness...

very scary to know nc is serious.

it's certainly not good mgmt.

nor is it contemptuous.

but it cannot get any more ignorant.

i just don't know what to say.

kind of in shock here.

leslie

[Jolie, BSN]

The proper approach would have been to assign the person next on the "pull list" and then caution that person about the incidence of the virus on the unit and the need for heightened precautions.

What an unprofessional witch!

[scared'o'needles!]

Thanx for all your responses, thats the way I see it too!!

They had to pull another SN from another ward to replace ours so we would not be short.

[eriksoln, BSN, RN]

You will get in trouble for it if they find out, but I would have gotten this message to the nurse and she could call off.

[Jolie, BSN]

Thanx for all your responses, thats the way I see it too!!

They had to pull another SN from another ward to replace ours so we would not be short.

I know that hospitals do all kinds of things that defy logic, but why in the world would a staff member be pulled to another unit, only to be replaced by yet another unfamiliar staff member from yet another unit? Why not simply pull the SN from the other ward directly to the ward in need, and leave your unit out of it?

[llg, PhD, RN]

My first instinct was to think, "The manager probably didn't mean it to be as bad as it sounded. She was just trying to protect the patients from possible exposure. It wasn't a very nice thing to say, but it was probably said with no ill will towards the SN pulled to staff the other, infectious unit."

However, the more I think of it ... it WAS an inappropriate and unprofessional thing to say. While I still think she probably harbored no ill will towards the SN, she still shouldn't have said (or thought) what she did. The SN's schedule should not have been a factor in the decision.

The manager was not being very smart to say what she said. Now she has a morale problem because of her insensitive remark.

[Virgo_RN, BSN, RN]

If she was serious, that's a horrible thing to say.

Maybe she was just joking? We joke around with each other on my unit, and I could picture someone saying something like that, but only if they knew the person they were saying it about could take the joke.

[scared'o'needles!]

She was serious, and she done it. We had to take someone from another ward to cover our sn as we are an admission ward and need all th sn's we can get;(

[caliotter3]

You will get in trouble for it if they find out, but I would have gotten this message to the nurse and she could call off.

This is one of those situations where I would have attempted to help out the poor nurse so she could call off if she wanted. Seems like the right thing to do.