Have you ever HEARD of this?

Was contacted by a Nurse Recruiter about a "Nurse Manager" position.

This "Nurse Manager" is considered to be part of admin, but the job requirements is that you work two twelve-hour shifts on the floor; then the same week, you do two eight-hour shifts in the office.

I've never heard of this. It sounds to me like:

1. They want one body to fill two positions.

2. They are calling it "Nurse Mgr." so you will be technically admin, and have to do ALOT OF OVERTIME.

3. They need someone else in the office but aren't willing to hire anyone.

What's your take?

Personally, I'm not interested. I asked the recruiter some more questions about it and she was evasive, keeps pressuring me to send her a resume. That sort of answers my question, LOL.

What do you all think?

Sounds to me like they are getting ready to work someone to death. When do tell is the person who takes this job supposed to attend those 10 or 20 meetings a month that nurse managers always go to.

Yes, that was my opinion, too.

I also asked the recruiter if the twelve and eight-hour shifts were on the same shift (i.e., both starting at 7 a.m., instead of doing two night shifts and then having to work in the office.)

She didn't tell me, just said to ask them when I interview.

She pressured me to send a resume and made it sound like "time was of the essence", LOL.

The only reason I considered it is because the pay is very good, but it won't do me much good if I end up in the hospital, the morgue, or the insane asylum!

I always ask myself why a given position would be open in any situation....

to me, in this case, the answer is not hidden and I would not touch it.

You answered your own questions here......If you want to work yourself to death, this sounds like just the trick!

[BadBird, BSN, RN]

Sounds like you figured it out, I totally agree and would run from that job offer.

Certainly sounds fishy to me. In our region, nurse manager is just that - a manager (formally known as the head nurse).

Clinical hours are not part of that position as nurse manager is out of scope.

Managers are not permitted to claim overtime either.

I'd certainly decline.

[mother/babyRN, RN]

Sounds like they are trying to do to management what they have already often succeeded in doing to staff nurses.....I would avoid this situation, for sure!

Thank God for experience!

It's a nurse's best weapon!

LOL

:roll

Good thing your smart enough to spot the evasiveness of the recruiter. You know the old saying " Fools rush in where angels fear to tread".

Don't do it....my nurse manager's last position was like that. Salaried and EXPECTED to work 60-80 hours a week. Here, she is still working bookoo hours, but at least is compensated for it.

[sjoe]

The missing link you did not specifically state is that management positions do NOT get paid overtime. Guess what that would mean in this case?

Let some other sucker fill the position.

[TiffyRN, ADN, BSN, PhD]

A few years ago the hospital I was working at changed from traditional nurse managers to something like you described; floor time plus managerial duties/office work. It was all part of some fancy plan to "streamline" things and eliminate mid-level management. The best manager I ever had was there and she put up with it for several months then left for a teaching position. Other managers dealt with it by just short staffing their floors on the shifts they were penciled in to work (they would choose to do office work at that time). It was terrible. It finally worked to run off most of the nurse managers. For a while they had division managers handling several floors (like MICU, Stepdown, CCU) and the next level was the charge nurses who had taken over doing the eval's and schedules. That's about when I left and fortunately I haven't seen that mess again.

Yea, let this opportunity pass you by.

We will get exactly as much crap as we will take.

Pretty much the philosophy to live by in nursing........

[lsyorke, RN]

I made the mistake of taking a AHN position on a floor which would involve "Occasionally" covering the call outs. Long story short my final day was when I had an 8 patient assignment, two brand new nurse orientees, no unit secretary, and trying to fill the 3-11 staff who were two nurses short, and in charge of the unit!!!!

No job is worth my sanity!!!

This is all too familiar. It seems to be the thing to do where I work at. When someone quits, or gets fired, they find a way to combine positions. It's insane. The latest trick they did was was to do exactly that, they combined the manager job with the floor nurse job into one and wanted an RN, so the LPN floor nurse is suddenly out of a job....

[llg, PhD, RN]

Obviously, I don't know the conditions about this specific job -- but we have a similar rolr at my hospital and it works just fine. Many of the potential problems described by other posters simply have not happened.

At my hospital, we have 2 levels of managers and educators. The higher level for each is a full time "office person" who is salaried, does not get overtime pay, etc. The lower level is called a "coordinator" and they typically work part time "in the office" and part time as part of the staffing count. Frequently, they are scheduled for two 12-hour shifts as staff and two 8-hour shifts as office time, but not always. Most units have a couple of coordinators and they negotiate different "rotations" with each other.

The coordinators are classified as "non-expempt" and DO get overtime pay, shift differential, retention bonus, etc. just like the staff nurses get. So, the abuse possibility has not materialized. It's a popular role and we rarely have any trouble filling those positions when they become vacant. It's a great way for a young nurse to give a management or educational role a try to see if she likes it. For some older nurses, it gives them a chance to participate in unit leadership without requiring them to go back to school for more education and/or leave the patient care role they are comfortable with.

The coordinator roles also keeps part of the unit's leadership team at the bedside for at least part of their time, enriching the decision-making of the leadership team by having some of its members deeply involved at the bedside, still knowing "what it is really like" to be a staff nurse. Staff nurses always say that they want to see their leadership at the bedside more often. These roles provide that opportunity.

If designed and managed well, such roles can be "the best of both worlds" for the nurse who wants to keep her bedside focus and skills current -- but who wants to participate in leadership activities.

Before eliminating such a role from consideration, I would check it out thoroughly. Find out how many hours people in that position actually work, how are they compensated for overtime, etc. How are other people in the role within that hospital treated? Are they happy in their roles? Do they feel abused?

Get the real answers for that specific employer before you make assumptions that could be wrong.

llg

[mother/babyRN, RN]

Still sounds fishy to me...Evasiveness usually isn't forthcoming..Its an oxymoron..But the last person is right. Ask questions specifically designed to get the answers you need.