I hate my boss!

[madwife2002]

Hands up, how many of you actually hate your boss? I can imagine a fair few will be nodding their head in agreement that they hate there boss.

I search google with the words 'I hate my boss' and with that simple sentence I found 12,800,000 results.

Change the wording to 'I hate my manager' and the results add up to 58,600,000.

I am sure if I delve deeper I would be able to find more results, so what does this tell me? It tells me that we in the nursing profession are not alone in 'hating' our bosses, we are not the only profession who feels we employ idiots to 'run' business's

Who do we define the term boss?

Boss an individual that is usually the immediate supervisor of some number of employees and has certain capacities and responsibilities to make decisions. The term itself is not a formal title, and is sometimes used to refer to any higher level employee in a company, including a supervisor, manager, director, or the ceo.

But did you know that a boss can also be defined as...

Boss 3 (bs) n.A cow or calf. [perhaps ultimately from latin bs; see bovine.]

There are books on...

• How to manage your boss
• How to kill your boss
• Get back at your boss

There are over 10,000,000 I hate my boss jokes!

Bosses are also being blamed on causing marital problems too!

That bad marriage - it could be the fault of your abusive boss

So there is lots of information on hating your boss. Does this make me feel better? No!

It is also laughable that if you do further education past your bsn in management or business and throw in a msn for good measure you are now eligible to go for middle or upper management! Doesn't really matter if you are good at it, have any people skills, or even a lot of hands on nursing care, you are now considered to be management material.

I have nothing against further education but some of the strangest people have msn, I do not think that having a masters in anything means you have common sense.

Most people who go onto obtain further education have access to money! We know it is not cheap to get further education.

You have to have good credit scores and have to be dedicated to working extremely hard in your studies and normally at the cost of other parts of your life.

My boss has every known degree known to mankind yet I still question her decisions, I feel her hands on experience is minimum and I wonder if she ever worked as a frustrated staff nurse.

I think doing time spent as a frustrated staff nurse makes you understand the problems and issues that everybody experiences first hand on a busy floor.

This in turn helps you have a human approach to management, that is what I believe is missing these days. You have to know how to turn things around in a crisis. You have to have very good understand how your specialty works. How to troubleshoot.

You cannot tell by watching staff how busy they are! Most rn's aren't running around like headless chickens, they are calm, confident and have excellent time management skills, so they make it look easy!

That doesn't mean to say they are having an easy day, eventually after a certain amount of experience on the floor you grow to realize running around like a headless chicken serves no purpose. You use up energy and brain power you actually need to be effective.

A lot of management staff in health care have stood still for very little time before they have climbed the ladder very quickly.

I am sure if you ask your bosses how long they worked as an basic rn on a unit, they will barely have 5 years or less!

Most of them have planned their career very carefully and always seem to find themselves in the right place at the right time.

These days I have seen advertisements for charge nurse positions with only a minimum of 1 year post grad experience under their belt. This concerns me because 1 yr is barely enough time to get your feet wet let alone have the experience and know how of managing staff and the unit.

When I was a newby staff nurse I could turn to my charge nurses and managers and they knew everything. It always amazed me.

I bet in some cases this is not true anymore.

I still hate my boss and I have to learn how to channel this emotion towards something more positive as the negativity is 'killing' me.

I have got to the stage that I worry about every single interaction between us, I suspect she is 'out to get me', I imagine she has a different agenda to me and if I don't agree she 'is out to get me'.

I have become paranoid and this emotion bothers me! I ask myself why do I really think she is out to get me?

It is a personality clash? Or is it simply 'i dont like being told'

Remember, it takes two to tango.

[whoa-now]

AMEN Sister I feel ya.

[whoa-now]

AMEN!!

[GitanoRN, BSN, MSN, RN]

at this level, i can only say that it saddens me to hear some of you, as you cry for help and it seems that you're not receiving the proper assistance from your immediate boss. nurse managers handle the operations and staffing of specific units in a health care facility, some examples include departments such as radiology, intensive care unit or the emergency room. having said that, the nurse manager will assign the appropriate nursing staff to each unit or department. furthermore, the nursing plans for the patients in each unit are developed by the nm, who coordinates the efforts of the nursing teams to keep everyone in the unit and department in one accord with patient's medical care and condition. in addition, the nm's perform research to remain up to date on current knowledge on nursing care practices, the nm also participates in assessment activities to determine the individual needs of the patients and overall program needs for the health care facility. a nurse manager conducts training for staff that may require additional guidance or instructions. unquestionably, a nm's perform research to remain up to date on current knowledge on nursing care practices. undoubtedly, a nm, interact with patients, and the family of patients and he/she will develop service unit goals, coordinate new programs and identify plans for patients. a nurse manager evaluates and monitors for conduct that is safe, legal and ethical, this requires ensuring the unit equipment used for the patients is functioning properly and safely. following this further, a nurse manager handles the budget for her unit and department, this means tracking monthly budget figures and determining the needs for supplies and medical equipment. needless to say, this may call for evaluating new products or equipment that the health care facility may purchase in the future. therefore, nm's report to meetings with other department managers to share information, ideas and problem solving for the facility. a nurse manager has the responsibility of remaining in contact with persons of all levels of nursing to coordinate patient services, this also involves working with physicians to properly plan unit activities for patient care. a nm, supervises and evaluates employees, and works with patients and their families to provide assistance for health care. consequently, nm's also process paperwork such as department budgets, disciplinary actions against employees and patients' medical records.

lastly, this could be the reason that some nurse managers are not seeing as often as some of you might like, even though when i was a nm, i made sure that everyone knew that i was present and my door was kept open to whatever needed to be discuss with my staff, and they always knew that i had their back. with that said, i can only speak on my behalf when it comes to the nm's duties which i performed year after year in the mainland. wishing all of you a better relationship with your immediate boss.....aloha~

[kcmylorn]

I totally agree with all of the Posters who verbalized their complaints about their bosses. I think all the views on the complaints are valid and are vividly right on point. We have all seen these poor examples in one form or another and if we remain in nursing long enough we will see them all over and over again- hense the phrase "same S*** different day". An what is sad is that no matter what institution or what speciality we go into- their toxicity continues.

I think we are all aware that NM have alot of "behind the scenes" responsibilites to perform; however I think some of the posters have brought out the "hitting the nail on the head" point- if that manager is not a secure person and is easily threatened- then forget it. The most experienced nurse, the brightest nurse, the most competent nurse, the most beloved nurse on that unit is GONE! The nit picking by management is going to start, the write ups are going to start, the micromanagement is going to start, the dogging, the harassment, the managment abuse( disrespect and venomous distain) is going to come that nurse's way.

The points were brought out- if that nurse mananger has feelings of threat, insecurity, and inferiority( and it is my opinnion based on years of experience, and bearing the brunt of these insecure NM's), that nurse manager needs a therapist. It is not the experienced or competent nurse's 'FAULT', they have "X" number of years in the profession, or knows their nursing material better than the NM does. The nursing staff is a reflection on that company- if the competent nurses are all gotton rid of, leaving the less self assured nurses- what does that say about that company's level of nursing care quality or patient safety focus??? To me it says - they don't care, just make the NM comfortable. Then there is the "power" to hold some one else's family financial future in the hands of some one who feels inferior to their staff nurses' ability. These NM managers( and there are more insecure ones than secure ones- it's an epidemic) are truely dangeous practioners.

I have come across only 1 NM in my 32 yrs of nursing who I feel was an outstanding example of Nursing Management and she was active duty Air Force, it was in a military treatment facility. If you brought a concern or breach to her- she addressed it, corrected it and got back to you, she was not afraid to tell you up front- the patient is an 'jack ass' and went out to speak to that patient about their behavior, she had a firm belief- her staff was NOT going to be abused by any patient or family, she knew first hand that patients and families abuse nurses, she knew her staff and their work habits- she knew that CNA and receptions like to play"nurse" and wasn't going to have it, she knew it out of line and corrected them. She did not play games, she dealt with her staff straight up Everyones opinnion mattered, she listened and you knew she was listening by her feed back. You felt comfortable doing your job and with this attitude of hers- you wanted to excel and keep challenging yourself to learn more and perform higher. Her managing of her staff, made the staff grow. I saw her mad one time- at a very demanding patient and off she went to speak to that patient. She was pro staff and her staff knew it.

I am sorry to say- no civilan nurse manager could ever hold a candle to her. My take on why that is- as active duty military she was an service member first, a nurse second. The Air Force has qualities that it's members have to live by- integrity, and honor, no airman left behind. These qualities carried through to her nursing management AND Leadership skills. She did not heasitate to her nurses thier good points- good work ethic, good patient rapport, That was the first time in 32 yrs I hear from a boss- I had good work ethics- Attention civilian world: That's sad!!!!! Needless to say, I was in tears when she was promoted to a higher rank and transferred. She too had a budget to be concerned about- a very strick budget. In the military, Congress votes on the military budget every year. You get what you get- there is no going and whinning I need more money and getting it. The CEO is the Group commander and they dont earn multimillion dollar salaries. This is also a big part of our corrupt civilan healthcare system.

It's was the giving of respect to her staff that was her strength which only came from her being secure and having a good personal assessment of her own nursing skills. The respect was reciprocated by the staff and the military could teach this pee poor civilan world( and pee poor it is) a few things about management and leadership. Even the Squadron commander( an L and D nurse) emulated the same leadership qualities. They didn't go around acting like a bunch of insecure dizzy bots. That's my observation and HO.

[kcmylorn]

Attention nursing managers; (hiring managers)

If you are interviewing a candidate and you yourself are insecure and easily threatened and intimidated and uncomfortable with the candidate's greater knowledge or experience level( and you know if you are or not, this is not some divine revelation that you haven't felt before) by someone else's body of knowledge, experience level or shining personality, do not hire them. Spare that nurse from your feelings of insecurity and it's fall out. You will only clash, give your self a headache and create more stress on yourself which will upset your delicate balance. Chances are you were hired by some one in top managment who is also insecure and you are not out shining them, and were not a threat to them for all the various reasons.

Doo- doo may flow down stream, but incompetence come from above and rises on the food chain; so why make the rest of us at the bottom miserable- don't hire us.

Only hire those who you feel are inferior to yourself. For example: the post of the young NM sitting at their desk all day texting ,they should only hire other nurses who are as into texting all day as he/she is. Thatway they don't feel threatened. Anyone doing their job( actually doing patient care) and, god forbid( time to get out your NM gun), doing it well( which wouldn't be a difficult task)will only threaten her/him and make the nurse manager 'look bad' hense the threat. I guess the next question would be- what kind of higher up hired this 'texting' person?? How competent are they?? It's all about business and job security in these uncertain times!!

[GitanoRN, BSN, MSN, RN]

is not as easy as one thinks to rationalize why these methods continue to be in practice, like a revolving door without end...i'm sad to say.

[daisy2daisy]

All I can say is WOW... this is borderline creepy! I hate my boss as well but to be googling it. REALLY???? makes me not want to be a nurse. All I ever seen in these blogs are Nurses that just crab about everything. What's up with that? In all honesty I came to this webpage to be encouraged. Do all Nurses really hate eachother as much as this webpage makes it seem? This is in refference to the very first post.... with all of the googling on hated bosses.

Go to Oprah

[Babs1953]

This sounds like eutopia. What part of the country are you in?

[nurseswholovenursing]

I know this is an old post, but nothing like this has ever happened to me before. I have been the assistant nurse manager for 6 years, and i worked on the floor as a staff nurse for 10 years before that. We got a new nurse manager, and she is a piece of work. None of us ever had problems with the 3 previous nurse managers, because their whole focus was about autonomy. The staff all had to learn to work together, and learned how to self govern the floor. It took awhile, but they all stepped up to the challenge, and it was an amazing to see them pull together to make it such a success. It was not easy, but we'll worth everything, in so many ways. Anyway, we got a new nurse manager, and i had to watch her destroy everything our staff, and myself had worked so hard to attain. She is a control freak, now instructs all nurses that she is to be called for EVERY order that the nurses want to obtain, and to be notified for every change of condition any patient has. She is either on the unit, or constantly calling the unit. I think she has some of the nurses fooled, because she will work the floor when we are short, or if the staff "needs her". And as for me, since the moment she walked onto our unit, she could not stand me. I have been an RN over 20 years, have never been written up for any reason, an since she has been there, she has written me up twice, all for ******** reasons (once was because I was late with a quality assurance report, and worse yet, she wrote me up for not backing her for firing one of the best nurses I have ever worked with, for insubordination, because she did not report to her a change of condition in a BMT patient, who actually improved.) Now, 2 weeks ago, last Friday, she told me, that if I can't get ALL the staff to support her, I will be gone. I broke down, unfortunately in front of her, and cried like a baby. It came out of no where, wasn't expecting it, but I know it happened because I so much care about the staff, and the wonderful patients we take care of. At first I was going to do what ever I could to stay and continue to support the staff and patients. But after talking to my family, I knew I could not stay there and watch this ******* dictate. I too have become very paranoid and can't stand the way I feel. I have taken my concerns to the chief nursing officer, but she really did not want to hear it let alone do anything about it. I feel the woman is going to fire me, no matter what, and i can't work like that. 4 seasoned nurses have quit, 2 have been fired by her, in 8 months. The doctors hate het, but they don't want to get involved. I hate that she manipulated me out of a job that I truly loved. But she has done enough damage, and i wont let her do anymore! I'm sorry for all of you that work under these nuts, they have mental problems, and need to be in jobs that offer them control and the ability to make themselves "indispensable" but it is all done only for their weak self esteem. Makes me physically ill!

[madwife2002, BSN, RN]

I am so sorry for what is happening to you, she sounds awful! I can understand what you are going through it just sounds like what happened to me many years ago.

I don't like to give advise often but I do feel you need to find another job and leave-for your self preservation, Good Luck