how do you improve morale in a unit?

[jennifers]

I want to start off by saying i'm only a nursing assistant in the department. But in the last year I have noticed the morale in our unit get very low. I'm not sure what the reason is really. I love the unit and my job. It is mostly against other nurses and the manager. I think they all hate each other. I'm tired of the cattiness and nastiness. It has really started to effect me. I'm trying not to let it effect me but its starting too. Is it like this in most nursing departments? I'm currently in school for nursing.

I am trying to reply to their negative comments in a positive light. Sometimes I provide empathy but I think that just eggs them on. So i've started defending the party they are complaining about.

I've done light joking about non work related things to make them laugh and lighten the mood. Other than that i'm not sure what to do. I know its not my place to fix the unit problems but there has to be something i can do to improve the situation.

[locolorenzo22, BSN, RN]

our unit based council is doing this....however, I feel like the manager has left it all up to them, and has no interest in doing that themselves....At our last work meeting, we were asked "what would you do to improve morale here? But it can't involve money or staffing...." Well, those are our two biggest problems. We don't have enough equipment for CNAs to do their jobs, we also don't have enough people willing to stock things or fix rooms when THEY make the mess.

I don't feel like I need to do more. I clean up after myself, I make sure my patients are set before I leave, I make sure all my orders are signed off before I leave, etc....I do not gripe about other coworkers, and I try to keep a good attitude while I'm at work...because there is a lot that I can do nothing about.

Just give your all and be a postitive person...do things on your days off that you enjoy, because life's too short to be unhappy.

[nerdtonurse?, BSN, RN]

Whether it's in nursing or computers, I've found that dysfunctional hateful people attract other dysfunctional hateful people. I've seen groups that went from dynamic, "be there for ya" groups to groups that were snarling and knifing each other in the back. In each case, it was the management -- a new manager, or an experienced one from somewhere else -- and then the folks that dysfunctional manager hired.

We've got one nurse, and she complains about EVERYTHING. You give her the same patients she had last night, they're too tough and rough. You give her new ones, she complains that now she doesn't have continuity of care with the pt. She gets the other nurses, and even the NM to come out and do her assessments/treatments/med pass because we've got a "lighter load" than she does (uh, no, we don't). We consistently give her the easiest patients, and she still b***es. You see her come thru the door, and the entire floor just lets out this emotional sigh of frustration. One morning, out of sheer frustration, I told her to just pick who she wanted on the condition that who she picked, she stuck with and did everything for without complaint. She complained that I was rude. And to top it off, she's a lousy nurse -- she charted a foley, including the size of the foley, the output, everything on one of my patients -- but the pt not only didn't have a foley, they've been anuric for years d/t ESRF! You can't trust a thing she charts.

If management told Drama Queen to just work and put a sock in it, it would help a lot. Sometimes it's just one person who's not called on their behavior that can ruin a shfit.

Sorry, venting. I feel better now.

[jennifers]

There is a very academic approach to this problem that actually works every time - but needs to be hit from a variety of levels (not just you - you, your manager, multiple other staff members).

It's called Appreciative Inquiry. We use it in management, coaching & a variety of other areas to improve anything.

It's all about focusing on strengths - looking at what's working rather than what's not working.

I use it daily on my unit (I'm currently a staff RN in an ICU) with a nurse who is chronically negative.

• She starts the shift out complaining
  
• I talk to her about strengths
  
• She keeps focusing on problems
  
• I keep focusing on strengths & ask her strength-focused questions
  
• She shifts to a positive frame of mind
  
• By about 9am she & I are laughing & having a great time.

If I didn't do this with her each shift we worked together I would have quit (or maybe have killed her) by now.

This is tough work - it's a lot easier to get sucked into the mud with everyone else.

Much respect to you for loooking for an answer!!!:yeah:

This is a great idea. Could you maybe give an example oh how you make this flow.

i mean the conversation cant go like this

I hate so in so..she is the suckiest nurse

well you rock (her strengths)

yup and she sucks

lol just kidding about that conversation but an example would be great

[jennifers]

there are a lot of good things on our unit...

Management are not breathing down our necks..i consider that good

the nurse to patient ratio is really great in the unit I usually work in.

usually we have all the tools we need to do our jobs

we have enough prn people to fill holes in the schedules

they have techs if census is high enough

plus you get to play with cute little babies :) what could be better

[loricatus]

There is not much you can do to improve a unit's morale all by yourself. Trying to put a very complex problem into simplistic terms: Management must identify the causes of low morale and correct those things. No amount of phony appreciation gestures, cookies, pens, etc will eliminate bad morale unless the causes were lack of appreciation, not enough cookies or pens.

[FA to CRNA2b]

We practice team nursing in my ICU. Everyone helps each other out all the time. No one sits if someone else has work left to be done. The morale is good because we are a very tight unit. This includes the techs and secretaries. We also have our own unit pharmacist and respiratory therapist. We're properly staffed. We have tea time at 1500 everyday at the nurse's station. We take a few minutes to relax with tea and munchies. The rest of the hospital has incorporated the tea time practice. Patients who want to give us gifts usually bring goodies for our tea time. It's nice.

[Babs0512]

Personally, I believe that moral starts from the top down. If management acts "superior" to the rest of us, or if they give off bad vibes, it then trickles down the the rest of the little folks.

My nurse manager and I were in the stairwell alone, I was going down, she was walking up. I said "good morning" and she said nothing as she walked past me. That's a REAL MORAL booster!!"

Our DON will come on the unit, she has a couple of nurses she's known for years, and they go in the break room and gab. It's all very sweet. It's nice to know the DON will walk by the rest of us and ignore us.

Hard to keep up moral in an atmosphere like that. I've always believe that "nurses eating their young" starts with administration setting a bad example.

[Virgo_RN, BSN, RN]

Since anything I could add to this thread would be sarcastic, I am refraining from posting my thoughts.

[ddoosier]

I keep a positive attitude. Help out and accept assignments without ********. We have a very close group and we all realize that while crappy assignments exist, we just take our lumps. Afterall, if you don't except the assignment, then you are passing on a potential bad night to your co worker. We are all aware of this, and we look out for one another. I.E. if I had a crazy and difficult double, someone else on the team will take it on the next shift to give me a break. This practice goes along way to building a good morale. We have each others back.

Deb

[Babs0512]

I wish I could say I worked on a unit like yours Deb. I try so hard to go to work and do my job and mind my own business. There is always gossiping and a ton of backstabbing going on. It's really saddening.

I can get there in a good mood, and I'll over hear a clique talking about someone else - that someone else will walk by the clique and the clique will say "oh, good morning, how are you?" It's all so phony.

I once got a phone call at the nurses station from a social worker regarding one of my "adult" children who were hospitalized. So many people overheard my end of the conversation. A month or two later I was scheduled for an out patient procedure. We check the charts the day before outpatient procedures, and I came across mine. So I began checking it like I would any other chart. I was reading my H&P, and I came across a synopsis of the time my "adult" child was hospitalized. I was absolutely stunned!! I had NEVER mentioned this to the physician, and how it ended up on my H&P much less the relevance of it - really angered me. The only way the MD knew, was idol gossip - IS NOTHING SACRED???

I don't trust ANYONE I work with. I will however, help anyone of my co-workers if they need help. I know how to be a team player. After all, you don't have to be friends with your co-workers, so long as everyone behaves in a respectful and professional manner, that is all that is necessary.

Our environment is really toxic. It's a shame - moral is so low.

[ddoosier]

I wish I could say I worked on a unit like yours Deb. I try so hard to go to work and do my job and mind my own business. There is always gossiping and a ton of backstabbing going on. It's really saddening.

I can get there in a good mood, and I'll over hear a clique talking about someone else - that someone else will walk by the clique and the clique will say "oh, good morning, how are you?" It's all so phony.

I once got a phone call at the nurses station from a social worker regarding one of my "adult" children who were hospitalized. So many people overheard my end of the conversation. A month or two later I was scheduled for an out patient procedure. We check the charts the day before outpatient procedures, and I came across mine. So I began checking it like I would any other chart. I was reading my H&P, and I came across a synopsis of the time my "adult" child was hospitalized. I was absolutely stunned!! I had NEVER mentioned this to the physician, and how it ended up on my H&P much less the relevance of it - really angered me. The only way the MD knew, was idol gossip - IS NOTHING SACRED???

I don't trust ANYONE I work with. I will however, help anyone of my co-workers if they need help. I know how to be a team player. After all, you don't have to be friends with your co-workers, so long as everyone behaves in a respectful and professional manner, that is all that is necessary.

Our environment is really toxic. It's a shame - moral is so low.

I feel very sad that you endure this and this practice exists everywhere. I stay out of it. Every once in a great while we'll get a difficult person that I can't tolerate and I work opposite shifts. This has happenend twice during my career. Cliques exist. My first year, I was very aware and was never invited. Which was fine. Never made a big deal of it. It takes time to be accepted. Once I was, I did make a point to mention that this practice has a negative effect on morale. Especially new grads. As a result, everyone was invited to get togethers and book clubs ect. We have our differences but we accept that about one another. It is important to have a cohesive team and we all wanted that. Afterall, we spend more time with each other than we do our families. It really does start with one person making an example or making a friendly comment on a simple observance. If you are being gossiped about, pull the person aside and let them know that you don't appreciate it and it is hurtful. Or better yet, if you hear something negative about another co-worker that is disturbing to you, turn it around with a positive comment. I have done that several times. Stay neutral. It works for me.

[nerdtonurse?, BSN, RN]

I had an idea last night. Ever heard of the "swear jar?" You swear, you have to put a dollar in the jar. Maybe we could have a b***h jar at work -- you complain, you have to drop in a dollar, and at the end of the month you donate it to the hospice unit.

Of course, some days, I'd have to write the jar a check....