Lazy supervisor stories

Specialties Geriatric

Published

Make me feel like mine isn't the worst!! Share funny stories!!!

Mine doesn't move all day and barks orders she will walk past a call bell and yell at the closest cna/nurse who is busy with another patient for not responding haha but on a serious note are there more like this out there?

not making sure that nurses are properly oriented before turning them loose, then writing them up when they fail to do something according to some quirky company policy. and when the nurse complains about not having the policy or protocol available to them , supervisor replies "you should have asked, any nurse here knows".

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I understand that we all need to get things off our chest from time to time...I've even gone off on a rant from time to time but can you just imagine if I, as a supervisor./DON, started a thread titled something like "lazy floor nurse stories". You all would run me off the forum.

There are lazy supervisors & there are lazy nurses. Unless you have a specific rant & are looking for advise on how to deal with them you should just keep it to yourself.

Actually, I would find a thread about lazy floor nurses amusing as well. I knew it wouldn't take but a few posts before we got a response like this.

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I did a test yesterday - and turned on a call light in a patient's room and then proceeded to stand in the bathroom and wait. All of our aides were in the dining room for lunch or feeding residents in their rooms. The nurses were on the floor, at the nurse's station. I stayed in that patient's bathroom standing there waiting for a nurse to respond for 45 minutes. Not one of those nurses got up from their conversation about Black Friday to address the light. I have ordered our CNA's to feed residents during meals while medication aides and nurses trade off on answering call lights so that nurses can make use of some of that time to chart. If I don't force the aides not to answer lights, residents don't get fed and myself and the unit managers answer lights to help out as well but we can't be there 7 days a week and I need our nurses to stop ignoring resident calls for help.

So...Finally I sent a text to the ADON and had her go get one of them to answer the light. Tomorrow? I'll have one of them sit there and find out what it's like to be helpless, waiting for someone to answer who never shows up. I was a floor nurse. I get it. I KNOW how excruciatingly hard it is to work in a snf. But I am not the one, and no amount of positive reinforcement or any other motivation can get these nurses to respond to call lights without me giving them written disciplinary action. Lazy supervisors are real. But so are lazy floor staff.

You stood there for 45 minutes? There was NOTHING better you could have accomplished than stand there for 45 minutes to prove a point? If you already know the nurses are not answering call lights, it seems to me there are more productive things that could have been done in that 45 minutes.

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I once worked in a facility that had a night nurse who was notorious for sleeping instead of working. A new house supervisor was hired. It did not take long for her to realize this. Big mistake. She wrote up the lazy, sleeping floor nurse. Lazy floor nurse went to DON and told her what the new supervisor was doing. Of course she was sleeping more than the nurse who had been there longer. Not long afterwards, lazy nurse came around to all the others to warn them that the DON was making a surprise attack that night. Sure enough she caught the supervisor and didn't take too long to fire her. The lazy, sleeping nurse went around crowing, that you don't mess with me. Substitute appropriate swear word for "mess".

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Specializes in Hospice.

Lol "nothing better to do." When you're DON of the year, when you volunteer to work so your floor staff can take breaks...even at night..when your first survey results in only 4 tags in one of the biggest citoes in the u.s. with notoriously ridiculous surveyor s...when your own staff nominate you to be interviewed by the news for the way you care for and lead them....then you can ask me if I have anything better to do. Until then, whatever I'm doing or not doing works. Thanks for your input though!

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Specializes in Critical Care, ED, Cath lab, CTPAC,Trauma.

Well as a supervisor I agree that there are bad supervisors and bad nurses.

I am a little concerned over the putting the call light on in an unoccupied room. The are far more effective ways to accomplish this task. Even if the room was occupied...trying to "set up" the nurses is not an effective way to engage them into changing their ways. I let the nurses know what the standards are and that I will be checking. I have on occasion, with habitual offenders, sat in the patients room until their arrival, once the patient placed their light on, and assisted them to the BR or the bedpan while I wait for a response. They learned after a while that it wasn't a good idea to not answer lights when I was in the house

This is after counseling sessions and then taking them somewhere private and asked them how they would like to wait 45 min of they had to go to the bathroom and were ill. I have addressed a group and asked if they would want their family member treated in this manner....and asked if they were going to delay breaks to the bathroom for 45 mins or their lunch.

I KNOW we have ALL delayed eating or drinking even the bathroom because of patient needs...how ever we aren't sick. I just don't think "trapping" the staff is effective in helping them learn or gaining trust.

I never walk past a call light, but that is me. We have all had that supervisor that when the feces hits the proverbial fan...it is useless to call them for they are just not useful. At anything. It's sad but true.

I feel I need to remind people that while AN is anonymous it is public and it is easier than you think to figure out who someone is and where they work.

Post with caution.

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Lol "nothing better to do." When you're DON of the year when you volunteer to work so your floor staff can take breaks...even at night..when your first survey results in only 4 tags in one of the biggest citoes in the u.s. with notoriously ridiculous surveyor s...when your own staff nominate you to be interviewed by the news for the way you care for and lead them....then you can ask me if I have anything better to do. Until then, whatever I'm doing or not doing works. Thanks for your input though![/quote']

It was sarcasm. I'm sure you had tons of things to do, yet you chose to stand in a room for 45 minutes. And if you are so great, and what you do "works", why are you having problems with your nurses not answering call lights?

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It was sarcasm. I'm sure you had tons of things to do, yet you chose to stand in a room for 45 minutes. And if you are so great, and what you do "works", why are you having problems with your nurses not answering call lights?

Laughing out loud!!!! I would love to hear the response to this.......

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I did a test yesterday - and turned on a call light in a patient's room and then proceeded to stand in the bathroom and wait. All of our aides were in the dining room for lunch or feeding residents in their rooms. The nurses were on the floor, at the nurse's station. I stayed in that patient's bathroom standing there waiting for a nurse to respond for 45 minutes. Not one of those nurses got up from their conversation about Black Friday to address the light. I have ordered our CNA's to feed residents during meals while medication aides and nurses trade off on answering call lights so that nurses can make use of some of that time to chart. If I don't force the aides not to answer lights, residents don't get fed and myself and the unit managers answer lights to help out as well but we can't be there 7 days a week and I need our nurses to stop ignoring resident calls for help.

So...Finally I sent a text to the ADON and had her go get one of them to answer the light. Tomorrow? I'll have one of them sit there and find out what it's like to be helpless, waiting for someone to answer who never shows up. I was a floor nurse. I get it. I KNOW how excruciatingly hard it is to work in a snf. But I am not the one, and no amount of positive reinforcement or any other motivation can get these nurses to respond to call lights without me giving them written disciplinary action. Lazy supervisors are real. But so are lazy floor staff.

As a floor nurse I don't even have 5 minute time to take lunch some days it's nice to hear there are supervisors that can waste 45 minutes

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Specializes in LTC,Hospice/palliative care,acute care.

Characteristics of lazy (lousy) supervisors/unit managers I have known-unprofessional in appearance, frequently gossiping about my co-workers and their peers from unit to unit, screwing up the schedule and payroll frequently, failing to follow through with progressive discipline of staff, never appearing on the unit in times of crisis, always on the unit for a potluck. The first to appear and the last to leave any special event in the facility-never relieving any of the other staff to enable them to join in the activity. Little knowledge of policy and procedure, little support offered to new, inexperienced staff. Always takes the side of the family/visitor when they complain, never takes the time to question everyone involved to discover if the complaint is valid or unreasonable. Does not answer pages in a timely fashion...

Characteristics of lazy co-workers I have known-sloppy care, patients area always looks like a cyclone hit it as does the patient, the med cart and med room .Meds opened and not dated, tubing not dating,tangled , a mess. Dressings all funky (obviously not changed) ,no pain meds or prns admin for demented post ops or dying residents ("she looks comfortable to me") Nurse's station also a mess, paperwork shoved in drawers, routine stuff not completed in a timely manner. Always the first one done but never offers to help anyone else. Avoids answering call bells, feeding or toileting at all costs when there is a cna around somewhere. Less then welcoming to visitors. Sloppy, unprofessional appearance. Cell phone in hand. Inflexible,lacking intellectual curiosity.

Characteristics of the nurse I strive to emulate every day-Professional in appearance and demeanor, no gossiping (no matter how juicy it is) Trying to learn something new every day,reading all new P and P,professional journals and pursuing certification in my specialty when possible, keeping up with the times (cell phone in handbag) Attentive to detail, clean work area, clean and comfortable patients, welcoming and attentive to visitors, using body language to look as if I have all the time in the world for each and everyone of the residents and treating them just like I want my own loved ones treated . Making sure the cna's are working together,watching for bullying,working on my communication and teaching skills. Always working on my response to working with either of the above.

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Specializes in Critical Care, Neuro-trauma.
Characteristics of lazy (lousy) supervisors/unit managers I have known-unprofessional in appearance frequently gossiping about my co-workers and their peers from unit to unit, screwing up the schedule and payroll frequently, failing to follow through with progressive discipline of staff, never appearing on the unit in times of crisis, always on the unit for a potluck. The first to appear and the last to leave any special event in the facility-never relieving any of the other staff to enable them to join in the activity. Little knowledge of policy and procedure, little support offered to new, inexperienced staff. Always takes the side of the family/visitor when they complain, never takes the time to question everyone involved to discover if the complaint is valid or unreasonable. Does not answer pages in a timely fashion... Characteristics of lazy co-workers I have known-sloppy care, patients area always looks like a cyclone hit it as does the patient, the med cart and med room .Meds opened and not dated, tubing not dating,tangled , a mess. Dressings all funky (obviously not changed) ,no pain meds or prns admin for demented post ops or dying residents ("she looks comfortable to me") Nurse's station also a mess, paperwork shoved in drawers, routine stuff not completed in a timely manner. Always the first one done but never offers to help anyone else. Avoids answering call bells, feeding or toileting at all costs when there is a cna around somewhere. Less then welcoming to visitors. Sloppy, unprofessional appearance. Cell phone in hand. Inflexible,lacking intellectual curiosity. Characteristics of the nurse I strive to emulate every day-Professional in appearance and demeanor, no gossiping (no matter how juicy it is) Trying to learn something new every day,reading all new P and P,professional journals and pursuing certification in my specialty when possible, keeping up with the times (cell phone in handbag) Attentive to detail, clean work area, clean and comfortable patients, welcoming and attentive to visitors, using body language to look as if I have all the time in the world for each and everyone of the residents and treating them just like I want my own loved ones treated . Making sure the cna's are working together,watching for bullying,working on my communication and teaching skills. Always working on my response to working with either of the above.[/quote']

THIS. The first part sums up my facility to the T, especially with our administrator and DON. My DON is in the facility 2 days a week and the rest of the time she is MIA. She puts herself on our on call list and she never fails to send us to voicemail or If she decides to call us back, flip out for bothering her "family time." She doesn't know half of our residents. And our administrator? I get they have their hands full with their own duties. But when you have a resident going to you about a major issue and you LAUGH IN THEIR FACE, no. Just no.

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not making sure that nurses are properly oriented before turning them loose, then writing them up when they fail to do something according to some quirky company policy. and when the nurse complains about not having the policy or protocol available to them , supervisor replies "you should have asked, any nurse here knows".

Ah! This is the story of my life lately! I understand I had a month of orientation which was very generous. The thing is half of the time the people orienting me were too busy to really take the time and show me how to do certain things. Either that or the situation just didn't arise. I don't blame them, but I wish I didn't get a write up for things like that. It's so frustrating to sit in the office trying to explain to someone why something wasn't done, and when I say "But no one ever showed me the 'right' way, just the 'wrong' way", I get told I should have asked and I need to write something that sounds "better" as a statement. Well how was I supposed to know to ask!?!?!

Lately the units I have been subbing on have been VERY busy, so I feel like I am drowning! My supervisors constantly tell me they will help, or send someone to help, but they always blow me off. I understand they probably have things come up as well, but I have been there 3 months and still feel like such a noob!

edit:

Oh, and once I was in a sitcky situation involving a resident in the dying process and when I called for help my supervisor tried to sell me a 31 bag and walked away when I said no. @_@

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