do you like nurse managers you work with?

[Ms.RN]

do you guys like a nurse manger or unit managers that you work with? i dont know if its just me, but i hate my nurse managers. i have two unit managers, two totally different styles. one nurse manager calls everyday, sometimes few times and asks if there are anything wrong that she have to know. during weekends she calls few times and asks "is everythign okay? is anything wrong?" i mean i wonder how she sleeps at night if she is so obsessed with her work. i want to tell her that if there is anything wrong, we will call her. everyday we have an on call nurse that nurses can call if there is anything wrong. she is pretty good about helping out nurses, calling doctors etc...

my unit manger, she is nothing but blaming nurses. if she finds something hasnt been done, its all because nurses didnt do it, its all nurses fault. for example, everyday she is suppose to check the med cart and make sure all the medications that nurses reordered from the pharmacy has been delivered and are inside med cart. instead of checking, she will tell nurses to do her job then if don finds out that nurses are circling mar, she will blame it on nurses.

another thing that ****** me off, she insists on doing renewals by herself, who know why. i work afternoon shift and whenever i"m ready to start my first med pass, she says she needs my mar becuase she have to do renewals. i'm glad i always work in this unit because every month, i find big med errors because of her mistake doing renewals, ex. mar had both coumadin 2.5 and 2.0. she forgot to d/c coumadin 2.5mg, resulting in inr of 9.5. we gave kcl to patient who had no physician orders ect. one time i had a patient who was declining fast, i told her about it she goes " i gotta go" then she went home. she never say anything good about nruses, always belittling nurses. i dont know if i"m too sensitive but i cant take her bs any longer!!!

[cupcake25]

When I am at work I have certain rules I have to go by. I feel that nurse managers feel that the same rules do not apply to them. Our manager comes in when she feels like it and leaves whenever she wants. Even when we are busy she will say "Oh well, I have to leave now." If her kids are sick she can call in and say "I won't be in today because my child is sick." Do you think we can do that? I feel they have alot of down time where they do absolutely nothing. I would not want the job but somedays I feel I could do it alot better.

[bluegeegoo2, LPN]

My unit manager is a "new" manager, as this is her first supervisory role. She is sweet and means well, but she will follow us around making sure we did this or that, and did we follow up on this? That? Monday-Friday, I have my duties dicated to me, step-by-step. It really, REALLY used to bother me, but I have come to the conclusion that she does things that way because her license is on the line for everything us floor nurses do/don't do. I can understand to a point because I was the same way when I first became a nurse. I'd hunt down aides to make sure things were being done. I have since relaxed. (And my aides have rejoiced!) She is a bundle of nerves most days, and I kind of feel bad for her. I have learned to let her "do her thing" and continue on with my day. I have also begun to give her mini reports throughout the day. I can see her physically relax when something has been taken care of. Some managers have simply been managers too long, and have forgotten what it's like on the floor. Us floor nurses who have never been managers don't understand what it's like for them. If it's really that bad for you, there are other jobs. No need to be miserable.

[Tash4nvyblues, RN]

When I am at work I have certain rules I have to go by. I feel that nurse managers feel that the same rules do not apply to them. Our manager comes in when she feels like it and leaves whenever she wants. Even when we are busy she will say "Oh well, I have to leave now." If her kids are sick she can call in and say "I won't be in today because my child is sick." Do you think we can do that? I feel they have alot of down time where they do absolutely nothing. I would not want the job but somedays I feel I could do it alot better.

I agree with you, our managers seem to leave the office when work becomes really busy and we are left to attend to jobs that should be the work of the managers. Yet the pair of them will turn up to work on the weekend, when the office is closed and the phones are switched to voicemail. They aggravate the staff that are working on the weekend, when the girls are busy and only have half the staff on, it is very frustrating. But these 2 managers are both on salary packages, which means as long as they reach there quota of time, they can turn up whenever they like. Cupcake do your managers have the same sort of package?, if so there is nothing you can do except get as frustrated as me:banghead:

[StrwbryblndRN]

I like my nurse manager. She is fair and understands perfection is not going to happen. We (the nurses) also understand that her rules are logical and we can expect a rational explanation if there is complaint. Anything else is usually out of her hands.

The only downfall is that she is friends with some of the nurses and since I work overnight it can appear that she has favorites. But I think that is me.

She will tell her friends/non-friends the same thing and enforce the same standards. No one will complain about her either. No one is perfect and neither is she. We all realize that. (Even though we still get caddy and moody when we are having bad days)

[oramar]

I have had a small number of managers that I thought were really swell people in everyway, they were excellent managers and you bet I like them. Unfortunately, they are in the minority. The rest of the managers I have raised feeling in me from mild dislike to out right hatred. Then there is another catagory. The ones that seem likeable enough people and if they were my neighbor, cousin or friend I would be OK with them. Sadly, they were not very good managers, out right incompetent in some cases. You can be a basically good person and totally lack the skills to lead. I suspect I would be in that catagory, luckily I always realized I would not be a very good manager and stayed away from it.

[CapeCodMermaid, RN]

I'm not sticking up for any mean, lazy,or demanding manager, but sometimes it helps if you walk in their shoes.

Most managers in LTC have had no training on how to manage a unit or a floor or the building. Sometimes the person most competent in the clinical realm is the worst person to manage other people.

I've had good managers and bad and I was wise enough to learn as much about how NOT to treat people from the bad ones as I was from the good ones.

Perhaps if everyone feels the same way about a particular manager, a trip to the DONs office could be made...not th ***** and complain about what a nasty person the manager is and how unrealistic she is but to let the DON know that the staff is unhappy and feels undervalued and belittled by the person's management style.

And as far as the manager's license being on the line...IF she delegates part of her duties to someone who cannot do them then her license could be in jeopardy. But just being the manager of a floor does not put her license in any more jeopardy than yours.

As much as we hear ''your license will be in jeopardy if you do this or that..." it really is quite difficult to lose your license.

Speak to the manager first and if she doesn't listen, go to your DON. Despite what you all may think, most DONs don't know everything that goes on in the building. If you don't speak to her, she only knows the manager's side.

(and please no one get bent because I used the pronoun she. I know there are male managers and DONs but it's annoying to type she/he every time.)

[noc4senuf]

I have 3 nurse managers in my facility. Thay all have different personalities and approaches as to the way they do things. But, they are all responsible to their floors. If there is a call-in, and another nurse can not be found then they will work the floor. They assist with hands on care of the residents when needed, help feed, follow up on complaints, intervene with families, etc. The floor nurses actually rely on the managers to oversee the CNA's to alleviate some of their own work.

The manager also have on-call rotations along wiht myself. So, if there are call-ins and no staff can be found, then we will be the staff coming in to work.

[RheatherN, ASN, RN, EMT-P]

i feel kinda like the odd duck out. my NM is awseome! i work on an ortho floor in WI, and she is great. works with us and everything. the only thing i could even say is that she is tooo lassie fair for me at times. great staff and great nm... i am happy! anyone need a job?? lol

[maryloufu]

My manager is great too. in fact we just nominated him, and he won employee of the month at our facility. I feel like he is very professional and he takes action when there are problems.