Love my job, can't stand nursing admin.

Whispera, MSN, RN · Jan 22, 2009

What's the DON doing that's frustrating?

jcsinging · Jan 22, 2009

Don't really want to go into great detail about it on line. I feel I've already said too much and could get myself into trouble. Suffice it to say that I'm considering leaving the facility but am unsure if this would be a smart move at this point. I realize that this stuff happens everywhere to some degree.

truern · Jan 22, 2009

I feel your frustration

I'm not so sure that it's not like that at most hospitals, though. Everybody I talk to has problems with administration.

Without knowing details the best I can say is if you love everything else about where you work maybe just continue to stay out of the fray, as you put it, and fly under the radar.

Whispera, MSN, RN · Jan 22, 2009

Since we don't know what the stuff is, we can't really comment on what's happening a whole lot....except, if you're unhappy, that matters. Consider the positives vs the negatives and if the positives make it worth it to stay there or if the negatives outweigh the positives... It's hard to decide, I know.

JB2007, ASN, RN · Jan 22, 2009

Without more details I could not tell you if it would be a smart move or not. However, I am assumeing that be fray that there is alot of politics and such going on. I can tell you that there will be problems and things that you will not like most places you work. All you can do is weigh the pros and cons of staying. If the cons outweigh the pros start looking for a new job. Personally, with todays economy I would not quit my job unless I had a new one lined up. Of course, if there was something going on that would cause me to possibly loss my lincense I would quit in a heart beat. Good luck.

BradleyRN · Jan 22, 2009

Our jobs are plenty hard enough with a supportive management. Follow your instincts. After all, we spend 30% of our lives working, so it only makes sense to find a place that makes you happy. There are a few places out there that dont have an excessively high turnover, and there is a reason. Find one. (Then tell me where it is!):)

eriksoln, BSN, RN · Jan 22, 2009

Yeah, if the problem gets to be too much, dont force yourself to stay just over people feeding you "the grass isnt greener........." lines.

I once stayed at a terrible job (not a nursing job, I was a teen at the time) and when I finally left, the only regret I had was that I hadnt done so a year earlier. I had talked about leaving almost every time I worked a shift, but didnt. In hindsight, I would have left that place after a couple months instead of a couple years.

The mistake people make when the change jobs is, IMO........they dont assess their part in what went wrong. You have to decide, what didnt work because of you and what didnt work because of them. Remember, wherever you go, you take you. So, if you truly had a bigger part in things not going well (I dont suspect anything, just saying the mistake I've made and seen) than you admit to yourself, it'll be the same with the new job.

For me, I've come to the realization that med/surge is not the field for me. Not because it is bad or I am bad, its just not a comfortable fit. Being compassionate towards the heroin addict who has been given hundreds of opportunities to change already, not taking it personal when a family member blames me for something that happened to their grandmother OUTSIDE the hospital, not being short with the overweight diabetic who can walk outside to smoke but puts on their call light for you to reach their tissue for them.........these are the things a good med/surge nurse can over and over without taking on any water from it. I start to get burned out with this stuff. Need a pt. who is truly sick once in awhile. So, I am going to the ICU or OR when I am done being a travel nurse.

Point is, be completely honest with yourself about why it did not go well, and dont put yourself in a position to repeat history.

Overland1, RN · Jan 22, 2009

Some places have an "administration from Hell" while other places realize that a reasonable and supportive administrative team is much better for all involved (financially, too!). I work in a hospital where the Leadership team is mostly very supportive and reasonable. We are careful about hiring and attempt to improve retention of the valued patient care staff (nurses, aides, techs, etc.) as well as the support staff.

When I became part of hospital administration, I promised to pattern my practice after a few people who were excellent at what they did, and to avoid being like those who were known as The Satanic Nurses (good name for a book) .

The difficult part is deciding whether the situation is bearable, acceptable, or barely tolerable - maybe a change in employment is in order, but be careful. Sometime the grass appears greener on the other side, but soon dries up and wilts away after the change is made.

allnurses Guide · Jan 22, 2009

I think if it effects patient safety, then your role as patient advocate is to try to change things or leave.

steph

queen777 · Jan 22, 2009

I am a relatively new nurse. I have 1 1/2 years of experience where I have learned an amazing amount. I love my job, I love my clients, but the D.O.N. is making all of our lives miserable. It's almost like she goes out of her way to make the working environment as difficult and ridiculous as possible. I have stayed 'out of the fray' for most of the time I have been working there, however, it becomes increasingly difficult to not allow frustration with the administration to seep into the working environment. My clients are amazing and wonderful and I love them, but I am considering looking elsewhere for work. Am I being rash in my judgement? Should I stick it out? I cannot see there being any change in administration any time soon.

No, not at all. My first job my 2 supervisors who were all over me for anything, but not willing to lift a finger to help...some nurses,huh?

One night another head RN from another was down to visit (this was 11-7). She calls me over to the elevator to ride back up with her. I am in total aww at what she has to say to me. After all I never could tell if she liked me or not.

But she started telling me that I had better transfer to another floor or quit.. that V., my supervisor, had done this before to new nurses. She told me straight out that "V. will never get off your back". I wondered...here is a woman with 25 yrs. experience, I am new, what is wrong with this picture?

Well I stayed not to let her get the best of me, but that didn't work either. I was set up one night and got a new pt whom I had to leave the floor with every hr. Dr's orders right? Well an elderly pt died of CHF following her radical surgery, so they got rid of me. Nothing was held against my license though, so I guess it was me all along they didn't like. Even a husband of one of the other nurses I worked with called my husband annonymously, but my husband knew who he was. I guess his wife who I worked with, told him that I "always got the toughest pts". The ones in isolation, chest tubes, JPs, wound irrigation, I loved all of it! The messier the better to me! I loved cleaning them up! Guess it takes all kinds, but this was an Post Op floor.

There are just some you can't get along with no matter what you do. You can tell when someone is just being hard on you to make you tough/better, but I told this story to my daughter's finance's mother who is an LVN instructor and she said to me "they really were after you!"

This even happened in nursing school (RN) where I got a test back and some answers had been erased!!! It's best not to say too much, just stay in the middle of the road and do your job. But if need be, by all means speak up to the one doing the talking about you, not the one over them, I did that, and I think that is why they fired me.

Seasoned · Jan 22, 2009

i am a relatively new nurse. i have 1 1/2 years of experience where i have learned an amazing amount. i love my job, i love my clients, but the d.o.n. is making all of our lives miserable. it's almost like she goes out of her way to make the working environment as difficult and ridiculous as possible. i have stayed 'out of the fray' for most of the time i have been working there, however, it becomes increasingly difficult to not allow frustration with the administration to seep into the working environment. my clients are amazing and wonderful and i love them, but i am considering looking elsewhere for work. am i being rash in my judgement? should i stick it out? i cannot see there being any change in administration any time soon.

:trout:go pla_ease, go!!!!!!

you think you're staying "out of the fray" baby, that gun will point in your direction when you least expect it! need pointers on how to handle your work situation so it won't handle you? read "nurse-to nurse hostility". it's $100 book so get it from the library. or splurge at amazon.com as a career investment. it's tax deductible like your uniforms, license fee, and nurse organization dues.

do not tell anyone you're looking or leaving!! find a new job first and resign properly focusing on your positive nursing experience in your resignation letter. then do pay your self-esteem and co-workers the highest respect by telling your hr department in the exit interview or a letter (not your resignation letter) that your are leaving because of the nursing administration. name names.

:typingbecause you are a new nurse we want and need your spirit and enthusiam that comes across in your posting! a satanic administration, i.e. nurse manager bully will wear on your spark. the analogy is an abusive parent to a child where it wears on their self-esteem and ability to feel appreciated wherever they go or whatever they do. the effect is too insidious to even know it happened. someone else tells you they see the difference in you. you find yourself saying to a newer nurse "i used to be like you.

make your career plan by determining how much you can take at any one place. a 30 yr career says you have 10 yrs to switch around until you find the right job fit to stay 20 yrs to retirement do some travel nursing. now you can take family and pets with you. get out! your enthusiam an great clients will follow you! have fun with your chosen career!

"plan as if you will live forever. live as if you will die tomorrow."