Making Nurses Happy

[mstere]

I started on a Med-Surg floor straight out of nursing school in June 2009. Since I have been there I have been very disgusted with the way morale is. People go around bickering all day about how hard it is. I started out with a fresh attitude feeling happy and ready for team work. When I mentioned it to others they simply laughed at me or said snide comments like just watch your back around here. I was shocked. I noticed little by little I was falling into the same behavior pattern. I started to complain too about having 6 patients to care for and one PCT down our hall of 12 patients. I ask for help from my co-workers for example, to pull up a patient in bed and they say NO. I call the charge nurse for help and she says she has patients of her own to care for. That is just one example.. I feel alone out there. Each time upper management calls you to the office it is to reprimand you. I was taken in to the office this week because someone told the managers that I was being negative. I am sure I was at some point. No, it does not make it right. But, I am disgusted with the way everyone is on the defense all the time. I am miserable and never really told the upper management. I do not get help from other nurses or charge when I have serious clinical questions a lot of the time and I am usually doing most of the patient care tech work. I do not mind working hard like wiping butts, doing bed baths and emptying foleys but when I go up to a co-worker and the first thing that comes out of their mouth is WHAT DID I DO Wrong...? That is sad. I finally was asked DO I REALLY WANT TO WORK THERE? By the manager..I said YES but not like this. The manager asked me to write a paper that tells her what I would change to make it a better work environment there. What are some ideas you have that really makes nurses happy where you work? I have an idea..What if they encouraged team work more, encouraged doctors to buy the nurses fresh fruit, bagels? what about putting a TV in the break room..we do not have that.. OR simply put a bulletin board up with notes from patients that thank us for good work. OR if they would not take us into the "OFFICE" just to spank us like they do. I think it is coming from up top why everyone is sad and miserable. I got a nice card from a patient when I first started working there. The manager did not even say GOOD JOB or anything. She did not mention it to the director. NO one cared that I did a good job. I am not appreciated is how I feel. I also feel like people are genuinely afraid to say anything. I love patient care and all my patients have great things to say about me all the time but co-workers tend to bite on each other all day. SEND ME your ideas so I can share with them too..

THANKS!!

[LDBRN]

My supervisor makes it a point to call people into the office (or better yet discuss in the nurses station in front of anyone there) to compliment them as many times as she has to reprimand. I.e. if she has to reprimand 10 times this month (all staff combined) she will find ten things/people to compliment

[NurseNinaFla]

Nursing is notoriously known to be a "thankless" job,sadly the rewards usually come in tiny incriments such as a patient/client thanking you for a job well done, comforting a dying individual and or their family and feeling you have done your best esp. under horrendous circumstances.If you can go home each day with a clear conscious you have done a great job! (Don't ever expect too much support from upper management it is virtually non-exisistant,you may find one or two supportive co-workers that you can trust,not to sound negative but this is the reality in too many cases...as I tell my co-workers...Soldier On! LoL!

[DLS_PMHNP, MSN, RN, NP]

We must work at the same place

[NurseNinaFla]

Different locals same place hehehehe

[kcochrane]

Find another place to work or see if you can find another unit. I found that even units differ in "attitude" within the same facility. One unit is great with teamwork, another has the "every man for himself" attitude. Many times it is set by the nurse manager and the way she leads. Sometimes good nurse manager's come in and find it difficult to change that environment if it has been going on too long. But my opinion is that your unit's problems run deeper than food and TV.

[Venus1]

A-MEN...I've been on a med-surg floor for 2 months, am counting it down until 6 months so I can transfer. The treatment by the staff has been backstabbing (I'm doing excellent, great, then all of a sudden...WHAM, you now suck). I'm in a second career and cannot feel anything but pity for new grads who are in their first position out of school and are treated like this...my self-esteem is being rocked, can't imagine having youth on my side too. I know I'm going to be a great nurse, I just need time to be able to grow into the profession with confidence. I do not trust management or any of the charge nurses and will stick to myself from now on. I need to gain the experience to be able to go anywhere else; they all know this and are going to "eat their young". I always thought it was just a scary saying and "wivestale"...didn't realize IT WAS THE TRUTH.

Hang in there...I'm going to!! This too...shall pass and better things are on the horizon for positive people, don't become jaded in the profession; it can't be like this everywhere!

[lifetimern]

I'm sorry your first year as a nurse was so lousy. Fortunately, June is right around the corner! With a year experience under your belt, you will have more employment options.

Unless you want to "change" your floor's culture, which is difficult even under the best of circumstances, you are better off finding a new job. But, when you are evaluating new units, I urge you to look beyond the superficial (TVs, thanky-you boards, fruit baskets etc.). Look for good teamwork and an environment where nurses are viewed (and view themselves) as professionals. You should never be told "no" when asked for help with a patient. Other nurses may not be able to help right away, but they should have a good reason not to. When evaluating new units, I always ask about the admission process (sometimes I've even asked to see it). In a functional unit with good teamwork, every free person will come to help when a new patient is being admitted. If you notice patients waiting to see a nurse for several minutes after arriving to the floor or nurses asking for transfer help to no avail, move on to the next opportunity. But, even in good work enviroments, hospitals are gossipy, snipy places. Try not to get involved in that behavior, and, remember, as long as you are doing your job and watching your "P&Qs," the mean nurses are really just annoyances -- they can't hurt you. Please believe me, not all places are like the unit you described! There are places where teamwork is mandated and great nursing is supported. You just have to hang in there a little longer and be lucky enough to find a good floor.

Good luck!

[CaLLaCoDe, BSN, RN]

All of your suggestions you mentioned, "TV in breakroom, notes from patients all good!" I learned from my last job (because that's what it was, silly) not to bring up criticism of department grannies, cause you'll get the boot. To be a new nurse on the floor is a difficult place to tread water and I resent having to force myself to do it again, arrg!

I received many five star ratings from patients at my last place of work, but the management still had the gall to terminate me for a customer related complaint, ah the irony!

[jmtndl]

It would make me happier to not be assigned to "write a paper" as if I were in gradeschool again.

[fungez]

Everyone is complaining because everyone is overworked. Who can blame them? I can handle 6 patients IF I have tech help, otherwise forget it. I'd have a bad attitude too if I worked under those conditions on a regular basis.

Your management is using divide and conquer to keep all you little peons in your places. A unit's morale starts with the unit's manager and yours is doing her best to keep all of you miserable - withholding positive feedback, constant criticism, understaffing, lack of tools to do your job. But when you justifiably complain YOU are the problem.

If it were me I'd start looking for another job, stat. Yes, hospital nursing is hard and stressful no matter where you go but some units are managed by people who don't run prisoner of war camps in their spare time.