Nurse managers

[preciousnurse]

Do you guys feel like your nurse manager is assessible? Not meaning that she or he sits in the office with the door open, but are they on the unit really knowing whats going on and being willing to help or are they no where to be found when needed most? Just curious!

[jnette, ASN, EMT-I]

Absolutely !

Our Nurse Mgr. is the "poster child" of what a Nurse Mgr. should be ! I consider myself extremely fortunate.. couldn't ask for anyone with greater patience, compassion, teamsmanship, encouragement, and integrity ! And you CAN'T HAVE HER !!!

[pebbles, BSN, RN]

N-O !!!!

Our manager (on a busy trauma surg unit) has NO knowledge or experience of actute care, trauma or basic surgical nursing. She was hired six months ago, and has made no effort to adapt to how the unit is run or learn how we do things at all. Mostly she gets in the way, pulling us away from our duties to discuss aspects of running the unit or how a certain family member wants a specific doctor to be consulted... stuff that really doesn't concern us when we are busy.

Case in point. The other day, she wanted to ask me about a scheduling conflict as my pt in step-down was crashing. I said "I'm a little busy right now, can it wait?" She said okay and literally stood there as I flapped around getting O2 masks and doing vitals... waiting for me to stop and talk to her about my schedule! No effort to help (she wouldn't know what to do, anyway). I said "can I come find you in your office later?" She said okay and walked away, as my co-worker and I looked at each other in amazement....

It's not that she is not accessible.... it's that she is quite literally clueless and so gets in the way when we could use help... yes, even when we need input from a mangerial perspective, she is not helpful. A manager that makes no effort to learn about the NURSING care that goes on in the unit is a big waste of space and salary.....

[JJFROG]

I haven't been at my new job long enough to give a fair answer, but from what I have seen she has too open of door policy! She will be in the middle of trying to iron out one issue when someone will just walk in and hand her another and on and on and...... But that is probably better than my last NM, if she saw you walking down the hall she would turn her head like she didn't see you. I don't think she even knew my name!! (no lie) I never had a face to face with her until I told her I was leaving, and I was there 20 months!