New director is a nazi

[olddog1]

My new director is driving me crazy! She had a meltdown at the last staff mtg; came in yelling at us and said we had lowered the bar for professionalism so far we'd never get it back, told us we were all getting a written corrective action in our personnel folders for an anonymous letter that one of our new nurses found in their locker (supposedly) that told them to get out of the dept. She slammed the stack of papers she was holding in her hands down on the table twice and told us there was a core group of staff who were undermining her and bringing the dept down. Lots more derogatory comments were made suggesting that every nurse was horrible. At this point I walked out of the meeting and went to personnel to request a transfer. My co-workers told me later that I missed the best part of the mtg. Evidently she became so overwhelmed with emotion, she had to leave the room twice because she was sobbing! Any advice on how to handle her? I love ed nursing but can't work for someone like this. She doesn't want any input from staff on what works or doesn't. Said we were going to "no wait triage" to improve throughput times but did nothing about any of the things that bottleneck the dept. and thinks that no pt will have to wait if we just put them all into beds immediately. Of course she had no answer when I asked what to do when there aren't beds as is always the case at 7pm when I come to work. Lots of other annoying habits from her and she seems to have gone out of her way to alienate the staff. Help

[jnette, ASN, EMT-I]

Sounds like she is under severe pressure from the upper mgt. and yes, we all have the occasional meltdown.

Can't say I know how to fix it, but I would begin by asking her how you all could HELP and remember a little compassion does go a long way.

If you SEE her as a "Nazi".. then you won't be able to reach out to her.. or WANT to.

I would also strongly suggest you refrain from calling anyone a Nazi..

Not a name/title to be taken lightly or callously.

[brissie]

If your manager can't take the heat she should get out of the kitchen! If you love your job hang in there, with all the PC stuff and "sensitivity" training that goes on in hospitals today she won't last long treating her nurses like that.

[Katnip, RN]

I had the same thoughts as Jnette, but she put it much better than I could have, including using the term Nazi.

[kukukajoo, LPN]

I find your use of the N word VERY offensive derogatory and would ask that you not use that word anymore, especially on a public nursing forum.

[Freedom42]

Well said, jnette, from start to finish. I'm really troubled by the way some people blithely trivialize the word "Nazi."

As for the OP, how about looking at some of the annoying habits among the staff instead of just focusing on the boss? Maybe you could start by making some changes there. And I wholeheartedly agree that you should ask your boss what you can do to help her. If you want change, you've got to be willing to work for it, not just complain for it.

[Scrubbleuffagus]

I do not believe Olddog was trying to offend anyone by calling the director a natzi. She was using the term as a way of saying that the new director sees things as "her way or the highway." I don't think Olddog needs to see repeated posts that people are unhappy with her using the term Natzi.

I agree that the director is getting flak from upper mgtmnt and sometimes you just break. However, I don't think she handled the situation well at all and she needs to apologize. Have you tried talking to her directly?

[FireStarterRN, BSN, RN]

Sounds like she is under severe pressure from the upper mgt. and yes, we all have the occasional meltdown.

Can't say I know how to fix it, but I would begin by asking her how you all could HELP and remember a little compassion does go a long way.

If you SEE her as a "Nazi".. then you won't be able to reach out to her.. or WANT to.

I would also strongly suggest you refrain from calling anyone a Nazi..

Not a name/title to be taken lightly or callously.

Your post was excellent, I highlighted the part I wanted to emphasize. I think the word Nazi is thrown around too much, and shouldn't be used lightly. Just because someone has an emotional meltdown and doesn't mean they are Adoph Hitler.

It sounds as if she feels as if there is some mobbing going on in your dept after one nurse got what sounds to be a threatening letter. If that's true, that is an upsetting scenario.

[madwife2002, BSN, RN]

I too have trouble with the wording used as I feel it causes offense to too many people. Can I suggest you edit the title please

[Freedom42]

In defense of the OP, I don't think s/he realized that throwing around a word like "Nazi" is offensive to many. If that sounds silly, consider the "Soup Nazi" episode of "Seinfeld." It's unfortunately become culturally acceptable.

A lot of people don't understand the impact made by the word, by either calling their boss a Nazi -- grossly unfair in any situation -- or by trivializing genocide by comparing it to a work situation. It's great that folks on this board are speaking up. Let's hope the OP and others who use the word will consider what they're really saying.

[FireStarterRN, BSN, RN]

Good point Freedom, it's easy to become too politically correct.

[FireStarterRN, BSN, RN]

My point was, from what was described by the OP, it sounds like there might be some bullying going on in the OP's unit. I've never heard of a nurse getting an anonymous letter telling her to "get out of town" (leave the unit). That sounds like some sort of Mafia tactics (to use another outrageous comparison)