Nurse managers-what are the advantages of being a manager over patient care?

[pawsomepooch47]

just wanted to do a little poll about the advantages and disadvantages of being a manager versus a nurse doing hospital patient care. thanks:typing

[Katnip, RN]

Nurse managers generally have 8 hour days M-F with weekends and holidays off. That is until there's an emergency at the hospital, too many people call out and there's no other coverage so the manager has to cover the shift, weekends and holidays where there is no house supervisor and a unit manager needs to cover, calls in the middle of the night from irate employees because they don't want to work their scheduled shift and the person doing the scheduling should have known that. Not to mention getting calls from staff while you're on vacation because they don't want to deal with the covering manager.

Managers are held responsible for everything their employees do or don't do, and if employees don't want to get on board, the manager takes the heat.

All that and no overtime pay, no holiday pay even if they've worked it. And making less than what you did on the floor.

Been there, done that, going back to bedside. Yes, it's rought at bedside too, but in most cases you aren't tied 24/7/365 to a pager and can leave work at work most of the time.

[AOx1]

:yeahthat:

And also, for me it wasn't really which one had more advantages, but which one "meshed" with my personality. I tend to always get put into a leadership position, or asked to apply for one. I did, and found that budget preparation and attending tons of meetings was not to my liking. I much preferred bedside nursing. I always found myself wanting to be part of the codes. I guess for some of us the floor never really leaves us. Even now as an educator, if I am with students at the hospital where I work and the "code blue" sound goes overhead, I want to go too.

[shrinky]

I guess as was said, it depends on your personality and goals. I was a manager for too long, but wanted to be a nurse all of my life. I love my job in palliative care because I get to spend a lot of time at the bedside, comforting patients and family and helping them make goals for care. I hated doing schedules and having staff complain because they wanted a day off but neglected to tell me. THen having to deal with complaints from docs, now they come to me for advice. You are salaried so can make your time out but usually have to answer to a VP or Director, and the responsiblity is a lot, evals, hiring, firing and disciplining are all a part of it. No, just let me be at the bedside and it may take a while to find your place but keep searching and don't be afraid to try new areas. Good luck.:typing