nurse reaction to non-nurse involvement with Magnet

Nurses General Nursing

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perhaps i just had a bad attitude today. could someone help me reframe this?

or am i just a real normal nurse?

is it inappropriate for me to be disappointed that my director feels it's ok to let a non-nurse attend magnet meetings in our nurses' honor? to let her contend that she (not a nurse) exemplifes nursing leadership because she is in an administrative position in a department that employs nurses?

how would you react to following mail? (edited to protect the innocent.) =)

"i just attended our department category magnet meeting. along with these other things, our "force" for the week asks of us the following questions:...

1) blah, blah blah

2) provide examples of how nursing leaders (list of names: non-nurse superviser #1, non-nurse supervisor #2 or director who is a nurse) initiated change to improve patient care, nursing practice directly attributable from direct care nurses feedback.

3) this one us just for you (non-nurse #2) and me...describe and provide a picture of (our director, who is a nurse).

sent by non-nurse supervisor #1

:nono:

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Don't these people have work to do? Must not be nurses.

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Specializes in Triage, MedSurg, MomBaby, Peds, HH.
Don't these people have work to do? Must not be nurses.

LOL! Talk about money wasted in overhead!

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Specializes in Community Health, Med-Surg, Home Health.

The more I see about Magnet, the more disgusted I really am. I swear, they divide us more than bring us together.

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Specializes in Triage, MedSurg, MomBaby, Peds, HH.

I'm with you, Pagandeva. One hospital I know of has Magnet status and a new CEO. They're becoming more "customer service oriented" and at the same time not improving patient safety. I can't go into too many details online but I can say that some of the practices are making a lot of nurses there concerned about their licenses. I know not all Magnets are like this, but...it's making me carefully consider where I'll be working.

I am starting nursing school. This is a profession I am going to be so proud to be a part of. We should always treat our patients and their families with dignity, respect and compassion. That said, I also am not doing CUSTOMER SERVICE. Nor am I handing Big Macs out of a drive thru window. I will be caring for human beings who are hurting while remaining cognizant of the psycho-social issues surrounding that patient and his or her family. I want to care for my patients with THEIR best outcome in my mind, NOT whether or not I'm going to get high scores. I think this approach is harmful to the practice of medicine.

Another thing that riles me is their practice of advertising for nursing staff with BSN only. What's to say that a nurse from an ADN can care for patients any better? We both have passed NCLEX. As a BSN candidate, I can honestly say I do not assume that my nursing education will be any better than that of an ADN. I DO know that my student loan is going to be more costly :cry:

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If it's any comfort, I'm guessing that the ANCC and Magnet people will take a very dim view of "nursing leadership" people who aren't nurses.

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Shrug. Irrelevant to my daily work. Can I get back to work now; my patients are waiting.

I guess this would rank really low on my "things to get upset about" list.

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As most of you know I am not a nurse.....would love to be but my name has not yet been called in the lottery. So I wait patiently on the side lines. However bad I want to be a nurse I would never insult those who I respect and look up to by seeking recognition or honor by attending any type of event that was designed for nursing staff only.

I respect each and every one of you who do what you do in honor of humanity and I thank you for your dedication. You are all this veteran's hero.

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Specializes in Ortho, Case Management, blabla.

I am starting nursing school. This is a profession I am going to be so proud to be a part of. We should always treat our patients and their families with dignity, respect and compassion. That said, I also am not doing CUSTOMER SERVICE. Nor am I handing Big Macs out of a drive thru window. I will be caring for human beings who are hurting while remaining cognizant of the psycho-social issues surrounding that patient and his or her family. I want to care for my patients with THEIR best outcome in my mind, NOT whether or not I'm going to get high scores. I think this approach is harmful to the practice of medicine.

No joke. My coworker had a patient last week whose family member came out and said their dad was cold. Fine. Someone went in and gave the patient 2 hot blankets without my coworker's knowledge. Trying to help out and make the patient happy. The only problem is that the patient's temperature was 102.5 and was satting at 80%. The guy was cold in a way that hot blankets wasn't gonna fix. Rather than assessing the situation and getting to the root of the causes, it seems like they're often sticking their fingers in the proverbial dike. "Oh you're cold? Duh, let's get a hot blanket." Unfortunately it does take critical thinking skills sometimes even in situations that seem like they're easy to fix. I don't think upper and middle management takes that stuff into consideration (and many of them are not nurses).

I see the evolution into "customer service" and focus on press-gainey as something for management to do. Science and technology has given patients the best chances of survival in human history. Educational standards for caregivers are strict. Improvement reports are down, processes are streamlined. Information flows freely and is at your fingertips. Safety is not 100% guaranteed but 99.9% of patients can expect a safe hospital stay. Now management is bored, and needs something to do to justify their existence beyond hiring/firing and making schedules. So they focus on customer satisfaction surveys and how to improve them.

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Specializes in Ortho, Case Management, blabla.

Oh yea, and the other thing, our hospital gives out awards every month in a newsletter...kind of like "employee of the month," but it is awarded for the most "compassionate" employees. You get a special parking spot a stone throw from the main entrance in the visitors parking lot for that month, a special pin to wear, and a $100 gift certificate.

In the year I've been there, I have yet to see an RN, LPN, nor CNA get the award. It always goes to people in HR, Environmental Services, Engineering, and I even saw someone from dietary that works in the kitchen win one time. Yea, those jobs require plenty of compassion, ya know?

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