I supervise 2 nurses that I really feel are past their prime. These two nurses are older and have a lot of experience(none of which they would share with a new nurse today:cry:) But I think that 25 years ago, they were just as mean and nasty as they are today.
One nurse is the RN 11p-7a supervisor( I dscribe her as "Sour and bitter" and the other is a 3-11p direct patitent nurse. I am old enough to be their daughter or granddaughter. And in the past they have been very disrespectful to previous DON's and ADON's. I have spoken to each about improving patient care, internal and external customer service. These are also long time employees of the company. I do believe that they are valued employees but they are very resistant to change.
I hold all nurses accountable for their work and in the past they were not held to any standards. OLD habits are very hard to break but I have to think about quality patient care(Which can become poor or lacking when not checked).
I am very mindful about the nasty nurse types and I want to do what I can to get rid of that stereo type. But are some nurses just past their prime?
Does anyone work with nurses that are simply just Grumpy and Nasty ALL of THE TIME!
How do we help these nurses? Are they beyond help? We have begun progressive dicipline actions and re education with all nurses. I believe in rewarding those that are a team players. I just don't want the negative attitude to continue to spread.:typing
I agree that age does not necessarily make someone grouchy or resistant to change. But the fact that these two nurses have been there forever and acted that way with no consequences has just reinforced the behavior.
Maybe you could approach them as allies. Ask them in for a meeting and tell them that, as the most experienced nurses in the unit, you are asking their help in implementing these policies and counting on them to help the other nurses learn these new skills. Flatter them about their experience and their value to the hospital, and maybe they will respond to that. Or maybe it will just inspire renewed grouchiness, but it's worth a shot! :chuckle
I am not so sure that they are past their prime. I find that some of the nurses that have been in the field a long time (20 plus) years may not have learned the most up to date skills or new ways of doing things as they may not always need to for their area of practice but most of them really know their stuff when it comes to assessment and just general intuition about a patient's change. They may be bitter for many reasons some justified, some not, but I do believe that nursing is not changing for the better. You will likely have to find a way to get them on your side and I would try that before I sent them packing. JMO.
Specializes in Community Health, Med-Surg, Home Health.
One of the things I noticed is that some of the seasoned nurses are disenchanted these days because they were trained better, the focus was more on clinical experiences and positive outcomes. Those nurses, I feel were much better prepared to hit the ground running compared to many of us (in my humble opinion). There was not as much technology, no managed care, and the focus was more on patient care than documentation protection. Many of the more knowledgable and experienced leaders have left by the droves because of these drastic changes in health and nursing care.
It is very true that we have nasties that are new as well as incumbant. It is a hard call, to know what to do, actually, and would be interested in suggestions as well.
I also wanted to add that the term past their prime will probably be offensive to many people. What is your definition of "prime"? As a new nurse entering the field in my mid thirties, wouldn't my prime not be until I am much older? Is a 20 something new nurse in their "prime"? i really don't understand the term. Age really shouldn't be an issue.
I worked my 120 hours on Oncology and what bothered me most was dedicated nurses who was older who always came to work . The young nurses went were the older ones could not hear them and made rude comments toward them Like: "why dont they just retire, or 'why don`t they go to a dr`s office. or guess who is in chare tonight with eyes rolling. I listened as I was in orientation and I felt sorry for them. Some day the younger nurses could be in the same spot,,,,What goes around comes around as the old saying goes....
Specializes in Community Health, Med-Surg, Home Health.
I am not sure if the OP using the word 'prime' was meant to be offensive. Sometimes, when we express ourselves, and it is a passionate or emotional subject at the moment, we tend to use the first word that comes to mind. At first glance, I did believe it could have meant older nurses, but after reading it, I began to think that it meant disenchanted nurses. Now, why many nurses are disenchanted can make a list a mile long. But, I want to give it a chance to begin discussing what can be done to bring nurses together...a thing that has plagued me.
Just wanted to put my 2 cents in on the age issue. As a "chronologically challenged" individual I am past my "prime" and I take no offence from it. My mind is a bit slower than it was in my 20s, my back and knees are most certainly weaker, and my enthusiasm for the job has dropped off a bit, but my experience and judgement make up for a lot of the losses. I don't want a job that requires me to be in "prime" shape just to do the job every day, day in and day out. Even professional athletes have off days-they still make millions for being "pretty good". I'm reminded of the country western song: "Not as Good as I Once Was"... "but as good once as I ever was".
Specializes in ICU, CCU, Trauma, neuro, Geriatrics.
Something that is never considered is the nurses life outside of work. They work so they can live a certain lifestyle. If the employer is inflexible with changes that employees need to keep their life running smoothly then you will have angry, unsatisfied, grouch employees. Everyone has life changes, children come and go, significant others just as quickly anymore and interests change with maturity. Why should someone who works for a company not be allowed change their shifts and hours worked during a 20 or 30 year commitment to a facility. Have a 1:1 chat with each of them and find out what they want from their job. Facilities need to allow lateral moves without penalty, set limits of course, 6 months/1 year between moves.
I was just in the same situation - managing 7 lpn's. The info I got from upper management was warning me "they don't like change", etc, etc.
So, I was sent to management classes to study generational work personalities. We had a journal club to study the 7 Habits of Highly Effective people. I made schedules more flexible, gave staff more weekends off, streamlined the way the unit functioned. The end result? Most staff really appreciated it. One staff who was allowed to behave badly long before I got there - continued to behave badly and I got NO back up to do the sucessive write-ups needed to take her behavior to the next level with HR.
I think "prime" has nothing to do with it. Old or young, no one has permission to take out thier emotions on people around them. That's vertical violence - and it's another form of workplace harassment. The nurse I dealt with thought that she had permission to be rude and short with people because she had no consequences from it before. She had no desire to look at why she did that, and told me where to go. I also struggled with how much she contributed in knowledge vs how much she held back everyone with her negative attitude.
At some point, her and I had the "this unit is going a different direction and I need you on board with me" talk - and she had no intention of going my way. Without backing from my bosses, it was a waste of my time to burn myself out for her. all that fancy management stuff taught me that!
Thank You for your support. My goal is to make this facility the best that it can be with superior patient care. I do want all of the nurses to be happy and a part of a working team that is proud of their profession. I am truley passionate about nursing and I am one that really does believe that nurses make such positive changes in their patients lives. Wow, we really do! I find that really exciting and powerful. I am trying to "transfuse" all of my staff from top to bottom(really from side to side. I do believe that my crabby nurses in the past felt that no one has listen to them. My goal is to change that within a year.
We have a wonderful new team that is finally listening. I just have to be patient and hope that they will begin to trust this new team. Well I will keep you posted.
Specializes in telemetry, med-surg, home health, psych.
wait, let me get my spectacles and see if I can find the keyboard....I do take offense at the "nurses past their prime" phrase...We have (and I am one of them) nurses in our hospital that can out work any of the younger nurses...and do !!! We have gone through many changes in our years working and are usually ready to adapt...
Sure you are going to see some "ole grumpy ones" but, let me tell you, I have seen many "young, nasty ones", too.
RXtech
104 Posts
I agree that age does not necessarily make someone grouchy or resistant to change. But the fact that these two nurses have been there forever and acted that way with no consequences has just reinforced the behavior.
Maybe you could approach them as allies. Ask them in for a meeting and tell them that, as the most experienced nurses in the unit, you are asking their help in implementing these policies and counting on them to help the other nurses learn these new skills. Flatter them about their experience and their value to the hospital, and maybe they will respond to that. Or maybe it will just inspire renewed grouchiness, but it's worth a shot! :chuckle