Nursing Culture

Red Kryptonite · Jan 20, 2015

I am not in school at the moment. This was a general discussion. I read an article last week discussing challenges in our workforce as we have four currently practicing (baby boomers, gen x, millennials and veterans.) Your assumptions were incorrect.

Link or citation please

arborguy · Jan 20, 2015

Here is the article. I am 38, graduated in 1999. Lol. I think it sad that people feel the only purpose/motive of discussion is in academia. Here is the link.

Exploring the Generation Gap in the Nursing Workforce - NurseZone

roser13, ASN, RN · Jan 20, 2015

Here is the article. I am 38, graduated in 1999. Lol. I think it sad that people feel the only purpose/motive of discussion is in academia. Here is the link.
Exploring the Generation Gap in the Nursing Workforce - NurseZone

You just joined today. Stick around for a while and you will understand completely. We are asked to do elementary med calculations, Care Plans, essay questions, interviews, and sometimes folks even want us to google things for them.

Are we cynical? You betcha. But I do apologize for thinking you were a student. It's always the "just joined today to ask a question" that usually seals it for me.

brandy1017, ASN, RN · Jan 20, 2015

I don't see problems or conflict due to generational issues where I work. Interesting article but think it is more stereotyping. The older workers generally had pensions that kept them at one place, but since that is virtually gone, outside of govt jobs, there is less reason to stay at one place! Also staying in one place pretty much guarantees small raises so moving around makes economic sense. I'm impressed with the younger nurses they are not content staying in a unhappy job and either go back to school to be NP's in droves or quit after getting their one year experience to try other things. The older nurses usually settle into a job and try to make the best of it and look forward to retirement.

There are so many different things that can make or break a positive work environment. First and foremost adequate staffing and that is a major problem in many places. Only CA has safe staffing ratios and even there they can get around it and some places fire the CNA's and support staff to save money. Safe staffing ratios and adequate assistant staff is a deal breaker for me. Luckily where I work we have adequate staffing and they don't usually short staff. Unfortunately they will use mandation to accomplish this and that has lead to turnover. Nurses aren't going to stay somewhere when they are forced to work 16 hour shifts. This has always been a major problem esp for the night shifts and the ICU in particular.

A supportive manager is important and one that is willing to spend the money for supplies and equipment. Many hospitals lack lift equipment to protect staff and the patients are so obese these days, but since there is no federal mandate for a no lift environment many hospitals feel fine paying out workers comp and just replacing injured staff with new grads! This is what pisses me off the most! We are getting patients that weigh 400, 500, 600 pounds and do not have ceiling lifts! Hover mats can make a world of difference if your hospital will provide them, but not all will. It took a federal law to get safe needles into the hospitals and this technology had been available for over ten years at that time!

Micromanaging can be a problem in nursing especially with the computer charting and med pass. They watch your scan percentages and when you give your meds. Heck one minute late is 1/2 a sick day there is no grace period. Talk about big brother!

Lastly cliques and bullying can be a problem and needs to be addressed by management to put a stop to it! You could have a great place staffing, supplies, etc but if bullying is allowed it will be a toxic workplace.

LadyFree28, BSN, LPN, RN · Jan 20, 2015

For further reading, do a search on this subject and you will see that this has been discussed before:

https://allnurses.com/gsearch.php?cx=partner-pub-9350112648257122%3Avaz70l-mgo9&cof=FORID%3A10&ie=UTF-8&q=Generational+differences+in+nursing

I have heard about the various generations in nursing since 2004, when I was a PN student and went to a conference, so I am familiar with the interactions through teaching and collaboration that occurs among a multigenerational setting in nursing.

Most of the information is to give rationale to how a peer may approach staffing, career, leadership, teaching, etc; however, not every rationale may fit a particular nurse. For instance, due to my birth year, I am on the Generation X/Millennial cusp, but that doesn't mean I possess every attribute; I may have attributes of Baby Boomers because how I was raised.

Understanding different generations can help understand how to approach and collaborate optimally; but I think having a culture on how to treat employees, and an approach for optimal safe, effective patient care transcends generational differences. :yes:

dishes, BSN, RN · Jan 20, 2015

Two problems with the article in the link are;

It was published in 2008 and in a non-academic magazine, there are articles on this topic that are more recent and published in peer reviewed, academic journals.

The article predicted that many nurses who are of the babyboomer generation, would start retiring in 2010, but as it turns out, most babyboomers were not able to retire in 2010 because of the international economic downturn that occurred in 2008. The prediction of a massive nursing shortage was wrong and has resulted in a oversupply of new grads for the past four years. Nursing will continue to have an oversupply of underemployed and unemployed new grads, for another eight years and this is a more concerning problem, than intergenerational differences in the workplace at this point.

klone, MSN, RN · Jan 21, 2015

Two problems with the article in the link are;
It was published in 2008

Ah, the OP must have read it while waiting in the doctor's office lobby. I guess it's better than reading about Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez's impending wedding in a 12-year-old issue of People.

Sorry, just poking fun. I'm still skeptical. :specs:

RNNPICU, BSN, RN · Jan 21, 2015

Check out AACN because there are several articles written about this very topic. It is something very important for hospitals applying for Beacon, Magnet, etc. I think social media is now a larger role as it is so easy to see hospitals ratings, etc. Many units at the hospital level now have nurse sensitive indicators, ratings posted on their intranet page so all employees can see. This has always been an interesting topic for me. Always difficult to address since what one person may perceive as something negative another may view as a positive open environment.

With the changing world, social media, etc it is hard to try and accommodate all needs. Interesting discussion topic

arborguy · Jan 21, 2015

Thanks for the discussion/feedback. I realize it was an old and not academic article. The different generations in the workforce is one small piece of the work culture.

I work in a critical care transport role and deal with many units. Certain units will have tons of staff come in to admit a patient, "tuck them back in" after scans etc....while others will not get up to help their co workers. I just wanted to open up a general discussion.

A personal view I hold as far as culture, I feel the staff own the culture. Management can "make rules," discipline staff, but I think the staff themselves hold the key to defining work culture. I am not currently a bedside nurse, but felt like I did my little part to improve culture by leading by example. For example, I worked in a CVICU. Staff will get tons if help (too much!) when a patient de compensated or arrests. The "glam" kind of help. Very few would help answer the call light of a patient that wasn't theirs, help with "code Browns etc..." I tried to make a point of doing those less glamorous helpful tasks and others caught on. I feel like setting an exams is much more powerful than the managers "laws." Although I recognize we need them too! Everyone has their place.

thanks!

Mandychelle79, ASN, RN · Jan 21, 2015

I dont know if it is a generation thing or just a work ethic thing. Without getting into shift wars, though heaven knows our unit has them, this seems to be the case. 7-3 does have the more experienced nurses but the therapists are the same age as the ones one 3-11. The difference is who is in charge and the atmosphere they maintain.

I am the 3-11 charge, I am one of the gen x/ millennial cusp. I can honestly say 3-11's definition of team work is varies greatly from 7-3's. And no we dont play well with each other ( shift wise)

Sisyphus_01 · Jan 22, 2015

One of the challenges that we face today is nursing students who hope the Internet will do their homework for them. They don't learn how to properly research issues or develop their critical thinking skills.

TU RN, DNP, CRNA · Jan 22, 2015

Having a cohesive, team-oriented staff is absolutely essential in today's healthcare environment, which is unfortunately more so at the whim of a business model than a healthcare one. While this isn't the experience of all, I think many can attest to the difficulty of making a shift run safely and smoothly while understaffed. Even when we're "appropriately staffed," the acuity of one unit/floor's census changes day by day (ie certain protocols exist for patients with certain presenting issues that call for reduced ratios for the assigned nurses to those patients). Ultimately it comes down to the staff's ability to function as care-providing unit that makes a work environment healthy. When you get lazy, standoffish nurses - or when a particular staff gets cliquey and exclusive - or when management fails to see/act upon the unit-wide issues at hand - is when the work environment deteriorates and people get burnt out and leave.