nursing directors, administrators

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So I'm wondering if this is something that is only happening at the hospital where I work or if other nurses (especially those who have been in the field >15 years) are seeing this as well.

When I first became a nurse in 1991 our bosses were supportive, friendly, and would back us up when we deserved it. They disciplined fairly and were well liked for the most part. I'm talking about the DON, directors and middle managers.

But in the last 8-10 years or so these people have been replaced by nasty, bullying directors who are more concerned about their budget without regard for safety or running their nurses ragged. They don't care about our opinions on whether something works well or not. They just tell us this is what you're going to do now whether you like it or not. Of course they don't say that, but that's what they mean. If something happens they're quick to blame the nurse first before looking for other reasons.

I can't believe these people are naturally nasty people. Is this what the CEOs and other hiring managers want in their directors? Are they told they must be this way? I recently was told our previous wonderful DON who we all loved was forced out (about 7 years ago) although the public reason was that she was retiring. The DON who replaced her is AWFUL. Another director we all liked was forced to quit 2 months before she was going to retire anyway after she'd worked there for 30 years. Several nurses quit as a result.

I don't get it. If there are any directors or managers who are privy to this new "leadership" style I sure wish you would chime in and let me know how this is productive. All I see is that RNs want to get the hell out because of it.

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Specializes in Psych (25 years), Medical (15 years).

You don't, by any chance, seb1957, work at Wrongway Regional Medical center, do you?

I work at WRMC and you have described the Administration there to a "T":

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Oh my! I hope I haven't "outed" myself. But, yes. That is the place. So Davey DO, is it this way everywhere? I have only worked at WRMC, but I suspect it could be similar everywhere else.

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Specializes in Nurse Leader specializing in Labor & Delivery.

It's not like that everywhere.

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That's good to know. I thought some of it may be due to all the new ways hospitals are losing money (i.e.no reimbursement if a pt gets a UTI while having a foley, poor HCAPs, etc) which affect all hospitals. I'd like to find one to work at.

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Specializes in Geriatrics, Dialysis.
That's good to know. I thought some of it may be due to all the new ways hospitals are losing money (i.e.no reimbursement if a pt gets a UTI while having a foley, poor HCAPs, etc) which affect all hospitals. I'd like to find one to work at.

That in a nutshell is the problem. Basing how much if anything a facility is paid on how happy the "customer" was with their care is an insane idea. I'm pretty sure I wouldn't get away with deciding how much I will pay for something on how nice the salesperson was, yet this is pretty much what somebody decided would be a good model for healthcare reimbursement.

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Specializes in Short Term/Skilled.
So I'm wondering if this is something that is only happening at the hospital where I work or if other nurses (especially those who have been in the field >15 years) are seeing this as well.

When I first became a nurse in 1991 our bosses were supportive, friendly, and would back us up when we deserved it. They disciplined fairly and were well liked for the most part. I'm talking about the DON, directors and middle managers.

But in the last 8-10 years or so these people have been replaced by nasty, bullying directors who are more concerned about their budget without regard for safety or running their nurses ragged. They don't care about our opinions on whether something works well or not. They just tell us this is what you're going to do now whether you like it or not. Of course they don't say that, but that's what they mean. If something happens they're quick to blame the nurse first before looking for other reasons.

I can't believe these people are naturally nasty people. Is this what the CEOs and other hiring managers want in their directors? Are they told they must be this way? I recently was told our previous wonderful DON who we all loved was forced out (about 7 years ago) although the public reason was that she was retiring. The DON who replaced her is AWFUL. Another director we all liked was forced to quit 2 months before she was going to retire anyway after she'd worked there for 30 years. Several nurses quit as a result.

I don't get it. If there are any directors or managers who are privy to this new "leadership" style I sure wish you would chime in and let me know how this is productive. All I see is that RNs want to get the hell out because of it.

WOW, it sounds like you're talking about my facility. I have noticed this as well and it saddens me because I've recently realized that none of them care, It's all about a paycheck. To get that paycheck they do what the facilities ultimately want which is make money. Effective patient care is out the window as long as there is a paper trail to explain things away.

I am convinced my facility won't order wipes for the incontinent folks because medicaid will pay for antibiotics and not wipes. I've had to resort to asking the families to bring them in for my ppl who get frequent UTIs.

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Wow. That is bad. I can't say my facility has gotten bad as far as providing us with supplies, but they are having 1:1 meetings with RNs to find out what they need to do to retain us (because they're having large numbers of RNs quitting). Why have these meetings when they don't listen?

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