Nursing Supervisors

You have one of the most interesting jobs in nursing. I fondly recall my HSup days - back when I had much more energy! I am with a large health care system - not in a direct care capacity these days, but I do support nursing services in all our facilities. Our hospitals generally have a core staff of permanent night HSups. However, at many of our facilities, the nursing directors actually rotate in this function for M-F days with only a PT HSup for weekend days.

As an educator, I am really interested in how you were prepared for this job. What type fo training/education did your organization provide? Do you think it was enough? What is your level of authority staffing & personnel-wise? Can you make staffing decisions for nights or do you have to bounce those back to the unit directors?

It is a really interesting job, never the same night, lots of interaction with lots of different people.

I was a nurse manager for about 6 years before this job became available (at a different hospital). I have a BSN. I had about 6 weeks of preceptorship, mostly on nights, and I thought it was enough. I realized soon after I started that most of the situations that confronted me would be unusual and hard to prepare for, and I was right! I have a lot of authority with staffing, but have to adhere to a budget, based on a grid, which is based on census. We're heading in the direction of acuity based staffing via optilink, but it's a slow process. I think my management background was invaluable in that it gave me the tough skin, however, I also think that the most important thing to have as a nursing supervisor is common sense. I also always ask when faced with a difficult staffing/bed management decision, what is best for the patient? That maxim seems to steer me in the right direction most of the time. Luckily I have a boss that tolerates mistakes as long as you are accountable and truthful, so that helps.

Hello,

I also work as a house supervisor (called Clinical Administrative Resource) at nights. Our facility has roughly 230 beds but will increase to 300 or more when the new tower is complete.

I have been doing this for almost 3 years. I direct patient placement from the ED at night, coordinate with our staffers to make sure everyone is staffed adequately (we use a matrix based on census - but at times we are short so I have to decide which unit can best do with a different mix). I also run the codes and medical response team and help with any clinical skill that the staf is having trouble with (starting IV's, ng tubes, difficult foley's, etc.)

Let me know if I can answer any questions

Pat

That's basically exactly what I do. A few questions....

Who monitors restraint use? Is it done unit by unit or do you take part in that?

What is your pay (feel free to pm me if you don't want to post it....then again, if I'm being too nosy, don't worry about it!)?

How much experience does the position require?

Do you employ resource nurses (rapid response)? At night?

I'm sure there's other questions, give me time!

That's basically exactly what I do. A few questions....

Who monitors restraint use? Is it done unit by unit or do you take part in that?

What is your pay (feel free to pm me if you don't want to post it....then again, if I'm being too nosy, don't worry about it!)?

How much experience does the position require?

Do you employ resource nurses (rapid response)? At night?

I'm sure there's other questions, give me time!

Restraint use is monitored by the unit and reviewed by the manager of each unit. If we have some issue with them (say a coming review or such) then I will review them. Each night at the start of my shift during rounds I will ask how many and who are on restraints and why - just in case I need to review the chart to see if we can do anything else.

Pay started at 81k for 0.9 position. Raises are between 2-4% a year. I'm lucky in that as a clinical specialist I have argued the need to keep my skills up so they offer a flat rate for working extra shifts.

They ask for a Bachelor's - and I think it ws 3 years ICU or ER experience.

We are the resource nurse at night. I run the rapid response and codes - I have limited ability to order tests - can administer narcan - and can move the patient to a higher level of care if necessary. I am also the gopher - I find pumps, scd's, tube feeding, meals for those who just delivered, and whatever else they can think of for me to find.

Hope this helps

Pat

Hi, I am a nursing supervisor, too. I just started this position about 4 months ago and am part-time with rotating shifts. The hospital I am at is 250 beds. During the day, we do all staffing, bed flow, and deal with any other issues that may arise. Luckily the patient advocates and managers are around during the day to handle the customer service issues. We have a sup. that does a swing shift of 1p to 7p Mon. thru Fri. that just does the bed flow portion. This was done so that the hospital can meet its goal to bed every ED admit within 15 minutes as long as there are beds and resources. Also, we monitor the restraints as far as who is restrained, but the individual units do the audits. We complete any paper work related to deaths while in restraints or have been in restraints within the last 7 days. We are supposed to leave the staffing to the unit charge nurses, but most of us end up just doing it ourselves. We attend the Medical Response Team calls and all codes, but the ICU charge nurse actually runs them unless they have patients or are unable to come.

My experience is 4 years LPN and 6 years RN. I have my BSN and am almost done with my MSN. I really enjoy this position so far, but I still have a lot to learn. Starting salary for this position is about 62K, but this area is known for low nursing pay.

I would like to get some input from you all on something. I was a Navy Hospital Corpsman for eight years. Completed my B.S in Health care Management. Then completed my RN to open up areas in clinical compliance and process improvement which I love. Now looking forward to get into management again. Would my undergrad with my experience serve enough? Or should I pursue a MSN or MHA?

For that type of job I would definitely go for your MHA. You might also want to consider a combined degree (MSN/MHA, MSN/MBA).

Thanks, that is what I had a feeling might be the answer. Would be nice to see some return on investment with my undergrad considering the time I spent in all those classes :)

Depends on the hospital....I have worked mainly community Hospitals, and they hired me into supervision primarily because of how I managed the unit work I was on. Had a 6 week orientation and let me fly. I have been a nursing supervisor for 13 years now, and wouldnt trade it for the world. Its rewarding. I have a BS and an ADN - plan to start my MSN this year.

I'm a weekend supervisor right now but starting next month I've just accepted a Nurse

Manager position. M-F hours, with supervisor coverage at nights and weekends. It was

a good opportunity and a very nice pay increase. I'll be managing a 28 bed tele unit.