RN, MSN = Secretary?!

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    Q.

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Specializes in LDRP; Education.

I have been slightly irritated with my job for the past 8 months or so. When my employer started eliminated positions and reducing workforce as a result of financial difficulties, I started looking elsewhere - but nothing entirely aggressive or serious - until recently.

This past Friday I think was the proverbial straw that broke the camel's back.

I am a Clinical Education Coordinator in a "centralized" education department, that requires an MSN or enrollment in a MSN program. My responsibilities entail running alot of orientation programs, but also consulting to the entire hospital - including non-nursing areas, on education and practice issues. In other words, we're not truly a nursing staff development department at all.

We have a tumultous relationship with the Med/Surg departments. They are the most vocal of the nursing areas and their leadership is probably one of the more unprofessional I have ever seen. I've been in meetings where the leadership will throw papers, roll eyes, and other inappropriate gestures. And we honor all of their demands. All of them. Regardless of our own professional recommendations, regardless of best practice, regardless of finances, resources - anything. We give in to all of it. Why? Because every quarter we are rated on our "customer service" to them. They habitually mark us low, even though all of my and my colleague's time could be billed to them, and even though we honor every single request. And even though our department was slashed in half with the layoffs in Spring. So much so, we often ignore other areas like ER, OB and ICU.

The leadership in that department now has, on at least 6 occasions, contacted us, the coordinators, to do secretarial support for them: run off copies, find and reserve meeting rooms, and design flyers. I got another such request this past Thursday that my boss forwarded me. It came from a nurse in the med/surg area who is in a CNS role (but not a CNS yet) and she wanted me to contact a vendor she was working with and find and reserve meeting rooms and design flyers for an inservice. I asked our assistant to handle the request, and she couldn't. My other two colleagues couldn't, and neither could I, as we're ALL swamped, buried, drowning in work, especially since we lost 2 full time coordinators in June. We have requests up the ying-yang and this one is not top priority, especially since it entails essentially administrative support functions.

So I asked the med/surg secretary if she could do this for this CNS. She said she could. Great.

On my way out of the office on Friday, my boss calls me into her office to explain my actions. Apparently the DIRECTOR of the med/surg areas got wind of this, saw my email to the med/surg secretary, and then forwarded it to my boss and said this was inappropriate and the secretary will do no such thing as she is too busy and this is not top priority. I tried to explain to my boss that we couldn't accomodate this as we're busy, people on FMLA, etc and she just said I'm just going to have to do it. She emailed the director back and told her we'll handle it. And she told me just that - you'll handle it on Monday, and how long could it possibly take to design a flyer, etc? :angryfire Well if it's so insignificant why can't the secretary do it? :angryfire

I left without saying a word; I was so livid. I am tired of acting like the support staff to med/surg. Each time I voice this, my boss replies that I'm paid either way so who cares. Well you know what, I care! If I wanted to be a secretary I would go be one, but I'm a nurse educator and would like to function as one! I can't function in this type of environment. Anymore. I have had it. I was so angry on Friday I could hardly speak.

I have applied for a job with the Humane Society a couple weeks ago and am anxiously awaiting a call - the job is training all the volunteers on animal handling, infection control, etc and staff development. If they offer it to me I am *so* gone.

I guess I just needed to vent.

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Specializes in LTC, assisted living, med-surg, psych.
I have been slightly irritated with my job for the past 8 months or so. When my employer started eliminated positions and reducing workforce as a result of financial difficulties, I started looking elsewhere - but nothing entirely aggressive or serious - until recently.

This past Friday I think was the proverbial straw that broke the camel's back.

I am a Clinical Education Coordinator in a "centralized" education department, that requires an MSN or enrollment in a MSN program. My responsibilities entail running alot of orientation programs, but also consulting to the entire hospital - including non-nursing areas, on education and practice issues. In other words, we're not truly a nursing staff development department at all.

We have a tumultous relationship with the Med/Surg departments. They are the most vocal of the nursing areas and their leadership is probably one of the more unprofessional I have ever seen. I've been in meetings where the leadership will throw papers, roll eyes, and other inappropriate gestures. And we honor all of their demands. All of them. Regardless of our own professional recommendations, regardless of best practice, regardless of finances, resources - anything. We give in to all of it. Why? Because every quarter we are rated on our "customer service" to them. They habitually mark us low, even though all of my and my colleague's time could be billed to them, and even though we honor every single request. And even though our department was slashed in half with the layoffs in Spring. So much so, we often ignore other areas like ER, OB and ICU.

The leadership in that department now has, on at least 6 occasions, contacted us, the coordinators, to do secretarial support for them: run off copies, find and reserve meeting rooms, and design flyers. I got another such request this past Thursday that my boss forwarded me. It came from a nurse in the med/surg area who is in a CNS role (but not a CNS yet) I asked our assistant to handle the request, and she couldn't. My other two colleagues couldn't, and neither could I, as we're ALL swamped, buried, drowning in work, especially since we lost 2 full time coordinators in June. We have requests up the ying-yang and this one is not top priority, especially since it entails essentially administrative support functions.

So I asked the med/surg secretary if she could do this for this CNS. She said she could. Great.

On my way out of the office on Friday, my boss calls me into her office to explain my actions. Apparently the DIRECTOR of the med/surg areas got wind of this, saw my email to the med/surg secretary, and then forwarded it to my boss and said this was inappropriate and the secretary will do no such thing as she is too busy and this is not top priority. I tried to explain to my boss that we couldn't accomodate this as we're busy, people on FLMA, etc and she just said I'm just going to have to do it. She emailed the director back and told her we'll handle it. And she told me just that - you'll handle it on Monday, and how long could it possibly take to design a flyer, etc? :angryfire Well if it's so insignificant why can't the secretary do it? :angryfire

I left without saying a word; I was so livid. I am tired of acting like the support staff to med/surg. Each time I voice this, my boss replies that I'm paid either way so who cares. Well you know what, I care! If I wanted to be a secretary I would go be one, but I'm a nurse educator and would like to function as one! I can't function in this type of environment. Anymore. I have had it. I was so angry on Friday I could hardly speak.

I have applied for a job with the Humane Society a couple weeks ago and am anxiously awaiting a call - the job is training all the volunteers on animal handling, infection control, etc and staff development. If they offer it to me I am *so* gone.

I guess I just needed to vent.

So sorry to hear this, Susy.......it must be terribly frustrating!! This is the same reason I left LTC management: no matter whose job something was, somehow it always made its way onto my plate, whether it was doing RAPs for other disciplines (activities? gimme a break!!), assessing new admissions when the charge nurse was too busy, investigating incident reports the DON had no time for, or doing walking rounds every 2 hours.

Personally, I was MUCH happier when I went back to floor nursing, where I'm now just a little fish in a big bowl and responsible for nothing other than my own practice. :p

Good luck to you, Susy. I hope you find the right position soon! :)

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I'm sometimes put in a similar situation. I try to handle all requests asked of me, but when I'm really really swamped and the boss asks me to take on an additional project, I've learned to respond like this:

"I don't mind taking on this new project, but the current projects that I'm working on, such as (insert projects here) are requiring 100% of my time. Which current project would you like for me to put on hold so I can accomplish this new one?"

I also keep a list of all of my current projects with "next steps" listed by them. Each week I update the list (add any new projects, update the current ones, mark completed projects as done). It takes a little bit of my time, but if I get too overloaded, I can show it to my boss and ask her which project she thinks should be "bumped".

I'm currently reading a book titled, Managing projects in organizations. How to make the best use of time, techniques, and people. by J. Davidson Frame. Your situation (and mine) is not uncommon.

Sorry it's happened to you. I understand how much it sucks.

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Specializes in Nephrology, Cardiology, ER, ICU.

Gee whiz what a waste of an MSN RN!

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Specializes in Med-Surg.

So much for teamwork. Seems the opposite is true where I work. Our med-surg areas are slaves to other departments with no power at all. We just got an educator the last couple of years.

Anyway, that's my stuff.

I'm so sorry to hear about this. Good luck in finding something better or some peace of mind. :)

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Specializes in Specializes in L/D, newborn, GYN, LTC, Dialysis.

WOW what a HUGE waste of your amazing talent, Suzy. I am so sorry. You have worked so hard to get where you are; you deserve MUCH better. Something tells me, you will NOT settle for less. In the long run, you will come out on top, that much I am sure of! (((suzy)))

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Specializes in Gerontological, cardiac, med-surg, peds.

Terrible. I hate hospital politics. I miss the patients at the bedside, but that's about it. Suzie, would you consider being a nurse educator in a community college or university setting? We certainly could use you! The shortage of nurse educators is reaching crisis proportions in some areas of the country.

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Specializes in LDRP; Education.
Terrible. I hate hospital politics. I miss the patients at the bedside, but that's about it. Suzie, would you consider being a nurse educator in a community college or university setting? We certainly could use you! The shortage of nurse educators is reaching crisis proportions in some areas of the country.

Oh god, I detest hospital politics, especially at my hospital. I know politics are everywhere, but some kinds are more tolerable than others. Me doing secretarial work is not tolerable to me.

I've considered teaching in the community college/university setting; the only thing that holds me back from it is the pay, in addition to the fact that I already know that I don't like teaching clinical. :stone

What I *have* considered doing is going back to direct patient care. There was a posting for a nurse in the OB/GYN department of a clinic I used to work at. I applied.

Deb, thanks for the kind words.

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Specializes in LTC, assisted living, med-surg, psych.

What I *have* considered doing is going back to direct patient care. There was a posting for a nurse in the OB/GYN department of a clinic I used to work at. I applied.

That's what I did when I finally got fed up with being a nurse manager a couple of years ago, and I've never regretted it. I don't have your educational credentials, but for an associate-degree nurse I've done a lot---been a clinical instructor, resident-care manager, and DON---and I know I would be welcomed back into any one of those positions in a heartbeat. However, I don't want or need the stress!! I went back to floor nursing in March of 2003, and Lord willing, that's where I'm going to stay until my body says "No more". (Which will probably be by the time I'm 50.......not all that far away. :o )

Now I come in, do my 8 hours, and go home........I'm not responsible for anything but my own practice. So I'm a little fish in a big bowl---it's OK, I like it like that, especially with JCAHO due in on Monday morning. :) The thing is, I have a life OUTSIDE work now, which is something I didn't have when I was a manager, and I don't get stuck with all the SLJs (sh***y little jobs) that no one else wants to do.

Just my take on it. Best of luck to you in whatever you do, Susy! :p

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Specializes in ORTHOPAEDICS-CERTIFIED SINCE 89.

Susy they don't know what a talent they are going to lose. I'm sorry they've done you like this.

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Specializes in Education, Acute, Med/Surg, Tele, etc.

"I don't mind taking on this new project, but the current projects that I'm working on, such as (insert projects here) are requiring 100% of my time. Which current project would you like for me to put on hold so I can accomplish this new one?"

Awesome one and I use this one all the time!!!!!!!! Lucky for me my NM is in just the same situation as I am, too many projects, and no time or staff...she is also MSN, and the Health Services Coordenator for the entire facility of 160 residents...ummmmm, that keeps her very busy, and I was hired to share that workload...then a floor nurse quit and now she is out an investigative/education/QA nurse, and I am stuck on the floor (which I took on this job to get off the floor 100% of the time and get more into management and education!)...

She and I have the same exact ideas on what 'to do list' items can be pushed and just how to tell the administration why! We are a good team, but I know that is very fortunate!

Good luck to you Suzie! I got excited when you said Humaines society...I originally went into school to get my prereqs for Vet School, but got a full grant towards my ASN and took it...I keep banging my head most days for that choice..LOL!!!!!!

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Specializes in LDRP; Education.

"I don't mind taking on this new project, but the current projects that I'm working on, such as (insert projects here) are requiring 100% of my time. Which current project would you like for me to put on hold so I can accomplish this new one?"

I do like that approach also, but what bothers me most I guess is the fact that my boss seems to have no problem with us acting as administrative support staff to this group. Why does she have no problem with us running off copies, reserving rooms and designing flyers for inservices we aren't even involved in, coordinating, etc when that group has their own secretary to do such things? Then, this secretary is too busy so a Master's prepared nurse has to put her work on hold to do this?

I'm already getting angry because tomorrow is Monday. :angryfire

Linda, what is your role again? I forgot. :p

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