Senior administration working a shift/month

nurseygrrl, LPN · Jun 7, 2004

Nope...this is not done at my facility, but in my opinion, it should be done at EVERY facility! What a great idea!

It would be good for them to actually do what staff does so that when they come up with ideas they'll know whether they're impossible and stupid or not. :)

AcosmicRN · Jun 7, 2004

Sorry, but I disagree. I don't want administrators on my floor doing CNA work. It's not their job, they're probably not that good at it, and they really need to be busy doing what they are hired to do for the hospital. Besides, it really is counterproductive to a thinking-mind's morale--this symbolic gesturing. The idea that they are sooo much higher and better that it is only fitting that they sink down into the gutter with us rats every once in a while is demoralizing. I think everyone has their own job to do and CNAs are important just as administrators are important. In fact, if the mission of the hospital is patient care, a CNA is probably even more important. For each administrator there's probably a dozen people waiting in the wings to take over when they finally drop in the cafeteria line. Not so with good CNAs.

I don't need administrators to know how I feel. I need them to maximize the profits of the hospital while paying me as much as they can.

Acosmic

AcosmicRN · Jun 7, 2004

By the way, how does this quick reply thing work? Oh...

2rntish · Jun 7, 2004

I think the point that he was trying to make was that they knew the senior staff knew what it was like on the floor.

They were not on the schedule, they were not counted as staff...they were simple exposed to the environment that nurses had to work in every day.

He said they occasionally got a piece of equipment that, in the past, they might not have got.

Occasionally staffing was "a little " better.

And most important, when administration refused a request, nursing staff knew that it was an educated decision on administrations part. They were part of the team instead of someone you meet during orientation and never see again.

teeituptom, BSN, RN · Jun 7, 2004

I think the point that he was trying to make was that they knew the senior staff knew what it was like on the floor.
They were not on the schedule, they were not counted as staff...they were simple exposed to the environment that nurses had to work in every day.
He said they occasionally got a piece of equipment that, in the past, they might not have got.
Occasionally staffing was "a little " better.
And most important, when administration refused a request, nursing staff knew that it was an educated decision on administrations part. They were part of the team instead of someone you meet during orientation and never see again.

That sounds like something at St Francis Hospital, I know it quite well.

Its right across the street from La Fortune Golf Club

very nice course

P_RN, ADN, RN · Jun 7, 2004

Our CNS s did that. As far as the Admins....once a year they served outdoor grilled hamburgers during hospital week.

cannoli · Jun 8, 2004

I would like to see the ones with a nursing license work an actual nurses shift on the floor with the same workload the staff nurse has.

RNPATL, DNP, RN · Jun 8, 2004

Sorry, but I disagree. I don't want administrators on my floor doing CNA work. It's not their job, they're probably not that good at it, and they really need to be busy doing what they are hired to do for the hospital. Besides, it really is counterproductive to a thinking-mind's morale--this symbolic gesturing. The idea that they are sooo much higher and better that it is only fitting that they sink down into the gutter with us rats every once in a while is demoralizing. I think everyone has their own job to do and CNAs are important just as administrators are important. In fact, if the mission of the hospital is patient care, a CNA is probably even more important. For each administrator there's probably a dozen people waiting in the wings to take over when they finally drop in the cafeteria line. Not so with good CNAs.
I don't need administrators to know how I feel. I need them to maximize the profits of the hospital while paying me as much as they can.
Acosmic

I have to disagree with you on one point .... I want administrators to know what the conditions on the floor are like. I want them to experience first hand the challenges and struggles that the nursing staff have to endure, even if it is a token shift and once in a blue moon. All too often, the administrative types are stuck in the ivory towers, in their beautiful offices, wearing their neat little suits and ties and forget what the mission is. Get their butts on the floors, make them look at how the policies they are setting down impact the nursing staff and ultimately patient care. Let them feel the frustration we feel with understaffing, equipment that is so old, my gradmother used it when she was a nurse and how poorly other departments interact with nursing. Let them provide excellent customer service with no tools to work with!

In my opinion, this is the reason that health care is so bad today and declining. Administrators that use to be on the floors or in lower level positions have forgotten what it is like to be the grunt and do the grunt work. Worse yet, some of these MBA's coming out of school and becoming hospital administrators, have no clue what it is like to provide services to a patient or their family. Sometimes they have no clue! It is high time that more hospitals take this approach. I can tell you, it would send my morale through the roof to see the CNO or administrator working on the floor with me.

As far as making profits and paying you more .... wake up .... they are already making major profits ..... know who is getting the money???? not you, not me ... the CEO! :angryfire Get their butts on the floor! :uhoh3:

2rntish · Jun 8, 2004

That sounds like something at St Francis Hospital, I know it quite well.
Its right across the street from La Fortune Golf Club
very nice course

You're right on "course" Tee.

And P_RN, we also have the token hamburger cookout once a year followed by a "state of the hospital address" which is MANDATORY for all staff so we can't say we are not informed about decisions that are being made...and we have a voice in the process. Had 2 nurses disciplined after the last one because they voiced their opinion about staffing.

night owl · Jun 8, 2004

Nope...It would be good for them to actually do what staff does so that when they come up with ideas they'll know whether they're impossible and stupid or not. :)

I agree. Sometimes I wonder if we're working in "moronic institutions" runned by a bunch of morons. Experience is the best teacher. They need to experience first hand what it is we actually do.

barefootlady, ADN, RN · Jun 8, 2004

Just because these big shots show up and pass a few trays, get ice, and help make an empty bed does NOT mean they open their eyes to "real" problems in this facility. Funny my morale would only be improved after they did this and then took decisive action on solving some of the issues. I have been to a mandatory state of the hospital address once or twice, it was a do not ask questions this is how it is session. Usually after one of these sessions a lot of staff resigned, we were reminded just how little the institution though of us.