Heads up to anyone reading this: This is mostly just a rant, but I didn't know where else to go to express my feelings.
I have been a nurse for about 4 years now. I became a nurse in an accelerated BSN second degree program, mostly because I didn't know what to do with my undergraduate degree. I knew going in that I did not want to stay bedside and I still definitely feel that way.
I am a float pool nurse at my hospital and am INCREDIBLY frustrated with our management situation. I realize that if I were less invested and less engaged these problems may not bother me so much, but I am a person who throws myself into whatever I am doing, so here we are.
I joined the float pool about a year ago, and found out about 2 weeks after joining that the manager (who I really liked and who was the one who asked me to join float pool) was leaving. Her direct supervisor became our manager, and the hunt began for another manager. That position was filled in October, but that manager was asked to leave in February (despite being well liked and an effective manager). The director who oversaw them and indirectly us, is our current manager.
She has to be the worst leader I have ever seen. I don't want to get too specific because if someone is reading this from my hospital, they will know exactly who I am talking about, and most likely who I am as well, but this person has no business leading anyone. She only seems to care about the directives she receives from "higher ups", and about keeping the peace, but does not exhibit any real concern for how her staff is feeling or doing. Everything she says seems fake and like she is just saying what "they" told her to say.
This director doesn't listen to the concerns her staff have about safety, and does not advocate for staff at all. We used to come to the other managers with issues that would arise on different floors, such as staffing issues, issues with assignments, or general safety concerns. At first, when each of these two managers left/were fired, people would go to her with similar concerns. Now it has pretty much stopped altogether because we have recognized that she does not listen or care and does not even try to get anything done.
Even now, when staff bring up an issue, she just brings it back to a small group of the Float Pool staff (myself included) and asks them to work on a solution. My response: "NO! The reason this was brought to you is because the staff couldn't solve it by themselves." Basically she has no business leading or even managing anyone and is super ineffective. Staff is incredibly disengaged and dissatisfied. On our most recent employee engagement survey, we did not meet the benchmark in ANY category, and the lowest score was in leadership accessibility. That's appalling.
I am not alone when I say I am ready to quit not only this job, but nursing entirely and that has absolutely everything to do with her. The only reason I am still there is because I have a position writing our hospital's Magnet document and I do not want to leave that team. I have also been accepted to a master's program that I think I will like, but I can't see myself making it through two more years of this nonsense, while waiting to finish that degree.
If you have advice for dealing with this type of dissatisfaction and disengagement on a personal level, please share. I am incredibly disheartened and came home from work today seething, and hopped on indeed.com looking for a job. Literally just any job.
TLDR: Manager sucks. She is the cause of a lot of staff dissatisfaction and is unresponsive to issues raised. I am ready to quit. Trying to figure out how to deal with it.
