Take this job and shove it!

PacoUSA, BSN, RN · Jul 4, 2015

I left my last staff position almost a year ago, and from what I hear things have gotten worse there. My departure coincided with the entry of a new CNO, who has made it her priority to make the hospital Magnet (which IMHO will NEVER happen if things continue the way things have been going ... delusional much?). My unit alone continues to see nurses leave in droves, and management is under the impression that nurses leave to advance their careers in more critical units. Little do they seem to realize that lousy management is the real reason everyone leaves. Staffing is abysmal, patient ratios are becoming dangerous, and the purported shared governance in place is an absolute joke. Suggestions are glossed over and everything remains status quo. A new nurse manager took over recently on my prior unit and from what I hear she is worse than her predecessor (if that was even possible). That place will never change as long as the incompetent higher ups are allowed to stay on. That place needs a major overhaul if they want to compete with the other metro area trauma centers. That said, I am quite happy to be out of there.

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elkpark · Jul 4, 2015

Nope.

RNJill · Jul 4, 2015

I also feel like another issue, regardless of simply *whether* or not change occurrs, is if it occurs in a way that changes things before a long period of time has passed. My former workplace where I was an RN started to have some serious retention issues related to both staffing and heightened complexity of patients on the unit. It took six to 8 months where like 60% of staff resigned for measurable, real efforts to fix the problem began. By then, the unit's reputation for massive turnover and being "the crazy place" to work had gotten so ingrained that the cycle continued. Of course so many new nurses/preceptors needed/changes burn out the remaining few even more...

So yeah, that was kind of a ramble, but basically to say that seeing the results of a change is an entirely different thing than "will they make a change"

Ruby Vee, BSN · Jul 4, 2015

Have to vent just a bit: This marks my last week at an incredibly mismanaged and dysfunctional hospital. I'm feeling great about moving out of a toxic workplace with all the incivility and safety issues you could imagine. That said, I'm pretty sad about not getting to work with some of the wonderful colleagues I'm leaving behind. They know I'm leaving because of the safety and mismanagement issues that they all see and care about but are somehow going to tolerate.
My question to the allnurses world: in your experience, does change happen in hospital administrations when strong, experienced nurses leave in droves? Do healthcare administrators discuss the reasons why and the frequency with which people quit their hospital, even if it is in private meetings behind closed doors?

Depends upon the place, but my guess is hospital administrators do the happy dance when experienced nurses leave in droves -- they can hire two newbies for what I make and have some left over for half of a CNA. My manager would miss me -- I can handle any patient that comes through the door while precepting and evaluating a student -- but all the administrators see is those $$$$ signs.

Ruby Vee, BSN · Jul 4, 2015

That's my question: do folks give factual exit interviews, or are they afraid to do so? If they do give truthful interviews, do those interviews ever go beyond HR?

Unless you're at the end of your nursing career, or don't mind burning some mighty hefty bridges, it's stupid to give a truthful interview because you WILL burn bridges. However if you get a bunch of experienced nurses leaving in droves all at the same time and giving factual exit interviews, it WILL get the nurse manager fired. (Ask me how I know this.) The problem is, the actual problem probably exists at a higher level than the nurse manager, and that idiot isn't getting fired.

BuckyBadgerRN, ASN, RN · Jul 4, 2015

I didn't have an exit interview when I left my FT LTC position. Frankly I think they were afraid of the responses they'd get!! The facility was BLEEDING RN's, I'm sure management knew exactly why but no one had the balls to do anything about it....

That's my question: do folks give factual exit interviews, or are they afraid to do so? If they do give truthful interviews, do those interviews ever go beyond HR?

canigraduate · Jul 4, 2015

That's my question: do folks give factual exit interviews, or are they afraid to do so? If they do give truthful interviews, do those interviews ever go beyond HR?

I've never been offered an exit interview in those places. They know what's going on. There just isn't a big enough incentive or enough fear of consequences yet for them to deal with it.

cdsavannah59, CNA · Jul 4, 2015

As one boss told me after a group of us girls asked when we were going to get our raise he promised last year ( dr office, not hospital) his response was " if you girls don't like what your wages feel free to find another job because I have triple that amount wanting your jobs". So to answer your question about how the hospital feels about losing so many nurses who don't want to work there anymore I don't think they care, they just replace them. And a lot of times can hire someone for less then you were making if you had been there awhile. As for safety issues at your work, a meeting among staff and management will help if you all stand together with your concerns. If the hospital refuses to change those issues then those issues will eventually be discovered by The Joint Commission.

allnurses Guide · Jul 4, 2015

That's my question: do folks give factual exit interviews, or are they afraid to do so? If they do give truthful interviews, do those interviews ever go beyond HR?

I had a face to face exit interview with the DON of the one job I left due to toxic workplace issues, and she asked me what I thought she should do about the manager who was the toxic epicenter causing nurses to leave or request transfers-- I figured by that point they were finally ready to get rid of her-- too late for lots of longtime valued colleagues unfortunately.

Anna S, RN · Jul 4, 2015

I never tell the truth at exit interviews.

I do send anonymous letters, though.

nursingaround1 · Jul 4, 2015

Generally not. If there is a big shake up, all the managers get fired, with big payouts, then shifted to other hospitals. This happened on a massive scale in the UK, where the most incompetent managers/pen pushers got 100,000 pound payouts, then a few months later rehired in similar positions with different titles at other hospitals, and sometimes even at the same hospital.

No Stars In My Eyes · Jul 4, 2015

Worked for Dr. Husband and Dr. Wife in their specialty office. Sometimes they were like a good 1935 movies comedy duo; sometimes. Other times they were like the Bickerson's. When it got really bad, they traded quips and barbs during surgeries. It was downright annoying and embarrassing.

I decided to leave and go elsewhere; Dr. Husband asked me if I would mind filling out a questionnaire and he copied two pages out of some book and handed them to me. I filled them out kind of half for-real and half making-nice.

What I really, really, REALLY wanted to say was only directed at one of them, but I knew they would both peruse it. I did not want to help any of their personal issues to come roaring up with each other. And I wouldn't want to be anywhere in the vicinity. I'd had enough of them!

What I wanted to say is, "Don't you ever, EVER tell your nurse 'You are just like my wife! It could really get you SLUGGED because it was such an asinine thing to say."