The Secret to a Great Nursing Unit

[CallMePatti]

What do you think the secret is to not a good, but a great nursing unit?

Is it teamwork? If so, how can teamwork be encouraged?

Is it inner peace?

Or do extrinsic factors play a role in this?

What are your thoughts?

[banditrn]

The first thing you need for a great unit is a great manager. I worked in an ICU for many years that I would consider a great unit.

This manager showed us by example that she expected us to work together and support each other, and she would pitch in herself if that is what it took to get a job done.

No doctor dared to abuse any of us - because they knew they'd have her to deal with.

She recognized that each person had unique talents, used those to show us how to work together.

We had a few 'standing rules' such as - when someone got an admission, each nurse in the unit needed to go in and do a couple of things to help get the patient settled.

They don't make many of them like her anymore.

[Ruby Vee, BSN]

i'll second the opionion that a great manager can make a great nursing unit.

a manager should be fair and impartial, not playing favorites among nurses -- because that's guaranteed to lead to cliques and bullying.

she/he should stand up for her staff when physicians, families or other departments are abusing them, making sure that all sides of a story are heard before acting.

there should be fairness in granting vacation time, scheduling, assignments, overtime, holidays, floating . . . whether you use a standard of first come/first serve, seniority, taking turns or whatever. that standard should be known, in writing, and adhered to stringently.

she should know her staff, and make an effort to recognize their strengths while helping them to work on their weaknesses.

of course, great pay and benefits, a brand new, state-of-the-art facility and foot massages at the end of each shift wouldn't hurt, either!

[rpbear]

I agree a great manager is one key point. Great charge nurses that promote teamwork, never let anyone in over thier head, everyone needs to pitch in with everything, from helping with new admits, to helping the nurse techs.

I work on a great unit, we have a fantastic team, from managers, charge nurses, staff nurses, nurse techs/secretaries and housekeeping. There are a few "bad apples" we don't let them get us down and we make sure that they do thier part. What exactly makes up this great team, I don't know, it has been there since I started and I just followed thier lead.