Tired of babysitting

[arnie1234]

I have made the decision that I am genuinely tired of babysitting all those who report to me. Fortunately for me, I have maintained my bedside skills since I am a " working manager" who pitches in wherever needed (which is common since we are always short staffed.) I want to go back to the bedside, am almost ready to take the leap. My kids are grown and by the time I have grandkids, I want to be able to spend time with them. Not at my thankless job which I work 50hrs a week. I realize that I will be taking a huge leap of faith by doing this since I will lose a good chunk of money. Has anyone done this? OR are you considering doing this? I dont' want to look back on my life and say I wish I had more time....

[vanursegrad]

I am sorry that you feel "tired of babysitting." Have you taken the time to educate your nurses that report to you? I am recently new (less than 3 years) experienced in nurse management and I have found that if I am clear and upfront with my expectations and clarify myself when I need to I have minimal problems. With that being said, if everyone did their job most of the time and knew everything that we know we wouldn't need someone to manage, would we?

[Jolie, BSN]

I did, for different reasons. My issue was not so much with my staff, which, for the most part was cohesive and professional. It was with my superiors who made certain I had 24/7 responsibility for my specialty unit, about which they knew nothing, but refused to grant me the authority to make hiring, discipline or transfer decisions, or implement practices which were needed to improve quality.

I handed the reigns back to the department head and took a staff position. Never regretted it. Money isn't everything.

They went thru 3 nurse managers in the year after I left the position, which reassured me that upper management was the problem, not us.