unsure to stay in management

RNPATL, DNP, RN · Jul 10, 2005

I am currently a manager of an outpatient clinic. I have recent thoughts of leaving this role and working as a staff nurse. I love the area but the duties are becoming more than I can handle. I go back and forth with this thought. One week will be fine the next I am ready to run. Is this normal and are there others out there that can relate? I need to come to a conclusion.

I totally understand and can relate to your feelings. Being in a management position is so tough anymore. You are pulled in a million different directions. I never worked harder than I did as a nurse manager.

You have to decide what your goals are and whether this position is helping you achieve them. Set a time frame for yourself. For example ... I will stay as the manager for one year and evaluate the effects this job has had on my life. If I find that the job has porvided me with opportunities I would have otherwise not had ... then keep it. But, if you find that the position is too stressful and it is not worth the troubles, then leave the role and return to being a staff nurse.

Your feelings are certainly not uncommon. I would have to say that many, if not all managers find themselves in the same position you are in. When the job is good, it is good, when the job is bad, it is terrible! For me, I had good days and bad days ... but, the bad days more outweighed the good days and I finally made a decision that I no longer wanted to be responsible for the practice of every nurse that worked for me. I wanted to be responsible for myself and my own practice alone and left the role. I am so much happier. No more call, no more worrying all the time and no more undefined hours! I can finally plan my days off and I am actually starting to get a life! It has been very nice.

I am not sure that I am ever going to return to management again. For me personally, it was simply too stressful and I never really felt that I could get ahead on things. It was seldom that I really ever felt as though I accomplished anything ... crisis after crisis, physician complaints that were not even worth investigating, patient complaints .... it just got old really fast. And, I think I was pretty good when I was a manager. My RN retention rate was 100% and our customer satisfaction scores where the best my unit ever had .... but that takes a lot of work and a lot of hours!

The decision to remain in a management position is very personal. You really need to look at your life and determine if all the stress is worth the payout. Sometimes it is ... sometimes it is not.

Good luck and I hope everything works out for you.

Bird2 · Jul 10, 2005

I am currently a manager of an outpatient clinic. I have recent thoughts of leaving this role and working as a staff nurse. I love the area but the duties are becoming more than I can handle. I go back and forth with this thought. One week will be fine the next I am ready to run. Is this normal and are there others out there that can relate? I need to come to a conclusion.

I have had the same thoughts lately. What saddens me is that I love my job but I am being pulled in so many directions. It is getting harder to complete any one task. I can' believe that I have so much work to do that I have to go in today to get it done and actually feel guilty for taking care of my families needs yesterday. I am Monday - Friday and am now taking work home with me. I swore that I would never, ever do that. I have worked as a staff nurse and my life was so much easier. I just left at the end of my shift and went on with life. I guess what blows me away is the staff that assume that management is doing nothing. I realize that I am whining but I guess I needed to vent even though I know that I will walk into work and just keep going like the energizer bunny. My nerves are shot. I am exhausted. I am tired of being treated like a dog by the staff. I have never spoken rudely or in a demeannng way to them as they do management. I can't share these thoughts with anyone. My family would not understand. It would be inappropriate at work. Just typing this rambling, whiny res.ponse as put me in tears again. I am normally a very strong person. Thanks for listening.

RNPATL, DNP, RN · Jul 10, 2005

I am so glad that you posted! That is what this forum is for! Nurse managers need aplace they can vent and make some friends. You really can't vent at work and staff nurses do not understand the challenges. You have a place right here .... I am so sorry that your role is making you crazy. It did me also and many others I know. Life was simple as a staff nurse and yes, we could go home and not have to deal with call and all the others things that go on when we are there or when we are not there.

I want to be able to tell you that it gets better, but, we both know, it is a tough job. However, if it makes you feel any better, you do have friends here and other nurses that are going through the same trials and really do understand.

Good luck and I hope everything works out for you.

Bird2 · Jul 10, 2005

Thanks for the calming reply. I am going to pull myself together and go into work and get my work done.

jpalmer · Jul 14, 2005

I am a new manager all of 61/2 months! I encounter all the same stresses you seem to emulate on the forum. I am ambivalent between wanting to quit and just be a staff nurse and continue on in this role. I feel I have not had enough time to give it my all. I too am pulled 6 ways from Sunday and wonder how I will accomplish it all. But at this point I am not ready to throw in the towel. I love many aspects of the job but detest certain of these. I hope experience will become my ally and allow me to do the best I can. Time will tell!!!

RNPATL, DNP, RN · Jul 15, 2005

I am a new manager all of 61/2 months! I encounter all the same stresses you seem to emulate on the forum. I am ambivalent between wanting to quit and just be a staff nurse and continue on in this role. I feel I have not had enough time to give it my all. I too am pulled 6 ways from Sunday and wonder how I will accomplish it all. But at this point I am not ready to throw in the towel. I love many aspects of the job but detest certain of these. I hope experience will become my ally and allow me to do the best I can. Time will tell!!!

I wish I had some magic advice to give you but I do not. I do know that in order to be effective in the job, you must have the time to do the job. All too often, nurse managers are tugged in many different directions and never seem to feel that they have given a reasonable amount of time to any one item or task. I hate feeling like I am going from one task to another without so much as to even think about it for more than a few seconds before making a decision and moving on to the other task.

There are aspects of the job that are really great. Likewise, there are aspects of the job that are terrible (can you spell O N - C A L L ). But, in the end, being in management is a highly personal decision, that only you can make. If you feel the benefits outweigh the challenges, then stay. However, if you feel the job is consuming your life, then leave. But, whatever your decision, please be true to yourself and your family .... they are the only ones that are important.

sgent · Jul 15, 2005

It doesn't neccissarily get better, but one of the hardest lessons for me to learn as a manager was how to delegate. It took some of my staff -- who I have a LOT of respect for, to nail me down before I finally gave way. I easily delegated the small stuff, but it was the more complex things that I kept to myself -- and gave me a lot of 16 hour days and sleepless nights.

I'm still working a lot, but at least I now feel like I have some help, and am accomplishing a lot more.

joannep · Jul 31, 2005

Hi,

I have been in my position for just over a year now and what has kept me sane and in focus has been networking.

I quickly sought out and initiated friendships with 5 managers who had been in their position for more than three years. Because I figured they must know something.

2 managers were just on the verge of retiring, genuine retirement, not back to non management. The other three have just been so supportive, 2 of them have been in their jobs more than 10 years. I have actually worked as a staff nurse with both of them in the past, so they know me, and are very supportive.

We sometimes think as new managers that we should know it all, and be able to do it all, that of course is foolish. I have found having a support network of older, more experienced manangers to be the best thing. :)

Joanne

johnson0424 · Aug 4, 2005

i am going through the same thing. some times i feel like as a staff nurse i am powerless but as a manager i feel like i am drowning and i don't want another complaint to come though my door. i wish my name was not Kate half the time. ya know? i am going into NP school and was thinking a staff nurse would be a lot less stress than manager plus i am changing from ltc to transitional care which is sorta like sub acute. so i don't know what i should do. part of me wants to take the RN job b/c of less stress and then who knows. any help would be appreciated.

CGRN1002 · Aug 5, 2005

As I sit here and read all of your posts I am on the other side of the fence. I have my BSN and am presently going for a dual degree of MSN/MBA-HCM but to this point have not been offered the opportunity of management. I'm always told that I do not have "management experience" I've been a nurse for 21 years and have LOTS of leadership experience and education but it never seems to be enough. For someone like me who gets bored so easily and needs to be challenged to feel good about herself I wish I could complain I had too much to do. I'm not trying to make light in any way of all you do I'm trying to make the point that there are many different personalities out there and some are made for the stress and management and some are not. Does not make one or the other better than the other just is their life calling. I hope I get the chance to do it someday.

Hi,
I have been in my position for just over a year now and what has kept me sane and in focus has been networking.
I quickly sought out and initiated friendships with 5 managers who had been in their position for more than three years. Because I figured they must know something.
2 managers were just on the verge of retiring, genuine retirement, not back to non management. The other three have just been so supportive, 2 of them have been in their jobs more than 10 years. I have actually worked as a staff nurse with both of them in the past, so they know me, and are very supportive.
We sometimes think as new managers that we should know it all, and be able to do it all, that of course is foolish. I have found having a support network of older, more experienced manangers to be the best thing. :)
Joanne

Bird2 · Aug 5, 2005

As I sit here and read all of your posts I am on the other side of the fence. I have my BSN and am presently going for a dual degree of MSN/MBA-HCM but to this point have not been offered the opportunity of management. I'm always told that I do not have "management experience" I've been a nurse for 21 years and have LOTS of leadership experience and education but it never seems to be enough. For someone like me who gets bored so easily and needs to be challenged to feel good about herself I wish I could complain I had too much to do. I'm not trying to make light in any way of all you do I'm trying to make the point that there are many different personalities out there and some are made for the stress and management and some are not. Does not make one or the other better than the other just is their life calling. I hope I get the chance to do it someday.

CGRN1002 I hope you get the chance at management. When I replied to this thread I was at my lowest but am on track again. Management is not easy but when problems are being solved and best practices are put in place it is very rewarding. To be effective in you have to be willing and able to focus, be fair, and work hard. Often putting in many hours. I must say that when I was feeling that stressed it felt good to be able to express my true feelings at that time in a place where others would understand. Most managers don't have a place to vent. It is not appropriate to tell your staff and most families do not fully understand.