What do you hate most about your job?

Nurses General Nursing

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Hey lovely (or studly) nurses,

Upcoming strong word advisory.

What do you *hate* the most about your job? Like over the past week or so --

what have you been most stressed, angry, hurt, or annoyed about?

I'm doing some informal research to help me understand the needs of nurses….and would love to hear your thoughts! Thanks!

Non nurses, business and marketing people trying to decide what is best for nurses. We've been telling you for years: Staff us properly.

That's a very good point.

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I haven't been angry.

I haven't been hurt.

Fleetingly annoyed with someone on the lower end of work ethic.

I have been stressed with balancing the work load of staff with company productivity expectations.

Then I come here and realize how good all of us have it where I work, at least in comparison.

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Giving report to slow poke nurses who want me to go through each and every detail of the patient's chart and existence and keep me around longer than I need to be. However, when it comes time for these same nurses to give me report, their reports are inadequate and full of holes. :rolleyes:

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Hi MilliePieRN,

Fascinating.

I'm really interested in hearing more! Especially:

  1. What kinds of things does the management do/not do say/not say when they communicate poorly? How often do you find yourself thinking about it?
  2. Inaccessible management” is one I haven't heard. Intriguing. I'd love to hear an example if you're willing to share.


    ​Thanks!

We've been through 3 department managers in the last yr. We have been without a manager for about 6 weeks now. CNO is "filling in" as our manager. There is NO communication between nurses and the CNO. Most of us don't even know what she looks like, even though she has been our CNO for about 4-5 months. Everything I hear is through the grapevine, policies change by the week with no announcements or warnings. We don't have a phone number or email address to contact her... We had a "suggestion box" on our intranet home screen, but even that disappeared about a month ago. We use a computer charting system that we can email anyone in our company.. Guess who doesn't use or log in to the system? Yep, our handy dandy CNO. All communication is through house supervisors who could care less.. They are sick of it all too. Our CNO won't even step foot in our unit, she calls to even have the variance book delivered to her by the secretary. A house sup sent her a message days ago asking how the staff is supposed to contact her, she has not gotten a response...

I probobly could contact our ceo if I wanted to, just have nothing to say to him.

I'm worried that once the travelers start, regulars will be put on call and float out to crumbling Med Surg (who is managed equally terribly, but at least they have a contact person).

I really like my job, I don't want to leave. A little over year ago our hospital had incredible employee satisfaction and morale. All mgmt was fired, chaos ensued.

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Specializes in med-surg, IMC, school nursing, NICU.

Deeply inadequate compensation.

Constantly being second guessed by administration who have zero medical knowledge.

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Specializes in Pediatric Critical Care.

i didn't expect to see so many posts involving not liking travelers.

(Only three, but I was surprised to see any. Guess I just didn't think it would make the "hate most" list.)

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Techs that lady and don't report abnormal vital signs.

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I love travelers :). I just don't want 3 on one shift for our small unit. They have to be treated differently, cant take call, can't/won't do certain things that the regulars have to do. When we may only need 2-3 nurses for any night, they get priority to fulfill that contract.

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Techs that lady and don't report abnormal vital signs.

Lady? What does Lady mean?

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We've been through 3 department managers in the last yr. We have been without a manager for about 6 weeks now. CNO is "filling in" as our manager. There is NO communication between nurses and the CNO. Most of us don't even know what she looks like, even though she has been our CNO for about 4-5 months. Everything I hear is through the grapevine, policies change by the week with no announcements or warnings. We don't have a phone number or email address to contact her... We had a "suggestion box" on our intranet home screen, but even that disappeared about a month ago. We use a computer charting system that we can email anyone in our company.. Guess who doesn't use or log in to the system? Yep, our handy dandy CNO. All communication is through house supervisors who could care less.. They are sick of it all too. Our CNO won't even step foot in our unit, she calls to even have the variance book delivered to her by the secretary. A house sup sent her a message days ago asking how the staff is supposed to contact her, she has not gotten a response...

I probobly could contact our ceo if I wanted to, just have nothing to say to him.

I'm worried that once the travelers start, regulars will be put on call and float out to crumbling Med Surg (who is managed equally terribly, but at least they have a contact person).

I really like my job, I don't want to leave. A little over year ago our hospital had incredible employee satisfaction and morale. All mgmt was fired, chaos ensued.

Usually no contact with people like that is best, but I do understand your frustration. Our new CNO didn't bother to round to each ward to meet staff, or hold a reception on each shift so we could come see her and meet her, or ask for input from us, or anything like these get-to-know-you things at all.

Terribly rude, very disturbing that she was so unconcerned with staff that she didn't even want to try to connect some names with faces.

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Rant over . . . no worries though. We dinosaurs will all retire soon and the young whippersnappers will take over and since they live with their smart phones attached to their bodies, they'll do well.

:)

I'm thinking of having my smartphone surgically amputated, though.

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I love travelers :). I just don't want 3 on one shift for our small unit. They have to be treated differently, cant take call, can't/won't do certain things that the regulars have to do. When we may only need 2-3 nurses for any night, they get priority to fulfill that contract.

Being a ICU traveler for many years I wanted to share a thought. When I was a Traveler I had a beautiful home with a mortgage, taxes, electric bill and everything that comes with owning a home including having the grass cut and paying $200.00 a month. I would close it up and I live in a box (figure of speech) with very few personal items many many miles from home. I gave up paid vacations paid sick time paid Health insurance. Friends and family. Had to pay for my own renewals for BLS, ACLS, Tdap test besides yearly physicals and Health Care insurance. Nurses week? What's that. Then when having non paid time off, the expense of driving or flying home and getting a rental car only to be sadden all over again when I left home.

So yes travelers don't count the meds or go to mandatory unit meetings and do some other things that employees would perform. And yes, Travelers are guaranteed hours but after all what they gave up wouldn't they have to be? But in the end all of this is to help your hospital, your place of employment because of a shortage of qualified health care personal in your Community. I'm glad you like many others love travelers and please continue. Maybe you and others can step it up a notch and embrace Travelers as friends and do things with travelers outside work, after all they are always looking for to build friendships. I made the greatest friendships in my years of traveling.

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