As a nurse for 19 years in Memphis areas hospitals and a local children's ER, I have seen many events that go unrecognized, and unacknowledged.
As managers sit in their office looking at computers and manuals, and attend meetings, I believe they have forgotten the reason they became a nurse, so here is a refresher.
The unit nurses are the ones who ultimately do the work, take care of the patients and are the ones that the public look up to, Who the public look to in time of need and despair. WE are the ones that hold the hand of a scared child who is alone, of a crying child during painful procedures, who calm the parents down when they arrive not knowing if their child is alive. WE are the ones who offer our hands, our shoulder to cry on and our knowledge to them. WE are the ones who go in the room with the physician to tell the family that their child may not live. WE are the ones who are there in their most dreadful moments to somehow ease the pain of death and dying. WE are the ones who administer the pain medication, when bones are fractured, when stomachs ache, and when sickle cell disease is out of control. WE are the ones that get coughed on, sneezed on and vomited on. WE are the ones that gets handed a "blue" Baby with the mom screaming "she's not breathing". WE are the ones who laugh, cry and pray with the family. WE are the ones that are expected after one trauma is over to immediately go out and care for the others, with no time for ourselves. WE are the ones who work short staffed, with no lunch breaks and faulty equipment. WE are the ones who take money out of our pockets to give a family christmas presents who just lost everything in a fire, no matter how the fire happened. We are the ones that continue to work a code when our baldders are about to explode, to hold ourselves together when a child dies, or is a victim of sexual abuse, as we question God why this happened. WE are the ones humbled. We are the ones that carry out the mission, the ethics and moral attitude of the nursing profession.
Then when our day is over we go home to our families and thank God that they are alright. WE are the ones that put our families second only to the patients we care for. WE are the ones haunted by our dreams. We seek no professional help in dealing with the multiple traumas. WE are a strong team. WE are the united front. WE are the ones who make the difference in this community. With all of this We are the ones who choose to work each day. WE are the ones whose blood sweat and tears are wrapped up in the department. WE are the ones who work for little money,, because our reward will come in heaven.
This happens every day in every department in every city. Managers cannot see this because they are not there. How are mangers going to evaluate us, if they cannot see us?
So as a manger have you failed your staff, failed the community and failed your nursing ethic for not really seeing who WE are?
As you sit in your office do not forget the ones in which you work for. Yes, youo work for us, not against us, not above us, for us. For us to be able to make that difference, for us to be able to come to work each day.
Mangers will never find a perfect nurse, and WE will never find a perfect manager. There is a happy medium. WE will be late, WE will call in, and WE may not get every piece of paper signed, but WE are the united front, WE are the ones who make the unit run. WE are the ones who make the difference.
I am an LPN. I am a vital part of the united front. I make a difference.
I invite any and all LPN's in Tennessee area to join me as I head up the Tennessee Chapter of the NFLPN.
I want our voices to be heard. I wnat to change the attiudes and open the eyes of some of the mangers who fall into this category.
Our profession is strong and I plan to make it stronger.
Feel free to post here or private message me.
Kathryn LPN
edited out real name/email address for TOS compliance/security
I don't think that the OP is "jealous" but I do think her frustration is misguided. Nurse Managers are merely middle management. They are there to pass along the decisions of the CEO's and powers much higher than the NM position. Sure, the NM may have input to these decisions but it is only if it benefits the bottom line....$$$. They are caught in the middle of frustrated nurses and unyielding Suits.
LeahJet....on alot of things they do not have control.....but some they do! I didnt see "jelousy" either in the OP's thread.I hate to say it.....but as more and more decisions are being forced upon physicians and nurses...dis-satisfaction is growing.I cant count the # of friends that have totally left the nsg profession....and medicine too.Decisions are made by people who often times have no idea what the impact will be to staff and patients.It worries me.
I have on occasions worked the floor so I can see if the "load" is to heavy or difficult for a nurse. I know how demanding their job is. The truth of the matter is I chose to work as a manager. The floor nurses chose to work the floor. Everyone needs to stop the "us against them" attitude. We can not survive without the floor nurses and I guarantee you that the managers have a vital role also in each facility. I have a boss, you have a boss, everyone has a boss except God himself. Reality is no matter what I do at least one employee will complain about me. Most days I just go on, some days I am amazed with the rudeness, other days I am down right hurt.
I vote Timothy for president! Here... Here!:beer: .
Anyways, the bottom line is everyone should walk in the others shoes. I have been a floor nurse and I have been management. Most often the ones that have the MOST problems with management are the ones that have never walked in those shoes. Why do we always have to "pick at" each other. In the end it just makes all of our jobs some much more stressful.
This post was not meant to pick at all managers. I have been a manager over a clinic that had 8 physicians, anxicillary staff, medical records and a lab. I had the responsibility of scheduling, hiring and firing, budgeting, and evaluations. I know each job very well. In a perfect world we all could get along, but this is not a perfect world. And while there are mangers who are great, the ones that are not great make it bad for many people.
So now that I have worked both sides, I find that there is much more reward in actually caring for the patient.
I wanted this post to open up the eyes of some managers, so that they can reflect upon their behavior. I wanted this post to give the LPN's some recognition for what we do, as part of the staff, so that the LPN will always be able to be heard, and regarded as essential staff.
Why is it that some hospitals have a RISE program for RN's but nothing for the LPN to advance? just asking....
And thank you for all that replied to this post. I do enjoy hearing different sides and it also allows each of us to "vent".
I don't think that the OP is "jealous" but I do think her frustration is misguided. Nurse Managers are merely middle management. They are there to pass along the decisions of the CEO's and powers much higher than the NM position. Sure, the NM may have input to these decisions but it is only if it benefits the bottom line....$$$. They are caught in the middle of frustrated nurses and unyielding Suits.
I think this hit the nail on the head more than any other comment in this thread.
I have to admit I am a lil disheartened to read some of these posts. Some of these are written by managers who dont want to deal with the realities of the jobs that RN's face and have perhaps lost sight of everything but their budget.Some ( not all) ...have tried to portray themselves as almost "victims"...as if they have no input into things that dont cost major bucks...simple things like saying "I know you came in when we "X" nurse called in and I just wanted to say thanks!"...or "good job"....pointing out the things their nurses do "right"...and last but not least....keeping your skills at the minimal level you expect from your staff.It doesnt mean jack that you used to work 15 years ago as a nurse...IMO you have no bussiness supervising nurses if you cant even realistically function in their role anymore. Are there great managers out there?You bet ya....Mine now is one of them.She keeps her skill level high...pitches in during her down time even doing small things like IV restarts on new admits etc etc....but what she takes away from those days she does pitch in for those 15-20 minutes is invaluable I think. She keeps a working knowledge of what would benefit her nurses in their role,... and role models great leadership.Respect isnt given by your nsg staff freely just bc you are the Nurse Manager...it is earned. Sorry if this bothers any nurse manager out there....its just my opinion.If you want respect from your nursing staff- earn it.Say "thank you" for a job well done..acknowledge your staff memebers when they have gone above and beyond.I think that is what this OP was getting to the core of....I dont think she / he was jelous. I am also a lil disheartened about how "hostile" some of these comments have been....and if this makes ya mad.....it may be bc it hits a lil too close to home for ya...but thats just IMO.Great managers---lead by example....they say "thanks"..."good job"....and keep their skills at least at a basic level they would expect from their staff.
I have to admit I am a lil disheartened to read some of these posts. Some of these are written by managers who dont want to deal with the realities of the jobs that RN's face and have perhaps lost sight of everything but their budget.Some ( not all) ...have tried to portray themselves as almost "victims"...as if they have no input into things that dont cost major bucks...simple things like saying "I know you came in when we "X" nurse called in and I just wanted to say thanks!"...or "good job"....pointing out the things their nurses do "right"...and last but not least....keeping your skills at the minimal level you expect from your staff.It doesnt mean jack that you used to work 15 years ago as a nurse...IMO you have no bussiness supervising nurses if you cant even realistically function in their role anymore. Are there great managers out there?You bet ya....Mine now is one of them.She keeps her skill level high...pitches in during her down time even doing small things like IV restarts on new admits etc etc....but what she takes away from those days she does pitch in for those 15-20 minutes is invaluable I think. She keeps a working knowledge of what would benefit her nurses in their role,... and role models great leadership.Respect isnt given by your nsg staff freely just bc you are the Nurse Manager...it is earned. Sorry if this bothers any nurse manager out there....its just my opinion.If you want respect from your nursing staff- earn it.Say "thank you" for a job well done..acknowledge your staff memebers when they have gone above and beyond.I think that is what this OP was getting to the core of....I dont think she / he was jelous. I am also a lil disheartened about how "hostile" some of these comments have been....and if this makes ya mad.....it may be bc it hits a lil too close to home for ya...but thats just IMO.Great managers---lead by example....they say "thanks"..."good job"....and keep their skills at least at a basic level they would expect from their staff.
I agree with most of what you said. I think a good manager would ideally get in the trenches and work at least 1 shift on each shift (1 day/1 night if on 12 hr shifts, for example.) a month - just to be seen, and to get a feel for the flow of the unit.
Now personally, I've worked w/ managers that I never saw unless there was a problem. That doesn't bother me, per se, because I like autonomy, and as long as everything is flowing, one of the reasons I work nights is IN ORDER TO AVOID administrative junk. But that, IMO is EXACTLY why managers should make an effort to touch base w/ those shifts once in awhile.
And I agree. Managers should live and thrive by this maxim: Praise often in public, criticize in private. I had a manager once that had a small budget for things like movie passes, etc. And a parking spot close to the door that she could assign out - our unit's own private employee of the month, complete with the reward of the parking spot for that month. Those kinds of little things don't break the budget, but it sends a message.
There's nothing like, in the morning after a really stressful night when I performed at the top of my game, and am now stressed out and exhausted, for a manager to acknowledge my hard work w/ a token of appreciation. That's worth far more than just that movie pass.
I agree with alot of this. I just didn't agree with the generalization that all nurse managers have lost touch w/ their staff. You wouldn't allow someone generalize that all bedside nurses are incompetent because someone has anecdotal evidence of 1 or a few bedside nurse being incompetent? So why dis managers in that same vein? That was my point.
I can understand the OP's frustration, and I can even concede that it's common one. But some of that is also not understanding what management is/does. And some of that is the usual 'us against them' of management.
trying to "generalize" and saying that all nurse managers are great is wrong...some just suck at it and dont have the insight to see the forest bc they are way too many trees in their way!!!!!!!!!!
trying to generalize and saying they all are lousy is wrong too...some are fabuolus.the manager i have now......when times are busy busy....with tons of heavy admits coming in she can and does pitch in to help with whatever needs to be done anytime she has that extra time.she does this and it keeps her skills up, gets respect from her employees by showing them she will never ask you to do something she can not/would not do herself.she gets respect from the nsg staff by the example she sets.
saying thanks...good job.....etcx etc...and little cards saying thanks...or an email...to alot of the staff is just as beneficial as giving a raise.it reconizes their efforts.....if it comes from the "right" kind of manager.if you are a lousy manager who hides in your office "claiming " that you can do anything you ask of your staff...but no one has seen you out of your office in years actually doing something like starting an iv to helping float a swan...then we all know you are lying about your skills and your "thanks" are pretty much meaningless.if ya dont use it you loose it...if ya dont use your skills for months or years......you arent fooling any experienced nurse into believing you are still proficient. so even a thanks...has to come from a "leader" to truly mean something.otherwise its just lip service ....as nurses we consider "the source'
I rarely post here, coming to the site to read, rather than write. However, I have followed this thread from the beginning, and I think there is more to be said. The fact is that both sides are at the same time correct and incorrect. Many nurse managers do forget what it is that the people who work for them are there to accomplish. At the same time, many staff nurses fail to realize what it is their managers have to do. The problem can be reduced to a failure to understand management by all concerned. I am a private person, so I don't say much about myself. While I have never been a nurse manager, I can honestly say that I have sufficient background to understand management, and how it works.
Many staff nurses look to the manager as their support, someone who can buffer them from the ever changing requirements of the hospital upper management. While that is a part of their job, staff nurses must realize that the nurse manager is forced to pick the battles they will fight. A manager who bucked upper level management at every turn would quickly find themselves back at the staff nurse level, if they were lucky enough to continue to be employed at that particular hospital.
At the same time, many nurse managers look to the staff nurse for consistent loyalty and support. Yes, they are owed that, but they fail to realize that these are commodities that must be earned in the long term. The staff nurse must see that person as worthy of their loyalty.
So, why is there this ongoing tension between staff nurses and managers? I think the fault lies neither with the staff nurse or the manager. The fault lies with the system of management selection and promotion we as nurses have allowed to be foisted upon us. Consider the average nurse's path to management positions. After graduating nursing school, she goes to work in a unit, learning for the first time how to be an independent nurse. Once she has been there a while, if she does a good job, she is given her first management position, usually shift charge nurse. After that, provided she does a "good" job, a promotion to unit manager or something like that occurs. She has received education in nursing school, and more education in nursing while working as a staff nurse. Unfortunately, no one has ever trained or educated her in the fundamentals, much less the finer points, of management. That is something she has had to learn by trial and error, more often error than not. And along the way, she has managed to anger her subordinates, not through any fault of her own, but rather through simple ignorance. No one ever taught her that her primary responsibility was the smooth functioning of her unit, assuring the best possible care to patients. No one ever taught her how to balance this against the needs of the business of running a hospital (and running a hospital is a business).
If she, and we, are lucky, she'll pick up the fine points along the way without too much turmoil. She'll learn that if she takes care of her people, the unit will usually run itself. She'll learn when she can and cannot buck the system. Her people will see that she does buck the system in their favor when she is able to, and when she cannot, her people will be more willing to accept that there are some things she cannot change. Unfortunately, what usually happens is that the new manager creates a great deal of turmoil along the way, causing an uproar in her unit. But that is not her fault, nor is it the fault of the nurses who work for her. The problem comes from how managers are put in place.
Is it possible for a nurse's aide to be promoted to RN simply because she has worked on the unit long enough, watching nurses do what they do? I think we would all say no. So why do we expect someone who has been educated as a nurse to suddenly be able to take on a management position with no education or training in management? Hospitals need to see that this is a short fall. Nurses who wish to be managers must be trained, through classroom education as well as through hands on experience under the eyes of a mentor. No one should simply be thrown into a position, and allowed to flounder along until they either master the necessary skills, or (as frequently happens) they fail, burn out and quit. Or worse, they never recognize that they are the source of the problem, continuing in a haphazard fashion to "manage" the unit right into the ground.
In the facilities on the Honor Roll of Newsweek and that hold top 30 rankings.
The manager (and her affiliates) were seen regularly and on floor, stocked med rooms, knew many patients and their families by name, took care of patients at times, admitting them, checking orders, calling MDs that were a problem. They occasionally worked weekends. Admittedly, not all the time, but often enough to know the environment, the problems and the postive traits. In one highly ranked teaching facility, the manager worked a 3-11, as a floor nurse, taking the same assignment as anyone else without stinting, every two to three weeks.
In the nonranked hospitals, the manager wore pumps and pearls, never mussed her nails, and rarely set foot on the floor after 2000 at night, before 0800 in the morning, or wekends/holidays unless forced.
I am an LPN. I am a vital part of the united front. I make a difference.
I invite any and all LPN's in Tennessee area to join me as I head up the Tennessee Chapter of the NFLPN.
I want our voices to be heard. I wnat to change the attiudes and open the eyes of some of the mangers who fall into this category.
Our profession is strong and I plan to make it stronger.
Feel free to post here or private message me.
Kathryn LPN
edited out real name/email address for TOS compliance/security
The beginning of the post was well said. But after reading the last paragraphs, I read the attitude of "them" against "us" (administration vs staff). What I see from the OP is a call to unionize.
Maybe i am wrong? Explain what the TN Chapter of the NFLPN stand for please?
I have seen caring and compassionate unit staff and adminstrative nurses. I have seen uncaring and non-compassionate unit staff and adminsitrative nurses.
Be mature enough to speak to your manager about your personal issues. At least give him/ her an opportunity to improve your personal situtation. I say "personal" because there are a variety of nurses working who may or may not feel as you do.
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I am also a lil disheartened about how "hostile" some of these comments have been....and if this makes ya mad.....it may be bc it hits a lil too close to home for ya...but thats just IMO.Great managers---lead by example....they say "thanks"..."good job"....and keep their skills at least at a basic level they would expect from their staff.
Keysnurse2008
554 Posts
LeahJet....on alot of things they do not have control.....but some they do! I didnt see "jelousy" either in the OP's thread.I hate to say it.....but as more and more decisions are being forced upon physicians and nurses...dis-satisfaction is growing.I cant count the # of friends that have totally left the nsg profession....and medicine too.Decisions are made by people who often times have no idea what the impact will be to staff and patients.It worries me.