What is your reward?

Well, I am a unit manager of a child psych unit. What makes it rewarding is knowing that i am making a difference in the lives of my kids. Not me directly but my influence in the programming, the staff we hire, the quality. I am obsessed with safety and making our program innovative, and evidence-based. I am constantly striving to have a better program, a better unit for these kids, who average a 5 day length of stay. I love research and I love the fact that I can do it with the kids on our unit.

That is always the reward, having that influence, directly on my staff and indirectly on the kids. Other benefits: flexible schedule, no holidays/no weekends. If I have to take the kids to the dentist, I can do that and come in late. I'm in grad school and plan to go on for my doctorate; with my schedule I can do this being a unit manager. I don't want to become a director or CNO; I like being as close to the patient level as i can and still be in management. I like being a change agent at that direct level.

The pay is not a reward, nor are the fires you have to put out, the personalities you have to deal with among your staff. But you just get used to that. In the past few days, I've had to talk to 4 angry parents and deal with 3 staff performance issues. I've had to fire a few people. I have to cover night shifts when I have 2 sick calls and can't find coverage...it sucks, working for free those nights but I just take a personal day later in the week and it all evens out.

You just get used to the chaos; when I don't have an angry parent or a staff performance issue, I'm pleasantly surprised. I expect these things day to day.

All in all, I love my job and my staff...most days. You take the bad with the good, you have to be flexible and balanced and be proactive rather than reactive.

Hope that helps! I never thought I would be in management but now that I'm here, I can't imagine doing anything else.

quote=ErinS;5648377]Hello out there! I am currently finishing my MSN, but my focus has been in nursing education. I am young enough that I am not sure what I want to do, and have the time and money to get both the nursing and administration certificates at my school. I have an opportunity to start training to take over my current managers job. My question for you is, what is your reward as a manager? Currently I work in hospice, and it is a tough, stressful job. But my reward, what makes it all worthwhile, is the difference I make in patient's day to day lives. As an educator, my reward is the guidance and support I can give to aspiring nurses.

I have already spent time assisting my manager, and I am just having a hard time envisioning what makes dealing with all the crap managers deal with worth it. In my case, management will not be a pay raise (at least not initially). Thanks for your input and I hope I do not offend anyone.