When staff knows more then the DON

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Specializes in Psychiatric and Urgent Care.

The DON at my facility knows how to delegate and that is it. She has no real clinical background and can hardly make a decision. Instead of utilizing home health care she sends our nurses out to do a home care nurse's job and this leads to incomplete work at our facility. How do we address this? HELP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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Specializes in Medical and general practice now LTC.

moved to the Geriatric Nurses and LTC Nursing forum

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The DON at my facility knows how to delegate and that is it. She has no real clinical background and can hardly make a decision. Instead of utilizing home health care she sends our nurses out to do a home care nurse's job and this leads to incomplete work at our facility. How do we address this? HELP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

That is a MAJOR part of leadership skill- to delegate and delegate well.

Ideally it is preferred to have a DON with both leadership and clinical aspects, but when one is a bit lacking, then the DON would need to get with someone who is more knowledge that she in that area and work on the issues at hand.

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Specializes in PACU, OR.

Appropriate delegation of tasks is the function of a manager. If she is not utilizing her resources - IE her nurses - appropriately, she needs to familiarize herself with her staff and their capabilities. It's not so much lack of clinical experience, but poor human resource deployment.

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Specializes in LTC, Hospice, Case Management.
Instead of utilizing home health care she sends our nurses out to do a home care nurse's job and this leads to incomplete work at our facility. How do we address this? HELP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It is unclear to me what setting you are in. Are you in LTC or home health? I just don't understand this part of your post.

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Specializes in Gerontology, Med surg, Home Health.

How about when the DON knows more than the Corporate clinical nurse? I tried to tell her the way she wanted to do the POC wasn't right, but she wouldn't listen.

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Specializes in LTC, Psych, Hospice.
It is unclear to me what setting you are in. Are you in LTC or home health? I just don't understand this part of your post.

I thought she was in LTC, but I'm confused, too.

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How about when the DON knows more than the Corporate clinical nurse? I tried to tell her the way she wanted to do the POC wasn't right, but she wouldn't listen.

ummmmhhh, yeah. Same here. And mine is very, very argumenative, disruptive and verbally combative...and we careplanned it, lol

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I thought she was in LTC, but I'm confused, too.

Yeah, I can't answer until I figure out what setting she is in.

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Specializes in LTC, Hospice, Case Management.
ummmmhhh, yeah. Same here. And mine is very, very argumenative, disruptive and verbally combative...and we careplanned it, lol

You careplanned the corporate nurse? Now that made me chuckle. (maybe I'm reading it wrong?)

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You careplanned the corporate nurse? Now that made me chuckle. (maybe I'm reading it wrong?)

Nope, we careplanned her behavior with our interventions. We believe in the nursing process.

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Nope, we careplanned her behavior with our interventions. We believe in the nursing process.

Intervention number one: buy return trip airplane ticket.

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