Everything Nurses >> Nurse Talk >> Staff Shortages and the Lousy Morale that can cause them
Staff Shortages and the Lousy Morale that can cause them
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Posted 4 months ago I lost a friend today. Well she is not lost she just turned in her resignation. She was the bright spot in my day. Her smiling face and jokes have helped me through. She was working with negative people and the supervisors were unsupportive. She had spoken to me about being unhappy and wanting to stay but wanting it to be better. Unfortunately a couple of poisonous perople in her unit made her job unbearable. She is leaving. This leaves the unit short of staff and it takes at least 3 months to train someone new. I understand her frustration. |
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| Posted 4 months ago I understand how it can be to work around poisonous people. It can eventually have an effect on you and you will become posisonous too. It's best your friend got out when she did. I'm sure she has worked too hard to be unhappy at her job. Unfortunately it may leave a staff shortage, and hopefully the patients won't suffer b/c of it. |
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| Posted 4 months ago I know what it is like to work in a negative environment too. It's terrible and it brings you down with it. Sometimes you get to a point where you just can't take it anymore. If she felt like this, she did the right thing by leaving. You have to do what's best for you. If you were good friends, perhaps you'll keep on seeing each other outside of work. Be supportive of her decision. I'm sure it was a hard one to make. |
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| Posted 4 months ago She asked me about 3 weeks ago how to stay there and not develop the same b**** attitude she was having a problem with, I had to tell her the truth. I did not know how, I have developed a harder shell when dealing with people like her supervisor and coworkers. But how to remain positive in a constantly negative situation, my only suggestion was if she was going to leave (and she was leaning in that direction already) was go before you have so much time in that you feel like you cant leave the job. I think I might have used the phrase "Run while you have a chance." Perhaps I just validated her feelings, but I hope I did not encourage her to make a bad call. I just know going into work everyday with dread in your heart and bile in your throat is no way to live. I ordered her a going away cake today with an open door leading to greener pastures. I hope it is a better choice for her. I was already planning to start looking for another job myself so I guess it just hits close to home. |
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| Posted 4 months ago I feel your pain. I've had poisonous jobs as well. The last one I had has had almost 100% turnover since I left. Management just doesn't get it. |
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| Posted 4 months ago I too work in a facility where there is a lot of negativity. Sometimes I feel like going into work, there is a black cloud hanging over the place. Several times I have considered leaving, but I know that won't solve the problem. So I am sticking it out, trying to be positive and be a good example to others and hopefully MY attitude will rub off on others. It is hard to resist falling into the negative attitudes that others have. But you have to be strong. Look at your job in a different light. What are the good and bad points and compare them...if the only bad point is other staff member's attitudes, but everything else is good, then stay. But decide if you can just let their attitudes fly and ignore them, or call them out and hope they realize they need to change. |
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| Posted 4 months ago if you can't "feel" happy, you can't "be' happy. Eventually you will become numb, that leads to not caring, that makes you worthless to the people who need you. If you find a release for the undo stress more power to you. I worked with a negy nora, mr. "all about me" and Super medic, when I resigned I told the medcom supervisor 'those 3 are goin to kill some one some day". unfortunately, a little over a year later they did. And verily, verily I say unto thee that some day it shall come to pass that from the earth there shall come a thundering roar, fire and smoke, and from the darkness, fire and smoke an Angel shall rise. Thou cannot speaketh his name for Hell follows him |
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| Posted 4 months ago Mickey, I know exactly what you mean. You can't change other people's attitudes. The only person you can control is yourself. I worked in a place where I dreaded going into work each and every day. Just thinking about it was a heavy cloud hanging over my head. I stayed for 2 1/2 years because I felt sorry for the patients. But it was a miserable 2 1/2 years.It was an unsafe environment. Much of the negative attitudes were brought about by always being short-staffed and this causing everyone's work load to be extremely heavy. In situations like this, things can easlly be missed or overlooked or mistakes made. Finally I had to say that's enough for my own peace of mind. |
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| Posted 4 months ago Smart decision, char. Firstly, you gotta protect your license, and secondly--you can't take care of other people if you don't take care of yourself. Staff who are demoralized, overworked, and tired, with that "heavy cloud", give lousy care without even meaning to or wanting to. Even if you stay in a job you hate, you gotta find some way to release all that negativity so you can move on to the next day. |
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| Posted 4 months ago I have worked in several hospitals as an agency nurse and I see the increasing negetative attitudes from staff and the corporate world I see less nurses supporting one another for fear of loseing what little benifits they have left . I believe the doc"s arent suppoting the nurses either. I hope that one day they will quit looking at the numbers and' look at the aquity of th patients we take care of. We are care givers let us be caregivers and not just pill pushers. I have seen union nurses and non union alike and If something is not done to change the attitudes and tha lask of respect by all the nursing and medical field personel the situation will just get worse. |
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| Posted 2 months ago I have worked at the same facility for the past 7 years. We are on our third set of owners and with each new takeover, morale has gone down. I wish is would make us feel that we are so good that everyone wants us, however, it actually makes us feel like the redheaded stepchild. I always try to go in with a positive attitude for my shift but by the time I get my assignments and I am already one hour behind, attitude goes down rapidly. I keep thinking of finding a new job but when you live in a small town, you really don't have much of an option. If anyone has any good suggestions to keep morale up, I am sure everyone would be listening/reading as the case may be.
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| Posted 2 months ago Partial solutions to lousy morale? I believe I inadvertantly discovered some remedies while interviewing recently for a RN job in a telemetry unit. I suspect the second measure is most likely to get results. (1) The hiring manager asked prospects for the job to shadow a nurse during part of a shift--to see if the prospect would "fit in" with the rest of the staff. (2) Staffers gave report outside the nurses' lounge. Groups of about 4-6 nurses huddled outside patient rooms next to the cabinet housing a patient's chart. From what I witnessed, shift-change at that unit was much more businesslike, and much less conducive to carping about other staffers than shift-changes conducted inside a nurses' lounge. One disadvantage of the unit's approach to shift-changes: staffers were forced to stand an extended time during report. Of course, one way to cut down on the time spent standing was to expedite reports. I saw a lot of the morale-killing nonsense others mentioned while I worked as an aide. But this website looks like a great place to learn some tips about how to deal with the grief, and I'll bet there's a lot of sharpies out there who know some remedies that work. Any sharpies out there who care to give the rest of us the benefit of their experience?
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| Posted 2 months ago I think that shadowing a "prospective fit"is a horrible idea.I am not keen on report given outside a patient room due to HIPPA. I do think that a precpetor program is good.I do think the manager needs to be involved,work the unit herself and know her nurses(strengths and weaknesses)I think perks..whatever they are(meal tickets,gas coupons whatever) shuld be done on a weekly basis...i think the staff themselves can also be their own worst enemy(gossiping about each other,other's mates,other shifts,etc...) someone has to shut that down whether it be in report,at a dept.meeting,staff meeting.remember..peer pressure works... Drew |