For those who have been wondering about my shopping, no, I am not going on a shopping spree! Haha, I am the slowest person when it comes to making decisions about clothes. I take forever to narrow down my choices. There is no way that I could spend ALL day at the mall, it drives me crazy just spending a couple hours there! So no, I'm not going to be buying all these clothes at once - they'll be bought over the space of a year or more.
Jordan has been attending all of his classes and labs for this first class of the year. So far, so good! He has recognized that his energy peaks during the morning, so that's the best time for him to study and review. Last year, he stayed home and watched the lectures when they were posted online in the afternoon, and it seemed more difficult. So hopefully with attending lectures, he'll pass all his tests with flying colors! Speaking of which, his first test is on Friday. Wish him luck! Also, I've been trying to talk with him more about what he's learning so that it can solidify in his brain. It's been interesting, as I've learned more than I did in nursing school! It also helps me to feel like I'm involved with his schooling.
Lastly...work. I really, really, really need some advice guys. I know there are people out there who read this blog who don't know me, and I could use your advice too. I'm very, very frustrated with the people I work with. The actual patient load is great, and I love this kind of nursing. But the people...ugh. Let me tell you. The unit manager (UM) is supposed to be in charge, and the unit coordinator (UC) does the schedule and other stuff that I don't know about. The UC was hired a couple years ago, and has basically taken over the UM's job. The UM constantly defers to the UC's ideas. That's the first problem. The UM doesn't do her job.
The UC has some major, deep-set issues. She seems like she has a chip on her shoulder. She is friends or family with about 6 or 7 of the staff, and constantly gives them preferential treatment over everyone else. She lets them work whenever the heck they want, lets them come into work or leave work whenever the heck they want, lies to administration to cover for them (this has been witnessed by several employees), and is a brat to everyone that she's not friends with. She has a major chip on her shoulder about her position and her dominance over the UM. Almost all the staff members have made complaints about this woman and her behavior to the UM, but obviously since the UM does whatever the UC wants, the complaints go nowhere. They have also complained to the Chief Nursing Officer (CNO), and there have been some investigations, but this woman and the UM have been given chance after chance to shape up and no real action has been taken.
The UC is supposed to make out the unit schedule, and as truly horrifying as it sounds, the schedule is only ever made out a week in advance. And even then, there are holes in the schedule so that some of the units don't even have enough coverage. The UC has been offered help with this aspect of her job. One RN even made out the schedule for this week and had all holes filled, and the UC went back and changed it, making tons of empty spaces. She doesn't utilize her part-time staff to help fill in the holes, and lets her best friends work whenever they want, so there are obvious issues there. She doesn't allow people who aren't part of the clique to work any overtime, but lets her friends work 56 hours a week. Not only is this not fair to staff members, but it's unsafe for patient care as well. If the unit is not appropriately staffed, and there are multiple psychotic patients, one of the patients or staff members could get hurt, leading to multiple legal issues against the nurses and the hospital. For example: Every other week I work on the unit with only 8 beds. The other nurse who usually works with me is the UC's sister, so she comes in almost every day TWO hours late!!! This makes the nurse from the previous shift have to stay so that the unit is staffed appropriately. But, if the nurse decides to leave (not right) then it's just me waiting two hours. If a patient decided to freak out and kill or seriously injure me, no help would be available for two hours. This is SERIOUS. We're dealing with people's lives!
There are a couple things I could do.
1. Quit, find another job.
2. Don't say anything, wait for it to get better.
3. Voice my concerns with the CNO and maybe even the CEO to get some action, and consequently get in trouble with the UM and UC.
4. Find another job part-time and stay here full-time. Transition to full time at the other job if this one doesn't improve.
I really don't know what to do. Please, please help me.
2 comments:
Melyn-
I think Westminster prepared us to be instruments of change. You are a very positive person and can have an influence for the better at your job. But in order to do that you will have to have some solid proof of what's going on. So I recommend documenting in a log somewhere exact dates, times, and facts surrounding each incident. That way you will have some unbiased, undeniable evidence when presenting your case to the CNO. Then I would present it to the powers that be along with your ideas of how to make it better. If it doesn't produce change then move on knowing you did all that you could to improve the situation. Hope this helps!
Rachel DiConza
Hey Melyn-
I'm agreeing with Rachel. I've been there before, where the boss is difficult and you complain to the head bosses and get in trouble. It resulted in even more problems but eventually everthing worked out. Still, I chose to move on due to other reasons, but I kept in touch and learned that my actions helped improve the situation for others. So I would just make documented complaints with proof of what was wrong (pictures if needed) and past proof. Then present that to the CEO if you need to (raise your voice for the patients!!) or higher if required. If you are asked to leave, you did your best. Sometimes, that's all we can do. And maybe, it will change in the future.
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