5 West Nursing

Loyalty.

We can pat ourselves in the back for being one of the Top 5% of hospitals in the nation (depending on which survey you choose to believe)…

We can tell the competition to “eat their heart out” and use these ratings as a clever marketing scheme to get the Valley’s patient population market share…

We can have a fifty foot banner in red, white and blue and decorate the side of our hospital for everyone to see our achievement…

We can even point them to the website and ask them to call us so they can know more about our top 5% excellence rating…

Sure the accolade is great, and I’m sure our Directors are proud. They might even get a plaque of appreciation for a “job well done” where they can display in their ivory towers.

They can even strut around in their nice white lab coats, head held up high and carry their trophies taking pictures with the “privileged few”. Heck, we can even feature that on our Weekly Doze (I mean) Weekly Dose employee newsletter .

I guess that’s all nice, fine and dandy. But let me ask you this…

When was the last time your Director stood up for you?

When was the last time they defended your right to have a safe and pleasant work experience?

When was the last time they were truly concerned about your welfare, or wellbeing, or professional growth or advancement?

When was the last time they rolled up their sleaves, got down and dirty with the patient, and actually did patient care because you were short staffed… a condition which they should be able to remedy?

When was the last time they valued you more than a “contracted” agency nurse? (Nothing against agency nurses, you’re just doing your job.)

I don’t know about you, but I think we have our priorities all mixed up, especially when we talk about taking care of your own!

One night while floated to the Unit, I was greeted by a lady who aparently recognized me as an unfamiliar face.

She welcomed me and was kind enough to show me around, pointing here and there where I can find stuff, revealing the key codes that unlocked the doors for the supply and medication rooms. She thanked me for coming down there to help them out.

This was the lady I saw earlier, dressed in scrubs, giving bed baths to the patients. Then she said, “by the way, I’m… Director of ICU”. Director of ICU? It’s 22:30, most directors are asleep by now, heck, they don’t even answer their pagers or voicemails after 1900. They don’t even call you back when you need them.

I thought to myself…

Finally a Director who has balls enough to be a part of the solution and not just pass the buck around with empty promises and “I just work here” attitudes…

Finally a Director who empathizes with her staff and isn’t afraid to get down and dirty on the floor…

Finally, a Director who will earn the respect of her staff because of what she does, and not what her title says…

Being Top 5% on the outside isn’t bad. It may probably bring in the much needed revenue this hospital needs due to the dip in census blamed on a fairly new hospital which opened in the area.

But then again, top awards don’t mean anything, especially to those who know work conditions aren’t as ideal as it should be. That Top 5% Award is like a whitewashed tomb… beautiful to look at on the outside, but inside full of dead men’s bones!

Director… where does your loyalty lie?

Would you be loyal to us like we are loyal to you and our unit?

Would you put our patient’s needs first before you figure out how much supplies we need to cut so you can have a larger bonus check at the end of the year?

Would you be concerned about staffing the floor right so everyone gets a fair share of the workload, or would you rather cut staff short and spare that extra RN’s salary so you can show better “productivity” for your unit?

Would you actually listen to your staff’s concerns and view them as an opportunity to improve your unit and maybe create a more cohesive team?

Would you have the guts to stand up for your unit and defend your own staff?

Someone once told me, “If nobody says anything, how should I know?”

I think it’s about time for a unit meeting…

What do you say Director?