[MagRedC5]

I realize my present workplace is not the norm for most nurses on this site. However, I will say keeping the morale high in my work environment can be a challenge, to say the least. We are working 60-72 hour work weeks. We seem to run out of medical supplies frequently. We all miss our families back stateside very, very much. The heat index outside is well above 120 degrees. The chow is the same horrible stuff week after week.

At the workplace, in the ICU we help each other and act as a team. The nurses & docs have a great line of communication and mutual respect. Some of the docs are going back home after here for only six months while most of us are here for 15 months.

Also, it helps to know the folks [ya'll!] back home support us [the troops], which helps morale.

[USMC2LPN]

I do a number of things.

1. I come in to work wearing speedos and flip flops. That's it, just speedos and flip flops.

2. Start singing The Battle of New Orleans at the top of my lungs.

3. As I walk by someone using a walker or cane, I push them down and laugh hysterically.

4. I stand next to the prettiest girl I can find and fart. Then I blame it on her.

5. See how bad I can scare someone who recently had an MI. This can get the adrenaline pumping for everyone depending on the results.

I think the most important thing I do is refuse to contribute to the attitude. I'm not here because I have to be. I'm here because I want to be. I want to make a difference in someone's life. I choose my attitude, not the people around me.

[Ricu]

LOL!

Way to go, Semper Fi

R

[cougarnurse]

Start singing 'The Battle of New Orleans'???? Geez, I do living History, and would start humming the first few bars when approaching the British.

At least I am not the only one who's had a bad time with this subject!

'Cat'

[philippinenurses]

Linger on, and stick with the truth.. even if others will not or do not..

[kararnmi]

as for morale, don't participate in the bixxxfests and do what you can to send the complaint sessions on an upward slope. Even if you don't necessarily feel positive at that time, it will benefit everyone (including yourself) to just go through the motions of giving everyone else a pep talk. I live and work in the Detroit metro area, I went to nursing school on a whim 9 years ago and it was the best decision I ever made. My husband recently lost his job with the big three and I'm so lucky to have a career where I can pull the weight on my own and get the bills paid (with two children as well). I remind people of this, the flexibility, the importance of what they do...it helps. Count your blessings, right? It's not always easy but if you put a little bit of effort into staying positive it is contagious for everyone around you.

[stillearning]

Morale here is Awesome!
How sorry I am to hear Cougarnurse say things are deteriorating! You always seem so up-beat and positive -- youdeserve a great place to work!!

Believe this. . .
1. We just got Magnet designation (it took us nearly 5 years!)

2. Our Sparkle Team, made up of 20+ staff nurses) is planning a 24-hour Rock around the Clock celebration during Nurses' week.

3. Our CNO is going to sponsor staff nurses to their first Magnet conference in Salt Lake City this fall (we'll use a writing competition to decide who gets to go!)

4. We just re-designed our collaborative governance structure and have roughly 60 nurses engaged in everything from policy writing to practice development.

5. We've developed an interactive curriculum for a course we call Organizational Citizenship that teaches employees how to get engaged in the decision-making opportunities that can help shape their work-place (20 grads now facilitate the course!).

6. Nearly 20% of our staff nurses are going to school (for something!)

7. Most of our managers have master's degrees, and our CNO has a doctorate -- education is treated with respect here -- you can find a mentor for anything you're working on!

8. On last count, we had 10 nurses who were principal investigators on nursing resarch studies (many of them staff nurses).

Our hospital rocks!(and our clinics too!)

We always try to pass on some of the great energy that we generate here!

--p

[cougarnurse]

Stillearning...thanks for the kind words! Morale here on the site is terrific; I am so happy to be a part of it. The paying job needs a good kick, or should I say the DON needs a good kick where it counts...... Don't worry, as I have plans with a capital P.
Never tick off a cat, as we can be sneaky.

Wish I could be where you are....

[Nurse_Advocate]

I recently wrote our new Department Director an e-mail containing my "wish list" for our floor...I explained that I understood it if perhaps NOT ONE of my items could ever become a reality. The reason I was writing her (and I've known her for years) was to simply do something pro-active that made ME feel like I was being HEARD.

For me, that is the worst feeling. The feeling that no one (management) is listening to the front line staff and that there is no one (management) who cares. In that respect, the morale on our floor is lousy. None of us feel that we can really get things changed to how they need to be. We complain to each other but not as a unified voice and not to anyone who counts.

So I took it on myself to write my wish list. She told me recently that she has several things on the list "under consideration" and she wants to talk to me about several others (that should be an interesting conversation).

The point is I stepped out of "my box" to make ME feel better, to be able to say that I did something pro-active...we'll see!

[kararnmi]

Originally Posted by Nurse_Advocate

I recently wrote our new Department Director an e-mail containing my "wish list" for our floor...I explained that I understood it if perhaps NOT ONE of my items could ever become a reality. The reason I was writing her (and I've known her for years) was to simply do something pro-active that made ME feel like I was being HEARD.

For me, that is the worst feeling. The feeling that no one (management) is listening to the front line staff and that there is no one (management) who cares. In that respect, the morale on our floor is lousy. None of us feel that we can really get things changed to how they need to be. We complain to each other but not as a unified voice and not to anyone who counts.

So I took it on myself to write my wish list. She told me recently that she has several things on the list "under consideration" and she wants to talk to me about several others (that should be an interesting conversation).

The point is I stepped out of "my box" to make ME feel better, to be able to say that I did something pro-active...we'll see!

What I've found in my hospital is it's all in the presentation that your floor/unit manager gives to upper management. Maybe she has not idea how to do this so you can give her a hand by giving her your best presentation. The increasingly unrealistic number of menial as well as critical tasks we're expected to do in any given shift can be accomplished with the right ancilliary staff and the right ratio's, right? Every time the nurses on the floor fall short with expectations your manager needs to look at these factors and PRESENT that to his/her manager or DON. Your floor manager gets slack and comes at the floor nurses expecting change. Your manager isn't going to accomplish anything by continually riding her staff to meet a quality level of care if it JUST CANNOT BE DONE. When you discuss this with her/him give them quotes of studies done in say magnet hospitals where the ratio's and staffing our adequate. Whining and complaining never gets anyone anywhere, give them stats and numbers and tell them their goals for your unit hospital just aren't going to accomplished unless they change their numbers.