Strong Nursing Management Empowers the Why
“Our managers are effective leaders because they care for us, which empowers us to care for others, and for this we are indescribably grateful.”
I recently had the opportunity to speak at the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses (AACN) UCLA Chapter 2018 Leadership Symposium, which centered around AACN’s current theme, “Guided by Why.” Along with AACN president Christine Schulman, other nurses and I explored the importance of staying connected to our “Why” in the midst of considerable challenges in and to our profession.
I found myself considering not only my original answer to “Why do I want to become a nurse?” but also “Why do I stay in nursing?” I found that a significant part of my answer to the second question has to do with the managers I am privileged to work under. It is their strong management that continually fuels my underlying “Why.”
Genuine care for staff well-being.
Our managers demonstrate to us time and again that they see and value us as people, not just cogs in a wheel that needs to keep turning at all costs.
Self-scheduling allows for flexibility. In our unit, we have self-scheduling: all nurses determine their own shifts, so long as every shift is staffed with the minimum required number of nurses and everyone meets their […]
Three years ago, I went into labor in the middle of the night, 10 days before my expected due date. Things ramped up fast, and by the time I got to the hospital an hour later, I was almost ready to have the baby. However, when my son’s heart rate suddenly dropped and wouldn’t recover with medication, I was told I had to have an emergency C-section immediately.
