Many, many years ago the career field of nursing had leadership as a core value, but over the years reorganization and redefinition of management has suffocated the concept of leadership. Gone are the days when you looked to your fellow staff nurses for mentorship. Today's concept of nursing has ultimately killed the bond that drew us all together and it is weakening our very foundation.
When I look around at work there are very few leaders. By leaders I don't mean managers. In my opinion the two words have completely different meanings, although in today's hospitals nursing leadership is comprised of managers which is unfortunately an oxymoron most of the time because nursing managers rarely lead, they follow the hire up administration's agendas. Perhaps that is why there are floors closed to accepting patients because there "isn't enough staff" which causes emergency department patients to sit waiting for hours for beds. Lean staffing was a concept of management, certainly not nursing leadership. What good nurse would ever want to subject patients to the hell of the dreaded hallway bed for hours? Where is leadership advocating for the patient's safety and wellbeing?
I recently had an experience with three nursing managers. Two of the managers were assistant nurse managers and the other a supervisor in the ED. I had a critically ill patient who was bottoming out. The patient's heart rate dropped to 32. I had five patients to contend with at the time, and my neighbor, a new graduate just off orientation had five patients of her own. Having informed the three managers who were sitting at the nurses station of the situation with my patient, and seeing how my neighbor looked a bit like a deer in the headlights, I asked my neighbor to ask one of the three manages to come over and assist me. When my neighbor returned she informed me that they refused to help. Wow was I blown away, well not really. This is how our management is. They are managers not leaders.
About an hour into pacing this patient and starting dobutamine, yes DOBUTAMINE, on this patient, one of the managers shows up. She is eating popcorn, and coughing. She tells me, "I'm choking on my popcorn", I shoot her a look which probably included an eye roll and I inform her that I needed her help an hour ago.
Her response to me is cold. She lashes out that "I'm here now". My response to her was "I needed you an hour ago".
During this hour that has transpired I had patients who were in pain, physicians trying to call in orders and other patients who had room assignments that needed report called, but I was tied up with a critically ill patient who was in dire need, yet for that hour my patients' needs, my call for assistance was less important than popcorn.
Just because one holds the title of manager does not make one a leader. Leadership comes from within, regardless of rank, title or pay status. Unfortunately true leadership has been left to the waste side, abandoned for some alien concept of leadership.
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