How are nurses being treated by administrators in Public and Private Hospital Healthcare Systems?

Having the experience in both direct patient care for many years and in administration for many years, I think the least administration can do is actually put on scrubs and help at the patient care level. I know some will say, my skills are gone but if that is the case, there are multiple other ways you can help. Stop hiding in the office and actually help. Walk the walk and stop talking.

I think this is a difficult thing to answer- as I think frontline staff would have a very different response to you than someone working as a nurse administrator (me) - that being said everyone in healthcare at every level is struggling with the staffing shortages, high patient volume and financial challenges that we are experiencing- its the environment that is making it rough at all levels and anyone would say they are feeling pressure to do more with less and not feeling heard about the challenges. Places that recognize this is the new normal, we won't have enough people in the nursing/support staff workforce and are open to new ways of delivering care will be able to emerge successfully to meet the needs of their patients and recruit/retain staff going forward- it won't get easier and we are not going back

We are getting treated terribly! (For the most part), we are just disposable and replaceable ! But they sure need us when they don’t have enough staff to cover and need us to cover a shift. About the only time you hear from them is indirectly and it’s because they need you to work. When they don’t need you, you don’t matter. Got sick? Too bad. Days aren’t paid. Have an excuse for it? Too bad- it still counts against you. We are expected to work while we are half sick and still recovering and get treated as if we went on vacation when we come back.
To me, it’s always going to be a struggle. The nursing shortage is getting bigger and hopefully we start to become more appreciated for our efforts.

I have been a nurse for 42 years, providing patient care the entire time. The only time I can remember Administration treating nurses well was in the late 1970s and early 1980s. That is because we had enough nurses to care for the patients.
Since that time, Administration has had to make the budget so nurses become the problem instead of the solution.
I often wonder if Administration is given three choices to keep their job
1. Give of themselves and help out on the unit until they die from exhaustion
2. Build their staff up in hopes that they will do as they ask: take care of more patients, work longer hours, work harder, and do not make mistakes.
3. Just go into the job, lie your way through everything from the bottom to the top, and lie again when you get caught.
It is a no-win situation for anyone in healthcare today, BUT one person at a time can make a difference. TIPS TO HELP!
1. don't eat your young
2. be kind even when others are unkind (to both staff and patients)
3. it is a 24-hour job, so cut the next shift some slack
4. don't go into it for the money
5. don't count on administration to bail you out; they can't do that
6. if you don't like nursing, you won't be happy as a PA or NP; more schooling is not the answer unless you care about what you do
And yes, I practiced what I preach.

In a for-profit organization, the words, "for-profit" rule the decision making. I currently work in a for-profit organization and feel administration is not in touch with the nursing needs nor do they want to be. Suggestions are made and they fall on deaf ears. Example: some recognition for nurses who have obtained advanced certification in various specialties. Told this is too hard to track and we can't do it. Offered to work with HR and do this and no response. Sad but true. Most administrators, especially nursing administrators, have forgotten their roots and remain hidden behind a closed door.

Very poorly!!!

I now work in a Free Standing Emergency room I have been working in this setting for the last 10 years. When we first opened years ago they said this would not last but here we are the differences are here I feel more involved with the business model and more invested. This organization seems more personable to me the physicians and staff know each other well their families and they genuinely care about each other we have many yearly outings to decompress sponsored by the facility and work well. In the many hospital settings I worked in throughout my tenure since 1998 as an LVN and 2002 as a RN I felt like a number, impersonal and unnoticed. In the hospital it was like jump through more hoops you are now responsible for more duties and more paperwork, in this private sector I feel I can get back to patient care on a one to one basis and really enjoy coming into work everyday a big part of that is being recognized instead of chastised by administration.

Are you talking compensation? If you are talking how you are actually treated, it depends on the hospital. It's the leadership culture, that isn't dependent on public vs private. Even union vs non-union.

I worked for a private hospital that sold out to public. At the same time that facility was trying to become a magnet location. My experience was the mindset became money.