This article is reprinted from the Speak Out Now healthcare newsletter at Kaiser and Highland Hospitals in Oakland, CA.
When hospital staff come to work, we expect every department to do their part to take care of patients and keep the hospital running. We know we can trust the nurses to provide care, the food service workers to provide the meals, security to keep us safe and environmental services to keep the facility clean. But we all know who routinely fails to uphold their end of the bargain. Management can’t seem to manage the simple tasks assigned to them, whether it be hiring enough staff, ordering necessary equipment, completing our schedules on time, or even replying to our emails.
Ironically, those same managers are the ones calling the rest of us into their offices to be disciplined if any of our own tasks aren’t completed to the highest standard. While understaffed and overworked, we do our best to prioritize patients over paperwork, then get disciplined if our charting isn’t done perfectly in real time. Management comes and goes from their offices as they please, but they’ll be quick to ask you to explain yourself if you clock in a minute late.
It is simply unfair that management is held to a lower standard for their performance than workers, especially when we’re the ones doing the work, and for less pay!
Click here to read the article printed in the 12-18-24 Healthcare Newsletter
