Barbara Norris: Leading Change in the Gsu Analysis

Barbara Norris: Leading Change in the General Surgical Unit

Team 3:

Emily Babel, Brek Grazda, Britton Smith, Josh Hernandez, James Bethke

Relevant Facts

This case follows Barbara Norris, the nurse manager of the general surgery unit (GSU) at EMU Hospital. Barbara Norris grew up with a strong appreciation for nurses, choosing to become a nurse herself. She practiced nursing for many years, and eventually chose to pursue a masters in Nursing Administration. While she was a nurse in the trauma unit, she grew close to and admired her mentor, Betty Nolan. After graduation, Barbara was offered a job as the nurse manager of the GSU. Betty urged her not to take it because there were a lot of issues in the unit.

        The general surgical unit was facing issues with their nurses not working together cooperatively. The more tenured nurses were unhappy with the younger nurses because they required attention and needed help. The newer nurses were not receiving the mentoring they wanted from the older nurses. The unit was understaffed because of a hiring freeze, and they were overwhelmed with administration tasks. They were also not able to pay overtime which caused stress for many nurses. Barbara accepted the position knowing it would be a challenge to turn the attitude in the GSU around. In her first month she had performed well, learned a lot about the nurses, but was exhausted.

Context

Many people thought the GSU was a lost cause. Barbara however was optimistic that she improve the situation. She welcomed the challenge. A large issue was the difference in attitudes between the younger and the older nurses. The older nurses were unhappy that they could not focus on serving their patients, and instead had to help new employees and learn new technology. The new nurses wanted more direction from their mentors, and felt the older nurses were mean to them.

        Barbara also had a lot of pressure to succeed. Her director told her, “I’m counting on you to turn this unit around and fast.” She began to question if she had taken on too much by accepting this position. While the mood around her was negative and pessimistic, she remained positive and looked for a way to fix things. She observed her employees and made attempts to learn more about them personally.

Problems

        Barbara noticed that the atmosphere that resided under her management consisted of extreme negativity. She decided to have the nurses meet off-site in order to identify the problems that everyone is going through. She had all the nurses write their negative comments on a piece of paper anonymously. The problems ranged from new nurses lacking in experience to the hospital having a hiring freeze to prevent the EMU from acquiring the help they needed.

        The first problem started when Barbara refused to take her mentor, Betty Nolan’s, advice. This a primary issue because Barbara took on a challenge that she wasn’t completely ready for, having no experience as a manager. Many restrictions inhibited from doing what could’ve helped the unit. One restriction, such as the hiring freeze, overwhelmed her unit because it forced her to use “floating nurses”. Additionally, since the administration prevented overtime pay from being implemented, nurses in her unit refused to work extra when they would not receive any compensation.

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