toxic practices

Twice in the last fortnight I have had conversations with members who were anticipating being asked to leave or actually being sacked. Over the last 2 years we have had about a dozen members sacked on the spot, some with their entitlements and others without. The apparent trigger is often one particular cited problem but what becomes rapidly apparent is that there are usually a series of events/disputes/nurses feeling something was a bit off in the lead up. The reality is that a small number of practices are for whatever reason toxic practices for practice nurses.

Practices are hugely diverse. Frequently nurses are being introduced into long established teams of admin staff and GPs and the admin staff get threatened. Sometimes a new practice manager is introduced and flexes his/her muscle. Sometimes the GPs are a loose group who each have very different expectations of the nurse and when conflict arises, principal GPs are frequently uncomfortable with confronting colleagues or long established practice staff. Sometimes the practice is plain kooky and inappropriate. But these practices are in the minority and what i say to nurses is, if it doesn't feel right, generally there are plenty of other positions out there in great respectful and high functioning practices.

At PNCE last November a nurse came up to me and asked me if I remembered her call earlier last year - she had been sacked on the spot after working for 6 years for the practice with no entitlements and was distraught. Fortunately she was a member of the ANF who were able to support her with approaching the employer for her entitlements which was successful. My role at APNA was to listen, point her in the right direction and encourage her not to give up on practice nursing. ON meeting her at PNCE, she was really sweet and made my day by saying how helpful it was to have someone to talk it through and how happy she was in a new practice. She now realised that the practice she had been working in had not been a happy environment for a long time. This is a common story amongst these nurses.

If any of you are in a practice and it involves a lot of unresolved conflict, you feel sabotaged by practice staff, you feel unsupported and undervalued - you may want to consider moving before the situation gets worse. Ideally before taking such drastic action, you talk to the principal GPs, a team meeting is called, rules for respectful treatment of all staff is implemented, toxic staff are disciplined and a happy team results. Unfortunately some practices can't or won't get to this space and you are better off without them. You are in demand currently once you have any practice nursing experience so use this lever while you have it.