[lifeisbeautiful]

I will make this post short and quick. An article my local newspaper is basically blaming NURSES for ERs/Hospital closures because of the new nurse/patient ratios that have been implemented. They are saying because Nurses have demanded (and have finally received) a lower number of patients in their care, they are causing hospitals to lose money ($$notice$the$word$hospitals$$). This is the second article that I have read in the past month that makes Nurses appear to be lazy and not wanting to work because we are asking for, well demanding in reality, a work load that considers patient safety and protection of our licenses. One person said that if Nurses would take 9 or 10 patients, out health care wouldn't be in the midst of this terrible crisis. Wanna bet this person hasn't been really sick and in the hospital where she had a Nurse that took care of her and 8 other patients as well??

When all else fails, blame the Nurses.

[Da Monk]

Yes. Newspapers always tell the truth and never make mistakes. And newspaper owners never sit on hospital boards. And the general public is ever so well informed and never, never holds a misconceived impression about any subject. And that good old doctor worked so hard to save Aunt Hattie. I told that little nurse that she was breathing sort of funny like and she listened to her chest and it wasn't five minutes after she left she came back in she gave her some medicine in her IV and she got better real quick. Yep. That doctor knew his stuff. If it hadn't been for him....I have been nursing for about thirty years and I'm too old and tired to do anything else. Plus I do not know how to do anything else. If I could get by without food, I'd quit.

[border rn]

Hmmm it could not be that hospitals are padding the pockets of the executive team and building new additions instead of putting money towards nursing care??? As nurses have had to change with the times management should have to as well. The nurse/pt ratio just makes sense and in the long run saves the hospital money in out of court settlements and in court judgements. The papers just like to get the public outraged over all of us "lazy greedy nurses" It makes me sick. Of course if the same person is in the hospital and not getting the care they deserve because the nurse is over burdened with pts they will also be the first to complain about the lack of care received.
The administrations need to get their heads out of the colons and breath some fresh air and look at reality!

[Thunderwolf]

What?????????!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!
I think those who feel nurses being the cause for all of this should shadow a nurse for awhile "on the job". Sounds like a person in or connected to hospital management. How ungrateful folks can be when WE, the nurses, demand to provide the public with better and safer care. What a slap in the face. Do they really think the administrator cares? WE the nurses are at the bedside! WE are the ones who see it all! WE see the conditions! We are the ones who raise our voices...and WE get SLAMMED?!!! How ignorant and irresponsible! Enough said.

[weetziebat]

This reminds me of the thread "I'm no angel". If only nurses today were more like a mythical Florence Nightengale - dedicated, willing to work 80 hours a week without worrying about money, never asking for bathroom breaks, let alone lunch breaks, always available to drop everything to run to work because our job is the most important thing in our lives.
We are obviously just a bunch of heartless, greedy, selfish, demanding, lazy folks who don't know the real meaning of nursing. How dare we ask for decent working conditions? Aren't we the angels of mercy?
I think the editor of your newspaper should try shadowing a nurse for a week and she how s/he thinks after that.

[Tweety]

Too bad they are looking at it so one sidedly like that. Sad. But they'll also be the first to sue and blame the nurses for a bad outcome.

[Angie O'Plasty, RN]

Originally Posted by lifeisbeautiful

I will make this post short and quick. An article my local newspaper is basically blaming NURSES for ERs/Hospital closures because of the new nurse/patient ratios that have been implemented. They are saying because Nurses have demanded (and have finally received) a lower number of patients in their care, they are causing hospitals to lose money ($$notice$the$word$hospitals$$). This is the second article that I have read in the past month that makes Nurses appear to be lazy and not wanting to work because we are asking for, well demanding in reality, a work load that considers patient safety and protection of our licenses. One person said that if Nurses would take 9 or 10 patients, out health care wouldn't be in the midst of this terrible crisis. Wanna bet this person hasn't been really sick and in the hospital where she had a Nurse that took care of her and 8 other patients as well??

When all else fails, blame the Nurses.

Why is this happening?

1. The public does not know what we do. We need to educate the general public about our duties and educational requirements.

2. The newspapers therefore don't know what we do or the importance of having nurses, so they're only reporting from hospital press releases. Maybe nurses need press releases too.

3. Our nursing organizations need to take a more vocal stance on our behalf and rebut news items like this every single time they're out there.

4. Nursing researchers need to prove that what we've been saying is true. All of the changes that have been implemented so far in improvements to patient care have been done based on nursing research that proves that there is a higher patient mortality with less nurses on the job.

5. We complain all the time about these problems, but what do we actually do about them? Each nurse needs to get involved in some small way. We are a force to be reckoned with in the healthcare field, but we never learned how to use that power.

[SharonH, RN]

Originally Posted by weetziebat

This reminds me of the thread "I'm no angel". If only nurses today were more like a mythical Florence Nightengale - dedicated, willing to work 80 hours a week without worrying about money, never asking for bathroom breaks, let alone lunch breaks, always available to drop everything to run to work because our job is the most important thing in our lives.
We are obviously just a bunch of heartless, greedy, selfish, demanding, lazy folks who don't know the real meaning of nursing. How dare we ask for decent working conditions? Aren't we the angels of mercy?
I think the editor of your newspaper should try shadowing a nurse for a week and she how s/he thinks after that.

Exactly..........

[mattsmom81]

Well said Angie O'Plasty...ITA with every word you posted.

[SharonH, RN]

Originally Posted by Angie O'Plasty, RN

Why is this happening?

1. The public does not know what we do. We need to educate the general public about our duties and educational requirements.

2. The newspapers therefore don't know what we do or the importance of having nurses, so they're only reporting from hospital press releases. Maybe nurses need press releases too.

3. Our nursing organizations need to take a more vocal stance on our behalf and rebut news items like this every single time they're out there.

4. Nursing researchers need to prove that what we've been saying is true. All of the changes that have been implemented so far in improvements to patient care have been done based on nursing research that proves that there is a higher patient mortality with less nurses on the job.

5. We complain all the time about these problems, but what do we actually do about them? Each nurse needs to get involved in some small way. We are a force to be reckoned with in the healthcare field, but we never learned how to use that power.

There is an organization that does exactly what you are talking about. Get out your pencils boys and girls, it is called The Center for Nursing Advocacy and their sole purpose is to educate the public and the media on what we do. They address inaccurate portrayals of nurses in the media and promote accurate ones. I believe 100% in the work they do and we should all be members.


lifeisbeautiful, you should send them the article preferably a link so they can review it and possibly organize a letter-writing campaign. If someone is saying that nurses need to take more patients, we should all be writing reminding them that studies have proven that when nurses have high patient loads, patients die. That should not go unanswered by any one of us.