RN's are part of one huge CULT! - Page 2

To Madwoman 2002,
I love it! But more nurses and more patients should know that's how healthcare is run today. There are so many of us that if we could just team up we'd be a force to be reckoned with. But we'd all have to do it. Problem is we believe there is a shortage of jobs, we believe we should be used as shills to cover for hospitals and insurance companies, but we really should be with the patients while others' trained in other fields should be doing that paperwork. Now, we have the science of medicine, the business of medicine and no one considers the Art of Healing. Human connection helps to heal, and unless we get back to basics and help nurture and educate our patients there won't be healing in our healthcare. There will be body mechanics and techies but without human touch we'll have given away our strongest healing tool. Besides, nurses need to look at how else they can be advocates for patients. Defenseless defenders are no good at all. How does our organization back us? And if they do, we should know what they do. I've been searching so I think I'll call them or write to them today, and find out how they have our backs....

KCM...... you are 100% correct! Not 99%. Cutting nurses is a joke. All they have to do is cut a little at the top! All I want to see is::::::: the salary of the top dogs plus the bonuses. They do not get paid by the hour. They get extra bonus which is taxed differently, by making more $ by cutting staff. My fantasy is to have these hugely salaried people as patients in the hospital. Of course the nurse will be told that they have a V.I.P. (big deal). My fantasy is that they are not there for anything serious of course, but that it will take time to get to them, etc. hee hee let them experience the truth.

What is REALLY killing American companies is the idea that the shareholders are God, and that profits are the be-all and end-all of a companies function. The idea of producing a quality product has gone by the wayside.

If a worker cannot make a decent wage, he cannot BUY the products you MAKE. Workers who make 14.00/hr cannot buy Ethan Allen, they buy Ikea. So Ethan Allen loses revenue and lays off employees,those workers go to Ikea who pays 9.00/hr, now
nobody can afford anything, 60 companies go out of business.

Thus, the plight we find ourselves in today. But by all means, keep voting Republican. They just HATE those darn unions!

After 30 years of being an RN, I'm inclined to agree with the blogger. Back when I graduated from nursing school, being a nurse meant something. I gave everything I had to the profession. My love of patients was never in short supply. I have twice had to deal with situations regarding my State Boards and both times were as stressful as ... well, you can imagine. Lying doctors, (thank God he wrote a progress note on the said day), dealing with crazy attitudes.... I am looking at returning to a job I loathe that's nothing more than herding patients in and out of the hospital (Case Manager). Poor attitudes of staff, and a host of other problems. Am I compensated? Not nearly enough. I don't want to go back. I don't want to go back to that. But after all these years, I don't know how to get into another field nor do I have the resources. It's asphyxiating.

One of my fantasies ( althought I love the one here with the VIP having to hold their 'what ever' until they bust) Is to sit in the big healthcare system's ("situation room" which I am sure it's now been dubbed by these corporate folk) conference room with all the head business people and ask "Why??" "What in your view are you are achieving??" With the look of apuzzlement on my face.

Ok, I just HAVE to chime in here so grab a drink

...As much as I totally agree with pretty much everything that has been said, I have to ponder all the times I stood up to managers in the interest of "patient safety" ( you know, that little ole' thing called the Nurse Practice Act"?) for "selling out" and cutting staffing to the bone only to be handed my A** and thrown under the bus for no other reason than I was the squeaky wheel that needed greasing. All the times I have had conversations with co workers about unreasonable and unsafe nurse patient ratios only to be standing in front of the man with egg on my face and NO ONE was there to back me up (you know who you were and shame on you all) I have fought this fight right into the un- employment line and it would all stop immediately if enough nurses would privately get some chutspah and a good enough attorney that understands the nurse practice act and the willingness to stand up to these tyrants. My family thinks I'm nuts when I tell them there is no nursing shortage, the only shortage I have EVER seen is a SHORTAGE OF HIRING...PLAIN and SIMPLE. all this "woah is me, what are we gonna do!?" crap makes me want to vomit, get some guts and stand up to these bullies, start telling people the plain and simple truth. Nurses are the most psychologically abused people on this planet. Do any of you realize the crap we are told to stuff in and keep private? That goes against everything congruent with patient safety, "don't tell patients we are short staffed"...huh? why not?...it's the truth isn't it?...and the new crop of graduates? sorry people, I was just at a facility I used to work at and the ratio was 1 nurse and 1 cna to 5 patients...are you kidding me? this is totally insane but guess what? the nurse on duty had only been out of school for 3 years and all he talked about was how he couldn't wait to go work for a travel agency...say what?...out of school 3 years and you're ready to go work for a travel agency? ...very dangerous environment.

Now, it did occur to me that the majority of nursing are female...bear with me because I would love some input here.

My wife (who is also a nurse) comes home every day and she usually has to vent about her day and it is usually about the same thing...staffing, shortages etc, etc. I made the comment "When are you ever going to do something about it?" to which she replied " Honey, I'm just venting, I don't want you to answer me, I just want you to listen!"

OK, read that again and then answer me this question: Could it be that the majority of nurses don't want a real solution to the problem, they just want to vent?...please don't flame me, it's a perfectly legitimate question :-)

whatever the answer is, isn't it time we stopped "venting" and EVERYONE committed to doing something about it?

PIN

Millworkers, mail carriers, many many others have to go to work everyday and swallow the garbage too. They too need their jobs. Their is very little we can do without a union. There is only strength in numbers and one squeaky wheel will be tolerated only so long before she is fired. What would you suggest PIN? That is why turnover is what it is, we keep looking for better working conditions so we move around. If the cost of turnover is not enough to make employers care, then only legal mandates or collective bargaining can do it and they just are not there for most of us.

Back before I went to school for nursing I worked in the health insurance industry. Those CEO's make way too much money. They want the claims processors to find ways to deny claims if possible. If we could get the same healthcare benefits as them, the senators, and congress we as a nation would be a lot happier. People keep saying we will not get the same benefits blah blah. Well more will get better than what we have and if you have money then you can get better which is going on now anyway. Also if it is nationalized we wont have as many lawsuits etc. if the hospital is not worried about not getting their money from xyz insurance and there is a law enforced on these CEO about how much money they can make and there was a mandatory ratio on patients everything would be better less mistakes less malpractice etc.

Healthcare conditions today -poor staffing, astronomical Administration(CEO, borard of dicktators,financial CSZARS) salaries, unsafe patient conditions/care, neglegence, sentinel events etc- it all adds up to exploitation of the staff and the patients!!

I agree with you 100%!! After 10 years of management madness, I started teaching. I loved the eagerness and excitement that I recieved from the students. When I run into students that are now working as nurses, they usually tell me that the " real world" is nothing like the the Nursing Process I taught them. I felt like such a lier.
I loved nursing so much..my own kids missed me while I cared for sick kids 12 hrs/day. I had a CVA in 2009 and lost most of my vision. I must say..I was cared for by my adult children, NOT by my profession.It took "thrive or die" almost a month to dx my stroke because the didn't want to pay for the MRI. I would caution the young nurses to " Just say NO!!!" Spend your holidays with people that love you back.. All money is not good money.. When someone makes 500K/yr and you make 65K/yr. You are being pimped( sorry for using gutter terms..but.. if it looks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, it must be a damn duck!) I really loved Nursing and I loved my patients/ students...But it is NOT to die for. Even though my income has been cut 50%, I am at peace, my priorities are in order, and I'm a much better grandmother. God is good!