Anyone else out there been hearing this crap from other people? I am surprised, I admit, to find out how many people (at least where I work and went to school) look down on neonatal nurses as not being 'real' nurses, and night shifters as lazy do-nothings. I don't know, perhaps I expected some camradarie (sp?) or something from my 'fellow' nurses, but I have been hearing disturbing things lately. I have a 'friend' who keeps desperately trying to impress on me how neonatal nurses aren't real nurses, but in fact are merely overpaid babysitters (her words, don't kill the messenger...) who do nothing but burp and feed all night long. Sadly, this is not the only person who feels this way; her sentiments have been echoed time and time again. I have also been hearing bad things about the night staff from some of the day people, who suggest that we merely sit on our duffs all night long buffing our fingernails and OCCASIONALLY getting up to change a diaper. Am I naive to not have expected this? It's making me very angry!! Our staffing managers seem to agree, frequently pulling from our abundantly staffed roster to all areas of the hospital. I was told that other units actually PURPOSELY understaff, because they know that in a pinch, we always have enough nurses. They'll pull from our unit to staff another, leaving us short and running wildly around all night. I had six babies on Level II the other night, and literally didn't stop moving all night long. In the morning, I could have stayed three more hours catching up on stuff I didn't or couldn't finish!! Talk about horrible nursing care. I actually said a prayer for my babies to forgive me because on average, each one got about ten minutes of my time every hour, if they were lucky!!! Can anyone relate to any of this?
