Sounding off!!!

[essarge]

I have been reading all of the posts about the nursing shortage and one of the inescapable conclusions that I have come to is the fact that most of the nurses complain out loud too much. I'm not trying to offend anyone, but if you want to recruit new nurses it starts right here at home.

Every job I have ever worked has had a down side, but I found the ones that were complained about the most were the ones that had a shortage. It's just human nature to not work where there is alot of negativity.

When a relative of mine was in the hospital I overheard several nurses complaining about a whole gammet of things from each other to administrative. Made me want to pack this relative up and take her home where I knew she would be well cared for.

At one place I used to bartend the complaining got so bad that they couldn't find anybody to work there...consequently closing the place down. Is that what people are trying to accomplish?

POSITIVE THOUGHTS BRING POSITIVE OUTCOMES!!

....what a concept!!

OK..now I can get off my soap box...thanks!!

[res04lly]

I am confused, the reality is we all want more money, we have mandatory overtime because there is a shortage,right??? We all complain like a bunch of cats in a trash can(by the way i am a cat lover 10 cats strong)

but to do it out where family member's can hear-please.Are we not more professional than this? I sometimes wonder if it were your family member in that hosptial bed would you want them to hear our dirty linen. This same thing happen when my dad was dying of ca and to be honest with you, i was ashamed of my profession,along with substandard care,med errors, my greving mom, the last thing i wanted my family to hear was how unhappy the staff was. it just makes things harder to deal with, to be honest, and it adds unnecessary stress when a fmaily member thinks there will not be enough staff to care for thier loved one. I don't think going to the charge nurse was wrong -i wrote a 10 page letter to the hosptial about dad's care and sent it the state because i felt that they needed to wake up about the conditions that are present then as now. I worked on a bill here in michigan HCBill 441 to make staffing ratio's based on acuatie(sorry about the spelling) vs patient ratio to nursing staff. That bill probably would have gone threw if it was not killed in the state senate by the hospitals and nursing homes. I had petitions to be signed and no one would sign because they were afraid they would lose there jobs. So maybe the place to start is by trying to get focused on what HC bills would help to change thing in our state governments and focuse on those for backing and implemenations. It is more of a postive thing than standing in the hallway airing the dirty laundry, what do you think???

[essarge]

Very well said!! And I totally agree with you!! Like I said before, where does the professionalism and maturity come into play? And at which point do people realize that, when they hear staff talking like this, it does affect how a person feels when they are a patient and make the family wonder what type of care they are being given?

I know there are studies out there showing that being kind and compassionate helps a patient heal faster because it helps them feel better about themselves and their care. Imagine what affect it has when they hear staff complaining about the facility they work in, their co-workers, or even doctors that are on staff!!!