I've gone back to school to get my BSN. I knew it would involve a lot of nursing theory and writing papers, but I figured I could handle it.
After having to read and write about Watson and Ray and all this caring nonsense, I'm ready to pull my hair out. If I have to read the word "caring" one more time I might go off the deep end.
After having been an RN for 5 years, I've seen enough to know that nursing is in trouble. Hospitals are trying to dumb us down, grind us down until we are nothing but broken bodies with broken spirits only to replace us with any one of the next 500 new grads ready to take our place. We are a necessary evil they must deal with to run the hospital. Nursing care is included with the cost of room and board for crying out loud!!
Nursing does not need any more emphasis on caring! We have enough of that, in fact a little too much. What nursing needs is more emphasis on science, health care economics, and efforts to make nursing into a true profession. We need more autonomy. If we actually charged for nursing care and made money for the hospital instead of being included with the room rate, then we could start on the road to real autonomy. If we had autonomy, we wouldn't get "write ups" like we were children. We would have an active voice in the way the hospital runs. We wouldn't be short staffed and have no control over patient assignments. We need to recruit people who are not afraid to stand up for what's right, who want to learn the science of nursing, who are caring yet interested in furthering nursing as a whole. Right now we don't have that. Maybe it's too late and maybe we never will.
I'm sorry for the rant, but I'm so frustrated right now. I care about nursing, I care about patients. This is making me re-think continuing my nursing career. Thank you for listening.