Who is eyeing the job boards, frustrated with your job?

Nurses General Nursing

Published

Specializes in ER.

A lot of folk at my place of employment are actively seeking other employment after a couple of years of belt tightening and increasingly unsafe and joyless working conditions that drain us dry. On top of that is the general feeling of disrespect handed down by upper management.

What is it about healthcare that eats its workforce alive. Our work has become like the famous I Love Lucy episode, where Lucy and Ethel trying to keep up with that assembly line that keeps going faster and faster. Only, we are dealing with human lives, not candy!

They cannot keep speeding up the assembly line and expect us not to fail!

[video=youtube;HnbNcQlzV-4]

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in ICU.

That is a hilarious comparison!

Most of my coworkers are looking elsewhere - we just had a ton of staff leave. I had a new job offer so I put in my notice, but then I decided that job wasn't for me and I extended my notice at my current job. They are crazy short-staffed and were just thrilled I was willing to work another six weeks. I have had two other interviews recently and I hope somebody offers me something else!

I really think my coworkers are probably the best and friendliest that I will ever have, and I hate that I'm leaving them behind, but... I've gotta do what I've gotta do. I am tired of the way my hospital is run and I have gotta go. I have only been a nurse for 1 year and I have already seen an exponential increase in our workload. It's pretty sad.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in CCRN.

We just had a new hospital open within 10 miles of ours. We have lost a few employees already to that hospital. While I'm not looking to move right now, I have been watching the NP listings to have an idea of what I will be applying for when I finish NP school in 2 years.

Up Vote Up Vote ×

The job boards are always calling. Unfortunately, most of the time, the same stale ads from the same stale employers are featured. The plum job openings most likely never make the public boards, but it doesn't hurt to look and fantasize away.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in hospice.

Lots of people express frustration with my employer, and we've had our challenges like everyone else. But honestly, there's nowhere to go where it will be better. There are lots of places that have it worse, though.

Up Vote Up Vote ×

WOW I needed that laugh!!! Thank you! :roflmao:

Yes, I look at job boards like q1h, hoping that something will call out to me and save me from my current Lucy & Ethel fiasco (which is spot-ON btw!). But in all seriousness, I'm one of those people that is too scared at this point to give up all the accrued vaca time, etc., and chance it on something that may likely turn out to be the same, or e-GADS even worse. At least I know my poison now, and all the poisonous people I need to avoid or figure work-arounds for. If I start over somewhere else, it's likely to not be greener, and then I'm back down to beginner vacation, worst on-call shifts, etc. (their ads probably won't say "We are awful and will treat you crappy, so come join our team!"). I actually think of this often as I cruise the AN posts of soooo many nurses who are looking to leave their current job - some after only a month and some after decades. As I read one post of someone saying "I finally got outta there!" and the next post says "I got hired!!!!", I wonder if poster #2 just took poster #1's job and she'll be "outta there" in 1 month too?

Emergent, you hit the nail on the head with this video, but unless and until we (as a workforce) start CHANGING our working conditions instead of just leaving it for some other new poor sap to occupy, aren't we all just playing musical chairs?? I don't want a new job, I want this industry to wake UP and stop the madness!

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Critical Care.

While I have my frustrations the alarms, the computers, bedside report etc will be with you wherever you go. I always ask pool and agency nurses how other places are and they say my hospital is one of the best. We have better staffing ratios and more CNA's than a lot of places. We still have a pension though it has been cutback twice and I expect it to eventually be frozen. The 3 twelve hour shifts really help a lot and it's great knowing I have four days off. It would be foolish to quit and get a job with worse staffing, working conditions and retirement benefits. We are one of the few places left that still have a pension. While job hopping is a way to get a raise, I've known a couple people who were not given a raise and still took another job because they wanted to do something different. The problems in nursing are system wide and it seems to be pretty hard to find a better job. We've had lots of people come back to us after realizing the other jobs were worse.

Up Vote Up Vote ×

I've been looking for some time now. I'm trying to find better pay so I can afford to go back to further my education. I haven't found anything worth the risk yet.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in hospice.

EasterRN, I wonder how the industry is supposed to "wake up and stop the madness" when much of it is coming from regulatory burdens imposed legislatively. Unfortunately this country invited our dysfunctional politics and politicians into health care, and I think the solutions lie in throwing them out again.

Up Vote Up Vote ×

I absolutely agree! I posted a link to an article in the general nursing discussion thread

Here it is

http://www.aha.org/content/12/12sep-bcaeconimpact.pdf

Up Vote Up Vote ×

Nurses need more exposure to policy, health care laws, and the ability to communicate across disciplines.....There is very little in the scholarly literature on how to "do this" yet the interest is very high

Up Vote Up Vote ×

Sometimes I feel like the job boards are data mines in progress

Up Vote Up Vote ×
+ Add a Comment