Will it never end?

Nurses General Nursing

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Had an IVP today at hospital at which I used to work. Just so happened that old buddy was radiology nurse. She is a 27 year veteran at this hospital. Told her that I was glad to see her, she was terrific nurse when we worked together. She said if you had come for this proceedure next week I would not be working here. Asked her why. She said they brought in a consultant and things were going to dogs. Big downsizing going on and her nurse manager, a person that she greatly respected, had been sacked. She said that the people who were getting the boot seemed to be the ones that had been there a long time and were making good money and had a lot of vacation and sick time. She has had a life long dream of moving to Florida and she figured it was a good time to follow that dream. Only regret she expressed was that she has a lot of sick time that she will lose. She said she could kick herself for being such a good trooper and never calling off. (Personally I think I would call off sick for a week or two and then hand in my resignation)

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Specializes in Everything except surgery.

A week?? How about a month even...with the help of a buddy Doc ...or a understanding, nurse friendly MD...:cool:! Or how about a sick aunt who needs my help in Florida even...and take some family leave...humm...:cool:

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Man, they are still doing that re-engineering crap??? Ours was in 1995 and took effect the day we had a very bad blizzard in Jan 1996 (tell me that wasn't a sign from above!). The couple of managers who really pushed the employees to buy into it were canned in the process. That was when they saw the light and realized what people like myself were saying all along: It was a way to get rid of higher paid (cannot use highly cause if you aren't in administration or a doctor, you are not paid enough for what you do!) staff and make it look like it was their eveil co workers that gave them the ax. I still can't believe how many people were buying into it being a good idea until they saw the end result. Healthcare consultants that do this kind of stuff have a very special place in hell. I can only hope they have to make a stop into an ER, Med-Surg Floor and and ICU beofre they go to a nursing home and die. This way they can see their cost-cutting (i.e more money in the suits pockets) techniques in action. No, I don't thnk it will ever end. Suits get special treatment when they are patients and so do the politicians when they are patients. None see what it is really like and dare I say it, they don't care as long as it doesn't affect them or theirs.

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Consultants are what got us into this mess. My last hospital brought in consultants when they were in their slash-and-burn mode. Spent tens of thousands on these vultures that they wouldn't spend on their staff. Ended up with layoffs, pay and benefit cuts, you know the drill. And nurses left in droves, including me. Now the hospital's desperate for help, and bringing back all the stuff they cut. I get mail from them all the time, they advertise all over the media, they've hired headhunters, they have job fairs, and it'll be a cold day in you-know-where before I'd work there again.

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Management always blames the "Consultants". But the bottom line is the CEO knows exactly what the recommendations will be when they hire the "Consultants". The very next thing to happen will be a bonus for the CEO. Gary

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The sad part is most nurses have more integrity than management and if we are not sick then we don't call in. My last job I called in about 5 times in 8 years. If I'm not there to take care of my patients then who will? God knows I wouldn't trust my admin nurse with my dog!

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When I experienced downsizing I was working at a small hospital that served mostly poor elderly, blue collar and welfare patients. They had an excuse, they were in the red and going deeper. This place serves middle and upper class people. Ninty percent of the patients are paying customers. They are forever building, expanding and changing. I got a gut feeling this restructuring in this case is just an attempt to increase profits, no way it could be to turn around red ink. One thing all these situations have in comman is that the managment people that get slashed are the ones that have good reputations with the staff. This is no accident, the company wants yes men.

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Specializes in Trauma, Teaching.

Sooooooooooo glad I work in a unionized hospital.

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Specializes in Critical Care.

Why is it that whenever a hospital decides to downsize due to poor finances, they still have enough money to rewallpaper and plant posies? Did you ever hear of a poor CEO? I am so glad that I am agency now and don't have to buy into the bulls---!.

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Good managers or even the few good administrators just don't last. You are right Oramar, they are trhe ones to go. Fortunately, I also work in a Unionized hospital so none of us were touched. Non-union people had to reapply for their jobs if they had enough "points" to do even that. Not enough points you were canned outright. So whoever mgmt or the suits didn't like didn't get enough points. Sad thing was it was the good LPN's and Aides that were axed then too.

And I couldn't agree more Badbird. We had layoffs announced back in 1988 and at the same time the suits refurbished a lobby that was going to be gutted within a year to create a new dialysis unit, you know, after they built a huge 7 story building where the new marble lined lobby would be! Never ceases to amaze me. Then we all signed a petition to have the building named after a doctor who was absolutley loved by EVERYONE who died unexpectedly and the suits decided to name it after a business man who had shady connections and was accused of bilking old people out of their retirement savings with shady investments. A few years after his name was chisled into the concrete he was convicted of his wrong-doing and boy do the suits look stupid to those of us that were there back in '88.

Stuff like that and the permanent damage done by these consultants is just mind boggling. We heard our consultant got several hundreds of thousands of dollars. Sickening!!!

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Specializes in Home Health.

Funny how when hospitals are so poor they can also afford these Con$ultant$!! Consultants are a cop-out for CEO's who don't have the nerve to make the cuts they already know will be recommended, just like you said Gary. CEO's don't want to be the bad cop, b/c they will have to stay and be good cop, so they hire the bad cop to do the dirty work.

Amen to what you said catlady!

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This happens in Nursing Homes too, folks. I was in LTC and was very happy, and suddenly all the experienced, better-paid people were forced out.

I applied at several nursing homes in my area and discovered that every single one of them had just fired or "replaced" their DON's or Administrators or both.

I reasoned that they couldn't all have been bad, and went back to the hospital.

What came to mind was the "be a good nursie and just shut up and suck up" thing. But I have to wonder:

What if Florence Nightengale, or Clara Barton, or Margaret Sanger or Mary Breckinridge had just shut up and sucked up?

What would any of them do, morally and ethically, in this kind of situation?

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