The CEO said WHAT!!!!

Nurses Relations

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Specializes in ED, ICU, Education.

I was in a public meeting the other day where the CEO of my 860 bed hospital said, "My hospital would be better off without nurses."

I threw up in my mouth.

Now why would he say such a thing?

Since then, every single Nurse Manager has resigned.

Should I start looking for another job? What is the health care world coming to?:mad:

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Specializes in ER.

wow, does this hospital not have a board of directors? That's amazing somebody in that position would be that stupid.

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Specializes in Cardiovascular, ER.

Geez then why doesn't he fire all the nurses and see how far "his" hospital gets? Perhaps the hospital would be better off without him....

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Specializes in Case mgmt., rehab, (CRRN), LTC & psych.

If this is true, your hospital would be better off with a new CEO who knows that nurses are the backbone of healthcare facilities.

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Specializes in Cardiac.

Something tells me he won't be there much longer...

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Specializes in Emergency Medicine.

It's no secret that nursing is complete and total overhead to any health care system. Lacking the ability to bill for nursing services every nurse in your hospital is a financial liability. The statement that the hospital would be better off without nurses is in fact true and on paper makes perfect sense.

I'm not wondering if it was just said tongue-in cheek. We are recognized as a "necessary evil". Of course a hospital could not function without us but it doesn't help the bottom line. "For profit" or "not for profit" all hospitals are a business. Bills must be paid, supplies ordered and paid for... the bean-counters do not like us. Agree or disagree it's the truth.

Now, that being said I would like to focus your attention on the growing trend of dumbing-down the nurses role in the hospital setting. Our competency is being challenged. Our autonomy is almost completely gone. Standards are being lowered... It's been going on for the past 10-15 years.

Masked under the guise of "patient safety" we almost NEVER mix medications or IV solutions anymore. A trained monkey can program guardrail values into an IV pump. No longer needed are dosage calculations and certainly not drip rates. You don't need a nurse to perform that task.

Medical shorthand and apothecary system of measure is gone. Gtts. drams, grains. QID, BID, QOD, PRN, QHS, (U), meQ... they told us that too many mistakes were being made and we can't use it anymore. Whatever happened to clarifying an order and being responsible for the order? No, it's easier to lower standards, not USE medical shorthand and then hire people that don't need to be technically competent to transcribe doctor orders (like non-nursing staff). It was good for over a hundred years and now... it's not. Hmmmmm... seems to me you could hire less nurses then. They're no longer needed.

They have all but pushed rehab measures as outpatient. How many of you actually get to use nursing or even teaching skills these days? Attendants. That's what you are anymore. You attend to patients needs while in the hospital and that's about it. I see a day where there will be one nurse to do "assessments", pharmacy to dispense medication and a staff of techs to do the rest. Helluva lot cheaper. If the CEO's CFO's and the other bean-counters have their way the days of the professional nurse are numbered...

Don't think that you can never be replaced... don't you dare!

It's ALREADY happening.

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I would find out where the nurse managers went and start applying to those places, or, wait two months to see if this guy is gone by then.

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Specializes in Health Information Management.

Wow. Er, what was the context of that remark? I can't imagine what could prompt any senior management officer of a hospital to say such a thing in a public meeting. (Thinking it, sure - but saying it, no way!) Was he talking about the financial side of nursing care or something along those lines?

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Specializes in cardiology/oncology/MICU.
Wow. Er, what was the context of that remark? I can't imagine what could prompt any senior management officer of a hospital to say such a thing in a public meeting. (Thinking it, sure - but saying it, no way!) Was he talking about the financial side of nursing care or something along those lines?

Surely there was more to the statement than just that. I cannot imagine a ceo saying this in a place where the largest service is nursing. I think the poster is from Canada though so I am not sure how it works up there.

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Specializes in Health Information Management.
Surely there was more to the statement than just that. I cannot imagine a ceo saying this in a place where the largest service is nursing. I think the poster is from Canada though so I am not sure how it works up there.

Yes, that's what I'm wondering - was it a failed joke? Part of a speech about the cost of nursing care and/or the lack of specific reimbursement for that care? I'm really curious about the context.

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Specializes in cardiology/oncology/MICU.
Yes, that's what I'm wondering - was it a failed joke? Part of a speech about the cost of nursing care and/or the lack of specific reimbursement for that care? I'm really curious about the context.

Yeah perhaps a failed joke. I can picture some sort of uptight kinda fellow with his tie and all that (stereotypical executive type that I affectionately refer to as parkinglot filler) standing in front of everyone trying to be funny and missing the boat. Although she did say that all of the nurse managers quit so he must have been serious. What a tool that guy is.

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Specializes in LTC.

Kudos to the nurse managers who resigned.

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