Disrespectful

[martymoose]

Hi - just another vent.Was told by one "higher up " that we are just going to have to "suck it up" when we c/o not enough staff scheduled, call ins,techs being cut. The other "higher up" told us that "we've been spoiled, and we better get used to things the way they are now."

Do these comments seem professional? The whole staff morale is completely in the toilet, I am sad for my co-workers who work their behinds off, and sad for myself for being so stupid as to stay where I am.

Is it like this everywhere else?

[delawaremalenurse]

" Nurses don't leave jobs - they leave managers."

I like this !

[martymoose, BSN, RN]

Some good perspective points made......

Yes, It doesn't help that there are 5 colleges( not to mention whatever online education there is available) pumping RNs- esp RN-Bsns,into the local area.One college even has grads 2x year.

I guess that deserves a SMH on my part - duh.

I guess I'll just have to "suck it up " then. It's not like I'm some 25 year nurse either. Let's say between 5-10 years seniority.

Guess I should get used to lack of professionalism in this "profession"

[Leonardo Del Toro, RN]

Hospitals are being being run by spreadsheets and we all know how smart they are. Instead of hiring and training new nurses at a time when they have the money and there are new grads available they don't. In fact now is the best time to do that when you still have older nurses around who can pass the knowledge down to the new ones; they're so stupid they letting them all go and then hire new ones when they will be desperate, and they might be surprised when the NG may be gone to other carers. This lack of planning reveals a type of management who are not fully aware of how health care works.i.e. spreadsheet people. There used to be managers who knew what where the needs of health care in the long run; but long range plans were replaced with quick profit schemes. Unfortunately since the great recession started these managers have all been fired or forced to drink the cool aid.

There is a temporary factor which makes these practices endure; there are no job alternatives. I hear that everywhere, staff being used and abused until they are spent but you can only use people for some time and eventually they leave and the ones that don't, burn out and have to quit. People leave nursing all the time it's a known fact, they are just waiting for a better moment, I can't wait for this moment to arrive. Something will trigger the landslide. The longer this situation lasts the more explosive will be the landslide. There is a huge number of nurses at retiring age now and just hanging by a tread, others are about to burn out, others will have babies, the staff is thinning, what if there is a sudden spike in pt population...are they prepared?

[Overland1, RN]

I think there's a special circle of Hell set aside for the people who develop the customer service surveys for hospitals.

Actually, it is a special circle much closer to us than many may believe. Reimbursements will soon be based to some degree on those surveys. Get more than a few negative PressWhineys, and reimbursement may be adversely affected.

[martymoose, BSN, RN]

Lol press whineys Love it!!!

See , this is what I don't understand. We all keep getting told the hospital won't get paid unless there are great reviews for "high quality service" You think they would go out of their way to ensure this.Cutting staff is not the way to go.Especially techs/aides , housekeeping, etc. If I am pushing meds on a pt that requires constant monitoring for 10minutes, who is going to take the pt whoo is a heavy two assist with a lift to the bathroom? They are going to have to wait. People don't want to wait They get angry, which translates to bad scores.I don't want to wait either, as I will usually have a mess to clean up after. now multiply that times the other nurses too. Dont forget the falls people. Seriously- I think it's been pounded into our heads that we have to literally jump and sprint to figure out which bed/chair alarm is going off- and even then we still have that pt 1/2 on the floor cause we didnt run in time! To heck with the pt who might be bleeding somewhere!And the 1 or 2 walkie-talkies ,well, we know they've been neglected , so bad score there.

Obviously it's a no win situation.Professional . Suck it up.

[LaRN]

wow, this post makes me so mad, both as a nurse and as a citizen.

acuity levels keep getting higher, nurse's task lists get longer, and many patients/families are just waiting for the opportunity to sue everybody when something goes wrong. owners, ceo's and their cohorts lay back in their plush lifestyles and draw big bucks while their patients have to beg for assistance and the staff is so busy they stay in a constant state of fight or flight.

I read that there will be a 1% cut medicare payments to hospitals that get bad surveys and will go up to 2% by 2017. (thanks to obama) but i dont think thats nearly enough.

I like it! However, every facility I've worked at..

it's not ALLOWED to mention short staffing. Some will even start the disciplinary process.

i've heard the same thing from a few other nurses working at a nearby hospital. they want to keep up a good image with illusions but dont want to do what is necessary to make it a reality.

sounds like a modern day gestapo to me.

[homecaresurvivor]

To quote Yogi Berra, "it's deja vu all over again." I attended similar meetings and was told similar things back in the early 80s. Acuity levels were rising, staffing decreasing. I left floor nursing in 1992. Did things ever get better? Because I could easily have said everything that posters have said 30 years ago. I feel for you that are still doing this work.

[Z71RN]

our hospital has been cutting staff and not filling spots for about 6mos now, and now has informed us that they are reducing hr to 72hrs/pay period across the board. though our hospital census is busting at the seams we will remain understaffed. which also means longer wait times for triage, treatments and discharge, which translates into angry foul mouth patients and families which parlays into calling of security and the local police dept for patient and family removal from er! our last nsg dept meeting we have explained such to the bean counters but they are mute to our concerns, seems they have done the math and figure they can save more on low staffing salaries than they would on getting good surveys.

[OneDuckyRN]

At what point will people realize that it's a hospital, not a resort? I understand working to make your patients comfortable to promote healing, but we just don't have time to cater to the entire family, beyond explaining what's going on with the patient (and sometimes, not even then).

[DeedeeNSN]

Just suck it up. Get it? Vent unit. Haha. But. It's awful that we have to put up with the way things are. I am so tired. I have 40 patients alone. 2 CNA's. I went 'off' on my supervisor this morning. Nurses need to get it together. We need time off and more pay.

[martymoose, BSN, RN]

At what point will people realize that it's a hospital, not a resort?

never- as the false promise of great care seems to involve things of a resort nature.apparently actually giving good care and having the staff for it is a fallacy.

I sometimes wonder if the beancounters are already planning for poop scores, and therefore are adjusting the profit margin by reducing staff now, since they know they wont be getting some payments.

As an aside, with the new ACA, will hospitals get paid anything? fell- broke hip- no payment. UTI no payment. Skin breakdown/decub- no payment. Readmit within 30 days same dx- no payment. Poopy PG scores- no payment..I'm sure I can go on and on.

Well, at least the disrespect part is making sense now.

[Carolina Southpaw]

I believe many hospitals will not survive the new payor system and will close or be bought up by larger systems. The facilities that do remain will be full and probably overcrowded. I know that it is not unusual for elective and non-emergent surgeries to get bumped to another day. This will only worsen, in my opinion.

Now, it is ridiculous for any manager to say, "suck it up" and is listed as a verbally abusive comment, by the way. The problem with telling patients that you're short-staffed actually makes it harder on the staff because then whatever you do is not going to be enough. It also makes people not trust the care you provide and if you think you saying your short-staffed is going to keep you from being named in the lawsuit, then....

We also are doing them a disservice by creating worry. If I was laying in a hospital bed, dependent on the staff to help me, I would be scared if I was told they are short-staffed. (of course, I would be scared anyway knowing what I know!) I have been on units where they are staffed above their matrix and staff are still telling patients they are short-staffed! Now, I don't have a problem with someone telling a family member who is wanting coffee when we haven't even had a chance to pee that we are not staffed to provide restaurant services, but only have the staff necessary to attend to the necessary medical care. I also have told patient families that they need to choose a representative that gets all the info and distributes to everyone else, so that we are not on the phone and in the room answering the same questions over and over.

The bean counters will go flippity-flopping to various matrices, skill sets, scheduling, etc., but it will never be a perfect solution and then the next set of bean counters will go flippity-flopping it back the other way! Meanwhile, we are just trying to get through the shift and take care of patients. A shocking realization for me is going to read Florence Nightingale's writings and discovering that she was writing about the same issues!

So, at the risk of being flamed for "PollyAnnaisms": I try to remember the starfish story about the small boy trying to throw all the starfish back into the sea and the man telling him he was wasting his time because he would never save them all, so what did it matter? Each shift, I try to comfort myself in his words to the old man when he threw another one back... it mattered for that one! ;0)