I hate what's happening to nursing...

Nurses Relations

Published

Eight years.

That is how long I’ve been in nursing. Just eight years. I haven’t been on AN in a while. I used to frequent the site a lot to vent with others, and help others with advice. Well, today is a ranting kind of day, so here it goes…

I hate what nursing is becoming. It is become overrun with elite folks who have forgotten what it’s like to just get through your shift. It’s being taken over by money hungry CEOs that are finding neat little ways to package “customer service” with healthcare. Our intelligence is being insulted here! What exactly do I mean by this? Well, what professional do you know gets “scripts” to regurgitate at patients? Why is it that we are not trusted to do our job or say the right thing?

I understand that healthcare is indeed a business. It has to be. If it weren’t, we’d all be working for free. I got that. I do my job. I put my all into my shift. I advocate for my patients. I’ve gone above and beyond…all without recognition.

But, I’m deeply saddened…Now I’m being told that isn’t good enough. All I see for the future of healthcare is walking into a patient’s room at the end of my shift saying, “My name is______, if you felt I gave excellent care call 888-tell-them, and rate me a 10.” Heaven forbid you score less than 10 three times…

Eight years ago, I felt so proud in my whites on graduation day. I felt professional, neat, knowledgeable, and respected. Now, I feel burned up, and abused. For now, I stay in nursing…patients still smile, and thank me at the end of my shift. They cannot detect how I feel under the surface.

But, I am seriously considering leaving healthcare altogether.

Reenski,

Just don't come whining to Allnurses when you have your 19th nervous breakdown. Yasee, I can sense it's already lurking somewhere just waiting, and it's not going to take much to trigger it either. Matter of fact it'll happen probably the morning of your first clinical on a medsurg floor if not sooner.

Specializes in Oncology; medical specialty website.
Welcome to America, the center of capitalism. Of course it's about the money! Nothing is free in this world, especially not healthcare! :rolleyes: Would you be a nurse for free? Would you have gone to school for nursing if you knew you'd only get paid minimum wage afterward? Yeah, I didn't think so! You want that paycheck just like anybody else...nothing wrong with that. Hospitals have to run efficiently to pay the bills, and more importantly, to pay you! What's wrong with customer service? I am a pre-nursing student and I currently work in a customer service job for a franchise, and YES, people suck sometimes. They can be mean, irrational, and just plain rude and disrespectful...but if I have learned anything in my field about customer service, it would be the simple fact that if you are nice to a person, they will most likely be nice to you! Not always, but MOSTLY....they want respect just like you do. I would think that if any industry should have good customer service, it should be healthcare! These people NEED a smile! Sometimes, a smile itself can help a person feel well again. Sorry to interrupt the b*tch fest with my counterpoint, and maybe my opinion doesn't count for much b/c I'm not a nurse yet, but some of these posts really got me steamed!

Btw, just curious...what WAS nursing like 25 years ago?

Just you wait.

Specializes in Oncology; medical specialty website.
*** They tried this absurd crap at my hospital. When they handed out the cards in our unit meeting I took mine and asked if the surgeons also had script cards. When the answer was no I told our unit manager that I would use scripts AFTER I saw our chest and neurosurgeons using them and walked out the door dropping my card in the trash as I went. Most of the nurses followed me doing the same.

I suggest you simply do NOT tolerate such stupid crap. If all of you refuse they will have no choice but to stop. You bee the example, you be the leader.

I love it. Someone with moxie.

Specializes in Oncology; medical specialty website.
Reenski,

Just don't come whining to Allnurses when you have your 19th nervous breakdown. Yasee, I can sense it's already lurking somewhere just waiting, and it's not going to take much to trigger it either. Matter of fact it'll happen probably the morning of your first clinical on a medsurg floor if not sooner.

And for God's sake, don't come here and ask us to do your homework for you either. Because we will remember your name! ;)

Specializes in Peds/outpatient FP,derm,allergy/private duty.
Welcome to America, the center of capitalism. Of course it's about the money! Nothing is free in this world, especially not healthcare! :rolleyes: [....rest of your post]

Btw, just curious...what WAS nursing like 25 years ago?

Oh, man . . .it was awful. The cashier in the cafeteria kept asking me for money when I walked by her with my tray! I had a similar problem when I simply tried to pull out of the gas station without paying for my gas! Brutal. Then when I arrived to work, a scared little child was admitted, and not one person told me she NEEDED a smile!! Damn I hate it when that happens. Later that day, someone behaved in an unpleasant manner. Now I know that is called "rude". Thank you. I'm a little fuzzy on that "if you are nice to a person they will be nice to you" thing, though. Normally, in our line of work, doing painful but necessary procedures on people gets them a pass to scream and yell. Even if I had known about smiling or being nice, some things just hurt like an S of a bee-yotch.

I decided not to add the :rolleyes: to my post, as you did, which pretty much brands your input as something other than a sincere quest for information, so I don't feel too bad about the tone of my answer. I wouldn't dream of lecturing you about your job that I have zero training in, but I am just curious -- why are so many customer service people so bad at it?

Jack Sweet Pea - my nurse managers always had our back. Some were better managers than others, but they never hesitated to get up in someone's face (ie doctors or corporate hacks) when someone was treated badly. It was a real treat to watch them sometimes - all of the people who think a corporate model to sell lots of widgets can be swapped right into health care - we know they can't be, but it's amazing how little they care to hear it from the people on the front lines.

Take me with you.:eek:

Specializes in ED, Pedi Vasc access, Paramedic serving 6 towns.
Welcome to America, the center of capitalism. Of course it's about the money! Nothing is free in this world, especially not healthcare! :rolleyes: Would you be a nurse for free? Would you have gone to school for nursing if you knew you'd only get paid minimum wage afterward? Yeah, I didn't think so! You want that paycheck just like anybody else...nothing wrong with that. Hospitals have to run efficiently to pay the bills, and more importantly, to pay you! What's wrong with customer service? I am a pre-nursing student and I currently work in a customer service job for a franchise, and YES, people suck sometimes. They can be mean, irrational, and just plain rude and disrespectful...but if I have learned anything in my field about customer service, it would be the simple fact that if you are nice to a person, they will most likely be nice to you! Not always, but MOSTLY....they want respect just like you do. I would think that if any industry should have good customer service, it should be healthcare! These people NEED a smile! Sometimes, a smile itself can help a person feel well again. Sorry to interrupt the b*tch fest with my counterpoint, and maybe my opinion doesn't count for much b/c I'm not a nurse yet, but some of these posts really got me steamed!

Btw, just curious...what WAS nursing like 25 years ago?

Ha, you just wait till the reality of nursing hits you square in the face, and only then will you wise up and realize nurses have a reason to "b*tch"!

My guess is that you are a youngster with little life experience!

Happy

Specializes in neuro/ortho med surge 4.

A nurse I worked with got fired for poor customer service scores. My nurse manager on my floor has to call patients when they are discharged and ask how their hospital stay was. This is looking for trouble if you ask me. The nurse who got fired had been a nurse for 20 years and was very knowledgeable. I am all for being pleasant and warm with my patients but if I cannot get them water because of a more pressing situation I refuse to feel bad about it.

These customer service surveys have us nurses afraid for our jobs. The worse thing is that people are being written up by management without asking the nurse in question their side of the story first. It is really making for a poor atmosphere. I was told in a meeting that Medicare would only pay for hospital stays if the patient had a satisfactory stay (customer service survey) in the hospital. This is going to start in 2012 if I remember correctly. This is setting up hospital and staff for failure.

Are home health, hospice, surgicenters, MD offices, etc. any different? Or are all healthcare settings going to be subjected to this?

Specializes in Legal, Ortho, Rehab.
Reenski...I truly hope you're still able to have that same attitude after a few years in the trenches. After you've had years of taking care of people with the best intentions in your heart and mind, and a smile on your face, only to get verbally abused and assaulted, physically assaulted, management blames you, co-workers dump on you, non-compliant pts blame you for their illnesses, etc. You will find that the pts think that the buck stops with you and blame you for everything from cold food to MD not ordering excessive amts of pain meds to delays in tests to lack of linens...the list goes on, and it's all your fault, so they don't care about all your training or your smiling attitude. I'd say on average at least 20-40% of my pts in a given week fall into that category. It's the others who keep me coming back shift after shift...and it helps that my co-workers on nights are awesome.

I told my direct management, when they wanted us to go to scripting, that it was asinine and insulted the intelligence of our pts. And that when we get the staffing levels to "have the time", that's when I'll tell the pts that. There are already so many ridiculous expectations from pts that I'm not going to add to them by lying to their faces. It'd be more truthful to say "I don't have the time, but I wish I did. I will try and meet your incidental needs as well as is humanly possible, but if there's a pt on the floor or deteriorating, your glass of water will have to wait."

Higher acuity + less staff + freaking Press Ganey = unhappy nurses and support staff.

Anyone see the credit card commercial where the guy who owns the restaurant talks about how he spends points on things that make his employees happy? "Because happy workers means happy customers" or something along those lines? If a guy who runs a small business like that gets it, you'd think all those management people at the hospital with their high-falutin' degrees would too.

I've been in this field now for eleven years this month. True, the majority of my pts are not that bad. But there is a SIGNIFICANT minority who exhibit behaviors that I wouldn't tolerate in my 4 year old son.

Exactly!:heartbeat

Specializes in Legal, Ortho, Rehab.
Oh, man . . .it was awful. The cashier in the cafeteria kept asking me for money when I walked by her with my tray! I had a similar problem when I simply tried to pull out of the gas station without paying for my gas! Brutal. Then when I arrived to work, a scared little child was admitted, and not one person told me she NEEDED a smile!! Damn I hate it when that happens. Later that day, someone behaved in an unpleasant manner. Now I know that is called "rude". Thank you. I'm a little fuzzy on that "if you are nice to a person they will be nice to you" thing, though. Normally, in our line of work, doing painful but necessary procedures on people gets them a pass to scream and yell. Even if I had known about smiling or being nice, some things just hurt like an S of a bee-yotch.

I decided not to add the :rolleyes: to my post, as you did, which pretty much brands your input as something other than a sincere quest for information, so I don't feel too bad about the tone of my answer. I wouldn't dream of lecturing you about your job that I have zero training in, but I am just curious -- why are so many customer service people so bad at it?

Jack Sweet Pea - my nurse managers always had our back. Some were better managers than others, but they never hesitated to get up in someone's face (ie doctors or corporate hacks) when someone was treated badly. It was a real treat to watch them sometimes - all of the people who think a corporate model to sell lots of widgets can be swapped right into health care - we know they can't be, but it's amazing how little they care to hear it from the people on the front lines.

You my friend, are awesome! My cap goes off to you with all the years you've got!

Welcome to America, the center of capitalism. Of course it's about the money! Nothing is free in this world, especially not healthcare! :rolleyes: Would you be a nurse for free? Would you have gone to school for nursing if you knew you'd only get paid minimum wage afterward? Yeah, I didn't think so! You want that paycheck just like anybody else...nothing wrong with that. Hospitals have to run efficiently to pay the bills, and more importantly, to pay you! What's wrong with customer service? I am a pre-nursing student and I currently work in a customer service job for a franchise, and YES, people suck sometimes. They can be mean, irrational, and just plain rude and disrespectful...but if I have learned anything in my field about customer service, it would be the simple fact that if you are nice to a person, they will most likely be nice to you! Not always, but MOSTLY....they want respect just like you do. I would think that if any industry should have good customer service, it should be healthcare! These people NEED a smile! Sometimes, a smile itself can help a person feel well again. Sorry to interrupt the b*tch fest with my counterpoint, and maybe my opinion doesn't count for much b/c I'm not a nurse yet, but some of these posts really got me steamed!

Btw, just curious...what WAS nursing like 25 years ago?

What exactly is a "pre-nursing student"? Someone who is thinking about nursing school and taking general electives?? Someone who hasn't committed to the profession or set a uniformed foot on a unit even as a student nurse?

Idealistic or what?

Specializes in Med-Surg/Peds/O.R./Legal/cardiology.

Reenski, you have so much to learn should you choose to pursue the nursing profession. I am speaking not only of nursing though, but of life in general. Make sure you are strong in your faith. It will be so important when the "wheels fall off" in your life...and they do fall off at some point in everyone's life. There's only so much one can learn from a book. The rest is learned in the school of hard knocks and dealing with reality. :redbeathe

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