I am writing this totally heart broken and at my wits end.
I started my career as a nurse receiving compliments on what a good job I did. I felt that I was one of those people that had to do my job well and couldn't settle for any less. I had to chart well and provide the care that patients and families were more than satisfied with. They had to know they could count on me and that I was going to be there for them.
After 15 years and multiple hospital settings I have come to realize that it doesn't matter. Over the years, I have witnessed that many of hte units are run by managers and assistant managers that couldn't handle floor nursing and yet their demands on their employees are unrealistic. The people that they choose to be in charge and manage the floor are picked based on friendship and loyalty rather than hard work.
I have worked side by side with techs who run the unit and force nurses to do their work while they find time to sit on the internet or phone and then get out on time while we are stuck over finishing our work. I have walked into many patients rooms to pass pills only to find they had no water, haven't been turned or need urine emptied from urinals or pans that are overflowing. I can't tell you how many pans I have see stained with urine or feces because they don't get rinsed. How often patients are tied up in lines and cords.
I find myself picking up the slack and doing all of the jobs that countless others do not. Why can't people untangle lines? Why aren't pans rinsed from urine or feces? Why won't the techs do tech jobs and make sure people have water or that other needs are met?
In the end, what you get is punished. Punished because you couldn't get your work done. Punished because you couldn't meet everyone's needs and a patient or family felt you took too long to get to them and there was nothing you could say or do to make it right when you knew in your heart that it wasn't your fault. Instead, the blame is on the fact that there is too much for you to do or there is a major imbalance of productivity amongst workers.
The reason for the nursing shortage? Overworked and not appreciated and abused. You can't stick up for yourself, you can't tell them why you couldn't get things done - you can't say nothing. 15 years and nothing to show for it. I have tried nearly every hospital around and I find the negative complainers and the staff that knows how to socialize are the people that are respected and appreciated. It's not about the people that are out there busting their tails. Everyone knows there is a shortage and why but no one does anything and the biggest culprits are the administrators of the hospitals. The majority of those couldn't handle floor nursing or hardly ever experienced it at all.
I leave behind a lot of families and patients that thought I was a great nurse. But when you can't please one in a hundred or more you are a bad nurse. People don't understand the level of demands on a nurse. It is a downright abusive field with little to no appreciation surrounded by many people who are disappointed with their jobs and their choice in the career.
My final blow: After 3 years of sweating to please my last employer and taking the abuse of never hearing anything good - only bad. I went back to agency and went back to a hospital that I worked at 3 years ago. I knew that this hospital had a bad reputation for poor bedside care. Half the staff of any unit could easily be float and agency. The regular staff on the floor was made up of mostly young girls in tight spandex and inviting clothes working on socializing with doctors and hanging out at the desk all day long. Call lights were on non-stop but these girls would not answer them. The techs were busting their tails here. The agency nurses were working but the in house floats were sitting and socializing too. I ended up with a patient with a very bad attitude that was a complainer and law-suit happy. She was furious that for 4 days not one person followed through with obtaining her records from another hospital. It fell on me. I also had a patient admitted with respiratory distress which she shared a room with and could see I was busy. With her personality, she was angry at the moaning of the elderly lady who couldn't breath and was determined to get me to stop and cater to her to get on those records. When I got my respiratory patient stablized, I did just that. Turns out that the other hospital never received any fax requesting the information. This lady hated every person she had contact with at that hospital and wanted to call an agency to get them shut down. I'm sure you know the type by now. So....guess what. I was told today that I was not welcome back because of her complaint. I would literally pull a chair up and sit next to this lady and let her vent. I gave her my heart and I got booted. The nurse that she had the next day was a guy that sat around socializing and didn't care one bit about her. He was regular staff and he was NOT going to go out of his way. They all get to keep their jobs but the nurse that took the time out to take care of her is out the door.
I need a job or I wouldn't take the abuse. But, I know for a fact that this hospital is never going to get it. They were like that 3 years ago and now they have more floats and more agency staffing them. This is a big and reputable hospital.
The hospital I worked at for 3 years was dumping more and more tasks on the nurses and they were all unhappy and complaining. We lost good hard working techs and they were replaced with people who didn't want to work or nursing students who were tired when they came to work and were kicking their feet up taking it easy. Management loved those people.
I suffer from spinal degeneration and pain and I never get to sit down. My job is harder because they are not pulling their weight.
There is nothing left. I still owe for my loan and I am scared to death to take another nursing job. I know it is not going to be any different. I hurt. I lost my insurance and after all that I worked for I have nothing to show for it but bills and a destroyed ego and heart. I feel as though I am the misfit. I am the one who isn't right. I am wrong. I can't even bring myself to waste time on another application since I don't want anything to do with this career any more. I am going to lose my home, my vehicle and everything else.
I have noticed that the field is being taken over by young graduates who are more worried about looking sexy and socializing than working. Patient satisfaction has gone down the tubes and the senior skilled nurses are getting nowhere in this field. There is nothing anyone can do. We all know it is happening but we can't do anything about it.
Many of us have worked in hospitals with union representation, and from what I've seen, I'm not a bit impressed. Where I worked, all the union reps concentrated on were wages and benefits---working conditions were NEVER addressed during collective bargaining sessions. I also didn't appreciate the involvement of the union in local and national politics; I'm not crazy about the idea of my dues going toward a candidate I wouldn't vote for, or a cause I don't support.
My other objection to unions is this: we are professionals, not factory workers. We should find a more appropriate way to air our grievances and achieve reasonable working conditions, such as those that MDs and other educated professionals enjoy. A nurses' association, such as the ANA, could do so much to further our cause if they would stick to advocacy and advancement of the profession (and embrace ALL nurses, not just RNs). But they've gotten so invested in pushing unions, playing politics, and looking down their noses at ADNs and LPNs that they just don't speak for the average nurse anymore. And they certainly do not speak for me.
Exactly. What's more....if you get fired from a union hospital, you must be really bad because the union let you get fired. What I learned working in a union hospital is that most of the nurses are not happy with the contract, others are convinced to make people believe the contract was worth the union dues and you are right as above. The union is full of high profile nurses that want to make a public figure of themselves. In order to be supported and sponsored they need the support of the hospitals. They are not going to get that support if they speak with a nursing tongue....for example.....address working conditions. The nurses and hospitals and government know they need to address the shortage so they blow a puff of smoke all over by coming up with grants and funds and recruitment tactics to get more grads. Then they weed through them as they have us. Those that keep their mouths shut will prevail and keep their jobs as long as they don't kill someone. Those that are totally disappointed about the field and the stress - get in line with us - the "has-beens." Then off to recruit some more - more funds - more grads. The revolving door affect. As long as they represent themselves as doing something about the media, they are celebrities.....they are the chief's and vice presidents and they get to write articles and become popular.
They know what we are talking about here. They know it is true. Not once do they ever make any mention of trying to get the inactive licensed nurses to come back to work. You wouldn't have to wait for a college degree....the training is their, the experience and skill is there. Recruit them....tell them that the patient-nurse ratio is going to change....tell them that they will be understood and heard if they are concerned about the job or not getting a break....reassure and guarantee them that they will have a job.
POOF! There goes that cloud of smoke. OK...back to reality. Sorry, lost myself on that one.
But, seriously, wouldn't it be quicker and easier to get those nurses back? They seem to think that if they just keep reeling them through that revolving door eventually they will get enough people to take the abuse and love it.
Leslie, you have to speak the right tongue. Being a good member for the nurses won't get you up into the chair or VP seat. It's still all about politics and what comes out of your mouth. You will be allowed to speak this way but not that way and you can speak about this but not that.
There is a reason they do not speak of it. And I don't think it is because they do not realize it exists.
This is a important thread for all people who are interested in healthcare to read. There are no simple answers of course, but it good to know there is a place where we can vent and work on solutions. The only satisfaction anyone can have as a nurse is within themselves. Its the only job where one has to work under untold stress to take care of another human being. I doubt that working conditions will ever improve, but we can keep hoping.
I posted the ANA campaign in a separate topic - Safe Staffing Saves Lives.
Go there, click on the link and then reply to the topic letting us know you did. Let's see how many people we can get to do this. It's a simple step. The message is already made for us by the ANA. All you have to do is fill it in and send it.
While I think this may be a first step, I don't know if I agree with the proposal to leave it up to specific units to determine staffing ratios, as what looks like is proposed by "Safe Staffing Saves Lives". Isn't this what has been tried, and has dismally failed for a decade?
I think if you leave it up to the individual units, there is too much room for abuse - management & the hospital powers-that-be will take advantage and still manage to find a way around safe ratios, when given this much wiggle-room.
I think we may be facing the following decision, eventually:
OPTION A: Mandated ratios for certain TYPES of settings, with the risk of empty beds and nurses with not enough to do (the horror!)
vs.
OPTION B: Unit-specified ratios, which will likely result in the same situation nurses are facing now.
I'd go with OPTION A, if I had a choice. There's no one, undilutedly good way to go; so the lesser of the "evils" would be OPTION A.
Anyway, just my take.
BUT, this campaign would be an important first step!!
While I think this may be a first step, I don't know if I agree with the proposal to leave it up to specific units to determine staffing ratios, as what looks like is proposed by "Safe Staffing Saves Lives". Isn't this what has been tried, and has dismally failed for a decade?
I think if you leave it up to the individual units, there is too much room for abuse - management & the hospital powers-that-be will take advantage and still manage to find a way around safe ratios, when given this much wiggle-room.
I think we may be facing the following decision, eventually:
OPTION A: Mandated ratios for certain TYPES of settings, with the risk of empty beds and nurses with not enough to do (the horror!)
vs.
OPTION B: Unit-specified ratios, which will likely result in the same situation nurses are facing now.
I'd go with OPTION A, if I had a choice. There's no one, undilutedly good way to go; so the lesser of the "evils" would be OPTION A.
Anyway, just my take.
BUT, this campaign would be an important first step!!
I totally agree. It is only a step. That is why I added that nurses need protection for speaking up. And I mean REAL protection. I don't think this is going to be the answer but we need to sign the petition and be counted. See, when it is left to the unit, it is left to the nurses that are not on the floor working. I already know who is going to decide. Any nurse that doesn't agree will be quieted right down just as they are the way it is. But, it is a start. The start being that the safe ratio is a problem. If we don't respond to the topic of a safe ratio, we might never get a chance again to push this forward and be heard. See what I am thinking? We don't see the workload addressed anywhere. We need to jump on it when we do. Follow me??
I totally agree. It is only a step. That is why I added that nurses need protection for speaking up. And I mean REAL protection. I don't think this is going to be the answer but we need to sign the petition and be counted. See, when it is left to the unit, it is left to the nurses that are not on the floor working. I already know who is going to decide. Any nurse that doesn't agree will be quieted right down just as they are the way it is. But, it is a start. The start being that the safe ratio is a problem. If we don't respond to the topic of a safe ratio, we might never get a chance again to push this forward and be heard. See what I am thinking? We don't see the workload addressed anywhere. We need to jump on it when we do. Follow me??
Yes - I do see your point. I've sent the message, also adding text to make it more emphatic and adding the caveats about protecting nurses who speak up for patient safety.
Simplepleasures
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