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.
Specializes in Case mgmt., rehab, (CRRN), LTC & psych.
There's a reason behind the 500,000 RNs who have active licensure, yet have abandoned the field of nursing altogether. All we need to do is read between the lines of their painful stories.
I know you say they are not all like that. But, most of them are and that is the problem. I hear the same from other people in the field and I have been to enough places to see why there is a problem in this field and a shortage.
I go to work in fear. Fear of not being appreciated. Fear of not being safe. Fear of not getting things done. Fear of getting in trouble for things I had no control over. Fear of the intense stress of the shift. Fear of the negativity. Fear of having to work harder because there are co-workers that refuse to do their job.
I am in total fear of this job and the people that manage it.
God, that's a scary thought... sad, too... I guess I'm one of the lucky ones... the floor I work on (med/surg) is very team oriented & we work well together, if someone is having a horrid night we all jump into help out. I'm glad I found a place to be welcomed & appreciated the staff was short before I arrived... but I had worked as an aide before at the same place & my previous supervisor told me of the opening & asked me to come back. We even have a supervisor, our scheduler, that has been working the floor to help out when we are short... I think it's awesome...
I guess I'm a naive newbie... but I love my job & the place I work for... I did not realize there is some much controversy & disention in the field... things must change or we will forever be working understaffed & overstressed!!
Bottom line is patients are not happy with the care and the hospital uses us for the scapegoat. Even if the patients don't blame you the hospital does.
Specializes in M/S, Infectious Dieases, Pediatrics/NICU.
Well sorry again to hear that you are at wits end. Good luck in whatever you may choose to do. However, sleep on it for a day and two. If not it is ashame to loose (what sounds like) such a great nurse.
There's a reason behind the 500,000 RNs who have active licensure, yet have abandoned the field of nursing altogether. All we need to do is read between the lines of their painful stories.
Specializes in Case mgmt., rehab, (CRRN), LTC & psych.
You would think this meant something.
Yes, it really should mean something.
However, the current solution of churning out new nurses every few months to fill the nursing vacancies is more of a "band-aid" approach that does absolutely nothing to address the core of the problem. Instead of producing a plethora of new nurses, efforts should be made to retain the ones who are already working.
Pumping new nurses into the job market every few months is a simple solution. We all know that simple solutions cannot be applied to solve complex problems.
After being a nurse for 15 years, I know the options. The good jobs are hard to get and we are basically rotated around into the screwed up jobs where retention is poor because of management, workload or co-workers. I got caught in the vicious circle and "refreshed" too many times.
I am so done trying. I just wish that the reality meant something because there are nurses out there but they don't want to feel this way so that is why there is shortage.
i have been in your position and i throught that all nurses jobs were like this, but if you look around for something non bedside yo will find that there are employers who appreciate someone who comes in on the days that are scheduled and do their jobs
However, the current solution of churning out new nurses every few months to fill the nursing vacancies is more of a "band-aid" approach that does absolutely nothing to address the core of the problem. Instead of producing a plethora of new nurses, efforts should be made to retain the ones who are already working.
Pumping new nurses into the job market every few months is a simple solution. We all know that simple solutions cannot be applied to solve complex problems.
I'm a student (second career), and I agree. New grads will fill a gap for a little while, and then they will leave. It's a bit depressing. Band-aid on a hemorrhagic situation.
I agree with everything you say, and also don't know how much more I can take of the hospital environment. Had I been informed of the dismal working conditions that bedside RNs put up with (if not on the favorite list), I never would have changed careers. But rather than quit nursing and lose all I have invested in this, I will search long and hard for a non-hospital RN situation if I can't find a reasonable unit to work on. So I join in others in suggesting you take some time to recoop and explore options. And if you haven't tried it, maybe trying a hospital with a union or shared governance would be a better situation.
I am so sorry you have to feel this way too. actually i wrote something very similar not too long ago, although I have not been in this field as long as you have; I am an older nurse, and none of us should put up with this bull crap. I am finding myself in the same position- one bad apple does spoil the whole bunch. and its because we give a crap, and we are punished for doing so. I , like you , am still in debt from my schooling, but i have been thinking long and hard the last few weeks that maybe filing bankruptcy would be a better option than having to go to a job where i walk away some nights wanting to drive my truck off the road and into a ditch. Yes, I hate the job that much also. I have been considering taking a lower paying job then, like as a bank teller or something. Even waitresses get treated better than this; they are not going to get sued if they bring the wrong meal!!!! tHIS job is the most pathetically treated profession out there. I wish I had know this ahead of time also. Now i have to consider going back to school for another profession. As for those who say get a non nursing ( hospital) job, where??? none of the places where I live offer that. So many people hate hosptal nursing that those jobs are far and few between.Ultimately, it comes down to the fact that nurses hold a license to be scapegoats to blame everything on- which can spill over into our livelyhood. I guess if someone did want to sue me, they wouldnt get much anyway- cant get blood out of a stone:madface:. OP- i just totally sympathize with you , and may we one day find a job where we can be appreciated at least a little.
TheCommuter, BSN, RN
102 Articles; 27,612 Posts
There's a reason behind the 500,000 RNs who have active licensure, yet have abandoned the field of nursing altogether. All we need to do is read between the lines of their painful stories.