After 15 years - I may be one more nurse to add to the shortage

[BrokenRNheart]

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.

I am totally defeated and hopeless.

[SoundofMusic]

I, too, would love to have the time to read the entire thread. BrokenHeart, I also feel your pain. I've been a nurse for 3 years and I'd like to say I enjoy my job, but I really, really don't. It's a job of DREAD, everytime I think about going in to do a shift. Somehow I get through it, but there are so many nights I leave totally afraid of getting caught up in some mishap where I will be called on on a lawsuit. I will admit, that I fear the exact same thing will happen to me and I will just lose my entire livelihood. I'm tired of the short staffing and the staff you're left with is so unhelpful most of the time, you might as well just do it yourself -- which is also what I often end up doing -- leaving myself open to not getting the important things done and then my butt is in the grinder.

...this is why I'm in grad school, working my BEHIND off to get an NP degree. I have only been a nurse for 3 years, but I can see EXACTLY where it would lead for me. I am truly fortunate that through my husband's job, I can get funding for my degree -- so I'm doing it.

The cruelty -- and I'll call it cruelty, inflicted on nurses today is just despicable. I'd like to know what the "movement" is all about -- if it's something to change this situation I'd like to be a part of it.

Nurses need to UNITE and put a stop to ALL of this because it will just continue to get worse and we'll all be dealing with nothing but foreign trained nurses taking care of us. But for any movement of change to be successful, ALL nurses from every stripe would need to unite. Let's face it, without nurses, these hospital administsrators would not be able to run their hospitals. Docs would also be lost. There are way more of us than them, yet WE continue to stay put down.

We had a situation at our place over one weekend when the entire computer system went down. Well, none of the "heels and pearls" managers even bothered to come in, so here we skeleton staffers had to put up with a situation that was hectic and unsafe. Meanwhile, the liasons just kept admitting patients! It was outrageous. I just feel there are way, way, way too many managers at any given facility -- managers who need to get their nursing shoes on and PITCH THE HECK IN!!!

[SoundofMusic]

i dont know if there is a LOT of slackers - i know we have some but the majority of nursings problem is not slackers so much as management plain and simply not giving us enough to begin with............in my opinion ayhow.

I want to add that i feel this is mainly the issue also. I don't feel anyone really slacks off all that much ...most nurses are doing their darndest all day long .. .it's just that there are not enough of us. If you try to sit down for 5 minutes and do some charting or even just have a drink of water or something, your'e seen as slacking. Well, in most jobs, people "slack" a LOT -- they drink their coffees, look at the internet ...go out for smokes, etc. Most nurses i know do work hard ...there's just too much work for too few to do.

I DO feel like there are techs, though, who like to slack ...and for some reason, these people cannot seem or even CARE to get the little things done. I mean -- if I had a dollar for every water pitcher these gals/guys pass over ...I'd be rich. Come ON techs -- this is your JOB. If I don't do mine ...the gates of hell are unleashed ...but somehow these techs can just leave it, ignore it, pretend they didnt' see it, get pulled to do something else and just have to overlook it ....but yet it's still THERE, waiting to be done . . .and it's the NURSE who is doing to have to do it and make sure it gets done. I KNOW the job of a tech is hard and they do get pulled in many different directions ...but there's got to be a way to get your basic tasks done and then have some leeway for the emergency type situations that come up. There have been many days we are fully staffed with techs and yet these little jobs STILL do not get done ...they'll say, well, we've got 3 techs today, so so-and-so will do it .... but it doesn't happen STILL.

[carolmaccas66, BSN, RN]

I feel so sorry for you.

I do agency as well, and it's always the agency RN who gets blamed when things (apparently) go wrong. I too have been blamed in the past for things that patients did and lied about. I got extremely downhearted. However I found a good agency and went to work at a private hospital, which is great. Much better than public hosp work. But I had to move to another state for work & leave all my family & friends, which has been hard to bear. And our Aust government gives us NOTHING to re-locate, nothing for books for study, and yet I see other people getting handouts all the time. I often wonder how they do it - do they lie? (I don't lie). I couldn't even get $50 towards one book for my study (it cost $200 but I was willing to pay the rest).

I too am at the point where I am getting too old for bedside nursing. I've worked in hospitals for 25 years (not just as a RN) and have nothing to show for it, except study debts. I don't own a house or even a newer car. Even the fact that I survived an horrific car accident 5 years ago (my car was written off), doesn't even make me appreciate hospitals & being alive to fin my degree. The whole system is badly broken. I worked my butt off, working every day or extra hours I could (as many of you have done) to get my degree, and I really, really now regret it. I wanted to study history and/or genealogy maybe and art. I also loved biology but don't seem to use that much nowadays, I think that's why I went into nursing. But everyone said nursing is practical, u will always have a job, etc. And that hasn't been the case.

I quite often find the same as you: we are dismissed by higher-up nurses, NMs and Dr's as not being 'really important' to the running of a hospital, yet they need us. Yet who do people call out for when anything happens to them? They yell NURSE! They don't yell for the doctor. I find myself doing as much as I can for each & every patient, giving the best and most comprehensive nursing care I can. I stay back at times, whilst others seem to walk around, standing chatting when it's very busy, and don't seem to be doing much. I know my time management is not always great, because I like to listen to my patients (I also work in mental health so this is important in that area). I have had the privilege to work with some fantastic older nurses who really care about people.

But I notice many nurses on here feel their career path has gotten them nowhere, especially new nurses. And I just feel used up and worn out, and have felt so especially this weekend. And I'm getting older, and feel sooo much older trying to do this job.

I see other people with other degrees & they have so much more than me. My ex-boyfriend didn't even go to uni, he trained 4 his job with a big, international company and is on over $110,000 per annum with bonuses.

I feel like I've missed the boat somewhere.

Someone on here said once that it's not about us, it's about the patients. But how can u care for people when you've lost that will to give the best nursing care you can, and are expected to run around for 8-12 hours a day, with hardly any breaks, and still be that wonderful nurse we all dream about having when we are in hospital?

I feel as if, as a nurse, I have lost my way. It's too insanely busy some days to even catch my breath and think about what I'm doing, because there are so many interruptions and so many patients coming and going, I can't even remember one patient from the next - they are all starting to blend together (lucky I write everything down). And you break ur back & legs, knees, feet hurt etc for years, yet you make ONE error (not even a serious error) and that is it - you are basically finished.

I feel defeated. The whole system needs to be re-vamped (which I know won't happen in my lifetime). The public don't care that our health system is sliding in a downward spiral and everyone feels helpless, especially the nurses.

We can't tell patients how we feel, cos that's unethical. We can't say to people u should lose weight, quit smoking, do some exercise, change ur diet, etc because we can't do it either cos we're too stressed! We're not allowed to tell people to take responsibilty for themselves - that is not the nurses job. and God forbid we should tell patients we are not putting up with ur abuse because ur in a private hospital, and u have paid for your care already!

Well then, what exactly is our job now?

I just can't to do this job anymore. I am going part time and giving it all up soon next year. I am going to study what I want and plan to write and travel, and visit friends overseas, before this job drives me into an early grave.

This job called 'nursing' is slowly, but surely, destroying my soul.

[carolmaccas66, BSN, RN]

I want to add that i feel this is mainly the issue also. I don't feel anyone really slacks off all that much ...most nurses are doing their darndest all day long .. .it's just that there are not enough of us. If you try to sit down for 5 minutes and do some charting or even just have a drink of water or something, your'e seen as slacking. Well, in most jobs, people "slack" a LOT -- they drink their coffees, look at the internet ...go out for smokes, etc. Most nurses i know do work hard ...there's just too much work for too few to do.

I DO feel like there are techs, though, who like to slack ...and for some reason, these people cannot seem or even CARE to get the little things done. I mean -- if I had a dollar for every water pitcher these gals/guys pass over ...I'd be rich. Come ON techs -- this is your JOB. If I don't do mine ...the gates of hell are unleashed ...but somehow these techs can just leave it, ignore it, pretend they didnt' see it, get pulled to do something else and just have to overlook it ....but yet it's still THERE, waiting to be done . . .and it's the NURSE who is doing to have to do it and make sure it gets done. I KNOW the job of a tech is hard and they do get pulled in many different directions ...but there's got to be a way to get your basic tasks done and then have some leeway for the emergency type situations that come up. There have been many days we are fully staffed with techs and yet these little jobs STILL do not get done ...they'll say, well, we've got 3 techs today, so so-and-so will do it .... but it doesn't happen STILL.

I agree this is one of my pet hates. I dislike going onto a floor (a new one especially), and having to orientate myself, get my work organised, getting meds done, IVABs etc etc, AND on top of all that I have to run around and fill up water jugs cos the patient hasn't had a drink for 4 hours or more, plus make cups of tea/coffee! It can't be that hard for a CNA/ward helper (whatever u cal them) 2 get the water and tea/coffee round done surely! If I'm not too busy I don't mind but another poster said all the little jobs (water for people matters somewhat!), get left to the nurses - we are just expected to do it with no complaints. Well I think 2day when I go for my shift I will be chasing that ward helper and getting them to do it. And I will say to the NM I don't have time as I've got more important tasks, like IVABs!

[Riseupandnurse]

Well, add me to the nursing shortage. After almost 23 years, I finally quit bedside nursing. It wasn't the patient care, it wasn't the backbreaking, emotionally draining work itself. It was that the things that go on destroy the soul. I was in deep spiritual distress because of what Iwas doing. It built up for years and the administration is purposefully clueless, especially because the "nursing shortage" has been exposed for the lie it has been all along. Well, guess what? Very soon so many of us old-timers are NOT going to be able to do this anymore, and then there really WILL be a nursing shortage. Maybe then things will change. In the meantime, I will eat toast and soup if I have to. At least my husband has a small but dependable income. I need to answer to a higher power about how I spend my time, and it will be sooner rather than later. And that power is stronger even than Press Ganey.

[Blouis, APRN]

I totally agree!!! Glad to see I am not alone. I am starting to hate getting up in the morning to go to work.

[beewink]

Well, add me to the nursing shortage. After almost 23 years, I finally quit bedside nursing. It wasn't the patient care, it wasn't the backbreaking, emotionally draining work itself. It was that the things that go on destroy the soul. I was in deep spiritual distress because of what Iwas doing. It built up for years and the administration is purposefully clueless, especially because the "nursing shortage" has been exposed for the lie it has been all along. Well, guess what? Very soon so many of us old-timers are NOT going to be able to do this anymore, and then there really WILL be a nursing shortage. Maybe then things will change. In the meantime, I will eat toast and soup if I have to. At least my husband has a small but dependable income. I need to answer to a higher power about how I spend my time, and it will be sooner rather than later. And that power is stronger even than Press Ganey.

I could have written this myself, except I've only been a nurse for 14 years. Soul crushing is how I've described it. Family & friends mostly don't understand - until you've been there, done that it's hard for people to get it. I don't know what's next in the cards for me, but I know it won't be hospital nursing.

[littlemister0508]

I do totally understand what you are going through. I am having a difficult time right now. I have been an RN now for 14 years and am more stressed physically and mentally than I have ever been, all due to my work environment. I work in LT care and it seems like everything we nurses do, does goes unappreciated. We are consistently short staffed, seriously short staffed, to the point to where the families are really complaining, and management does NOTHING but write us up for things that are BEYOND our control. We are doing the best we can! I too, feel as if I cannot do this. I find myself thinking I am a bad nurse which I know is NOT true! I love my little elderly patients and they make my life fulfilling, but I feel I have no choice but to leave this facility or risk losing my license. I am totally frustrated. It has done nothing for my confidence as well. I have been beaten down and I dread going to work now. I am thinking of going back to Home Health or even getting out of the nursing field. Good luck to you. I feel for your situation.

[gentlegiver, ASN, LPN, RN]

Nursing for 5 1/2 yrs, have to agree with OP, most places really don't care! I was out of work for 10 months, felt better and figured it was time to go back, lasted 1 year and all the same old feelings came rushing back. Management is totally clueless and just plain don't care. Compassion is for the patient, the staff can just suck it up & deal. I am currently looking outside Nursing for a job, not an easy thing in todays economy. You give your all and get abuse in return. Most places around here are the same, I've worked LTC, Hospital, Agency, and Clinic, SOS! You would think that the high turn-over rates would clue them in. That or the fact that the only Nurses willing to work for them are the New Grads. (Who I feel sorry for, they will get poor orientation and be set on thier own way too soon!)

[cubbycab]

perhaps you are right....maybe nursing is not the job for you....not the end of the world tho...maybe see a career counselor or a life skills coach, time management course....you are obviously intelligent (you are a nurse) stressed and you need a break!!! You need a break.

[Jenni811, RN]

Wow this thread is really old... :)

[enchantmentdis, BSN, RN]

To the OP--give yourself a break and do hospice on call work--you will get paid the hourly rate and be available after hours to care for patients. You will never have to watch other staff not do their work. It will be much easier on your back, you will take your break when you want to, you will almost never give pills to patients, fill water pitchers----Believe me--it is an awesome job. Just try it.