An open letter to the #NursesUnite movement

[disillusionedrn]

An open letter in response to #NursesUnite:

It is amazing that you have finally found a cause to unite over (#nursesunite), however, I find it hard to jump on board this superficial bandwagon that actually serves the nursing profession no purpose whatsoever.

I have pondered over the last week why it is that so many nurses take such offense to the few words of an ignorant television host, being that Ms. Behar has zero impact or influence on the healthcare profession or the role of nursing, yet they do nothing to end the many real issues plaguing the nursing profession.

The only conclusion that I can come up with is that nurses feel that they can't do much to change the real problems in nursing, so they unite and attack over something that really makes no difference at all to us as a whole.

There are so many other REAL aspects of the nursing profession to unite over to influence change that will actually make a difference to nursing. There are many "dirty secrets" of nursing that go unspoken and ignored, many of which are cultivated by nurses themselves.

Bullying, horizontal violence, inadequate training, nurses "eating their young", 12+ hour shifts, no breaks, high acuities, too many patients per nurse, etc.

I went into nursing because I like to help people. I am empathetic. I am a quick thinker. I am smart. But that isn't actually what makes a nurse successful in this profession, as I have come to find out. As I have come to find out, nursing has less to do with how competent or compassionate you are, and more to do with how much you can, or are willing to, put up with. The nursing culture is full of "suck it ups" and "oh well, it is how it is."

What seems to make a nurse successful is the ability to withstand bullying, intimidation, being talked down to by supervisors, patients, family members, and doctors. The ability to get over inadequate training and support provided by management and your peers and to be okay with unsafe patio to nurse ratios. You'll feel more confident in time, it's just a part of nursing.

To be successful in nursing, you have to be okay with having zero time to take a break (even a bathroom break) and most times, taking your lunch sometimes 8 hours past your start time, or sometimes not even getting a lunch. You have to be okay with being dehydrated while hanging patient's IV bags and shaking from not being able to take a break and eat while you are checking diabetic's blood sugars and teaching the importance of proper urinary hygiene to avoid UTIs while you've been holding your own urine for the past 5 hours. Nurses are expected to just be okay with it. It's just a part of nursing, right?

You have to be okay with coming in early to "get familiar" with your patient load and not getting paid for that time. You have to be okay with staying well past your shift to give report on a regular basis, taking your total time on the clock (and off) well into 14-15 hours, which means that you are so tired driving home that you hope you make it there without crashing because your brain is tired mush. But long shifts are just a part of nursing.

You have to be okay with having to do more with less, even if it affects patient safety and outcomes. You have to be okay with doctors yelling at you and treating you like you're an incompetent idiot rather than a professional colleague in health care. You know that if you call a doctor to clarify orders or to update on your mutual patient, you may be met with disdain and sarcasm. But that's okay too, because it's just a part of nursing.

Nurses know this to be true. Nurses know these are the dirty secrets of nursing. Nurses know that bullying is rampant. Yet, the answer to this problem is "grow a thicker skin" or "you'll just get used to it".

Nurses know that understaffing is a given and that high acuity and high patient loads per nurse is more common than not. Nurses know this isn't safe, they know the care being given isn't what it should or could be, but they do not unite together against it and demand change.

Nurses know that there is often a lack of adequate training and preceptorship for new grads and new employees entering new specialty areas and that too many times nurses get thrown to the wolves and it's a sink or swim mentality. But, this is just a part of nursing we accept.

Nurses know this. They live it. They experience it. It is the culture of nursing. Yet, there is no call to end it. No hash tag. No selfies. No viral campaign on social media. No standing up to it. Just the continued mentality that these things are just a part of nursing that you have to accept or leave.

So, instead of uniting together against something or someone that has no impact on nursing, why not stand up and unite against the things that are killing the nursing profession and demand they change?

Sincerely,

A disillusioned nurse

[QPC_NP]

I found that sad as well. Nursing is culture that tears new employees apart-for what I may ask? To see that we can survive? Or cope the trials of nursing hunger games? Silly...We can unite against a talk show host but cant promote the morale of our profession? Honestly, we need to fix ourselves before we start attacking social media....Geez.

[disillusionedrn, RN]

Ah, there's that "suck it up or move on" mentality I spoke of. Thanks for highlighting it for me.

[KellMell]

Wow, talk about bullying and nurses eating their young! Perhaps, you should view the #NursesUnite movement as an open door to UNITE and STAND up to demand things change. Like, respect...respect of the public, respect of management, respect of doctors, respect of one another... and bring nurses TOGETHER instead of breeding bullying and condescension. Then we can work on the other "issues plaguing the nursing profession" one issue at a time. I think respect may be a starting point.

[disillusionedrn, RN]

I'm confused as to if you are saying I am a bully? Please point out where I am disrespectful of anyone. If you take offense to the fact that I think this is a superficial bandwagon, that is your issue. But please don't put me in a "nurses eating their young" category for saying that there are real issues in nursing to stand united against that are being ignored whilst snapping stethoscope selfies in rebuke of a television host.

[RNBillieBSN]

You know, I too have 40 years nursing experience. I am all for getting the nursing cause out there...But that last sentence sounds a lot like a threat to your congresswoman and Senator. I'm just saying.

[QPC_NP]

I agree and disagree with post but no offense but doctors already have respect. We see it on tv all the time. How many medical correspondents are nurses on our daily morning news shows ? Less to zero. The nursing profession needs to respect one another before demanding others to respect them. We have so many young nurses quiting bedside nursing in 2 to 4 yrs to be advanced practice nurses because they want to get out of the tension unfriendly environment....Folks lets be honest with ourselves so we can fix the real problem here.

[Susie2310]

Agree on many of these points but not on many others. First of all, nurse bashing on the View DOES have an impact on the profession because it can affect the perception of nurses and ultimately, the respect nurses receive for doing what they do.

But without the value and respect from others (some of which was jeopardized on a large scale by the ladies of the VIew), there will be no chance of improving work conditions- ever!

Nurses and physicians earn respect from the public by practicing their profession conscientiously and competently, showing respect and compassion for their patients and their patients' families, and by being good advocates for their patients. Would we expect to see physicians taking offense publicly and starting a movement because they were "disrespected" on a television show and were concerned that the public would lose respect for them as professionals?

[vintagemother, BSN, CNA, LVN, RN]

This is one way to at least get voices heard.. If Cali can have ratios, why can't the rest of the states offer it as well??

Sadly, even in our good old Cali, the ratios only apply to acute care facilities.

SNFs and ALFs get away with some strange calculations of minutes per staff member which includes the admin staff who never set foot on the floor, yet are included in ratios.

However, I won't complain, because I've read on AN about nurses who work in acute care in other states with much worse ratios!

[AmeliasAunt]

I posted something similar to this on my personal Facebook page. I completely agree with everything OP! Brilliantly written.

[Jules A, MSN]

Would we expect to see physicians taking offense publicly and starting a movement because they were "disrespected" on a television show and were concerned that the public would lose respect for them as professionals?

Nope I wouldn't expect to see physicians even dignifying something like this with a response.

[icuRNmaggie, BSN, RN]

Nurses and physicians earn respect from the public by practicing their profession conscientiously and competently, showing respect and compassion for their patients and their patients' families, and by being good advocates for their patients. Would we expect to see physicians taking offense publicly and starting a movement because they were "disrespected" on a television show and were concerned that the public

would lose respect for them as professionals?

If a Miss America contestant was a medical student or MD, gave a heartfelt speech about a patient and was ridiculed for reading her emails, wearing a

nurses outfit and a physician's stethoscope, the verbal/online " whooping" would have been ten times worse. Med Students, interns and MDs are a very rough crowd.

[RyzenRN, ASN, BSN, MSN]

What a typical snarky "******" comment. Instead of joining and "uniting", you become divisive. And THAT is the problem. While you make great points, you start out by completely putting down others for uniting over this cause. The cause in essence, nurses deserve respect, feeds in to many of the points you brought up and you COULD HAVE used this #NursesUnite as a way to feed energy into the points you brought up- yet, typically, you divide and are negative. Until people like you get it, nurses will continue to be taken advantage of by the public and at work. Your open letter should have started more this way:

This #NursesUnite is great. How wonderful our skills and knowledge and worth are being acknowledged. I think we can carry this further to create more change. Here are changes I feel need the attention #NursesUnite can give....

And I must say that I disagree with you categorizing this "bandwagon" of demanding respect for nurses as "superficial". I think it is FUNDAMENTAL. We must have "respect" before we get anything that you proposed. You must start somewhere, and fundamental respect is the beginning. Otherwise, you come off very snarky..