Are You Helping or Hurting?

FutureRNMichael · Oct 9, 2003

Very true. I find this in all aspects of life. Not only work.

BarbPick · Oct 9, 2003

Devils advocate.

On your way home, you will actually think....Wow, I got out on time and no one got killed. I dotted my I's and crossed my T's and I did not sprain my back.

The Reward comes when you are stopped in a shopping Mall and a small group of strangers swarm around you, wanting hug and kiss you because you took such great care of Grandpa, and Grandpa is the last one in the crowd who gives you the biggest hug.

Pretzlgl · Oct 9, 2003

Originally posted by ainz
Think about how you define a successful day. My definition is when I am driving home that I can say to myself, "I did a good job today, I am a good nurse!!" And I feel good about my work, my job, and my career choice.

I do feel this way sometimes - and thinking about why that is, these are my reasons.

I had a 2 patient assignment - instead of 3 or 4 in the ICU.

Staffing levels were appropriate - one or two nurses weren't getting slammed, prompting other nurses to help and therefore let some of their work go.

Management didn't have their head up my a##, and I was able to do my job the way I wanted.

And because of these reasons, I didn't complain or have a negative attitude, or whine about administration.

I agree that positive attitudes come from within - BUT - there are many extenuating factors that administration can help with that do perpetuate some negative attitudes.

Zee_RN, BSN, RN · Oct 9, 2003

I agree that a positive attitude is important in nursing. It makes YOUR day go better and everyone else's around you. Anyone who knows me knows that I am perpetually upbeat. I've always called it my "genetic quirk."

HOWEVER, especially after this weekend, I must say:

I do not think this means that you should take whatever crap comes down the road, though, and that you become a doormat for administration. Protesting a three- or four-patient assignment in an ICU is advocating for your patients, protecting your patients and your own health/safety/license; it is NOT a negative attitude.

Please do not equate a negative attitude with insisting for what is RIGHT and SAFE.

SmilingBluEyes · Oct 9, 2003

I like to think I am HELPING every single day I practice.

My attitude is largely positive, but it can be tainted at times, by negative things at work. Do I let it color my whole perspective of nursing? No......

But being a Pollyanna does not solve nursing's problems either...and there are serious ones. Being proactive would.

cannoli · Oct 9, 2003

One can go in to work happy, in a great mood, with a positive attitude and it can be gone in about a minute once you discover what you have to deal with.

mattsmom81 · Oct 9, 2003

Originally posted by Pretzlgl
I do feel this way sometimes - and thinking about why that is, these are my reasons.

I had a 2 patient assignment - instead of 3 or 4 in the ICU.

Staffing levels were appropriate - one or two nurses weren't getting slammed, prompting other nurses to help and therefore let some of their work go.

Management didn't have their head up my a##, and I was able to do my job the way I wanted.

And because of these reasons, I didn't complain or have a negative attitude, or whine about administration.

I agree that positive attitudes come from within - BUT - there are many extenuating factors that administration can help with that do perpetuate some negative attitudes.

Wow...we are on the same wavelength today Pretzlgl!

I just posted a very similar reply elsewhere...LOL!!!

Couldn't agree more! :roll

Tweety, BSN, RN · Oct 9, 2003

ainz, I really seriously do admire you, but you have such a dark view of nursing.

You said "Tearing other people down, criticizing others, talking negativey, having a complaining spirit, whining about administration, watching your coworkers drown and not lifting a finger to help them--why do nurses do this to each other?".

If I worked in an environment like that I'm not sure I could handle it. Thank goodness I don't.

Show me a job, any job, anywhere, any profession that doesn't complain about their job and administration. It's the American way. People do it at water coolers and breakrooms all across the country.

We do have some legitimate concerns and we need an out to vent them.

I know in some ways I'm part of the problem. I appreciate all you have to offer and to inspire me, I really do.

I'd like to think that most us vent our concerns, help each other out, don't whine and complain, but deal with our issues, as Deb said in a proactive way. I see that sometimes, I try to be like that myself. But I do see what your saying as well.

ainz · Oct 10, 2003

I wouldn't work in an environment like that either. That is one reason I "job-hopped" so much back in the late 80's. Trying to escape it.

It is the American way to complain about work and administration, no doubt, Perhaps my view of nursing is somewhat dark. Part of my job is to go to hosptals that are having bad problems and try to make them better. Without excepton there is complaining, back-stabbing, no teamwork. Nearly every one of them, and I mean nearly every one of them, the problems are in the nursing department. Everyone else is mad at nursing because nursing is complaining and collectively has the negative attitude.

Well it is very obvious why nursing has the negative attitude but the first step is to stop it and re-focus.

I'll stop with my usual epistle, just too tired tonight. My current hospital is in a horrible state, and yes, it is the nursing department that is in chaos, and before I get flamed again, they have legitimate reasons many of which you read about on this BB. I have found you make no progress until you can settle the nurses down and get them to start helping each other.

Tweety, BSN, RN · Oct 10, 2003

Well it makes sense that if you job is to go into those kinds of environments, then that is what you see.

But take heart. We're all not like that.

But if the nurses lack teamwork, etc. isn't that ALSO, not solely, but also a management problem??? Where's the inspiration for teamwork, the leadership, etc.

I know it's a multifaceted problem. But try not to be so bitter.

Getting on a high horse giving epistles isn't going to solve anything either.

:)

ainz · Oct 10, 2003

True. I am humbled.

It does start as a management issue, then bleeds over into nursing, then all of the bickering etc., begins, and they perpetuate each other. A vicious cycle.

I am truly a nurse at heart, always have been and probably always will be. I know what it is like to be a staff nurse. Now that I have learned what it is like to be in administration and hear what those guys really think and how they think I have learned what nurses can do, by themselves, to swing things the other way and improve the working condtions for nursing.

I truly apologize for getting on my high horse and coming across as arrogant, don't mean to. Just sick of seeing well intentioned, good people who are nursing, beng manipulated and taken advantage of in the name of improving margins and higher profits. The nurses and the patients are the ones paying for it all.

So I take heat from nurses on this BB and at work but also take heat from my other administrative-types when I stand up for nurses and point it out when they are being manipulated.