As I look ahead...

[exit96]

A couple of the posts I read today have led me to share my thoughts on what the future may hold for myself in this Nursing World...

So I have been a Nurse for 3 years, have wanted to be a nurse for 20 some years. Anyway, new to the ER X6 months, LOVE ER for so many reasons. Sure we get the "continual" idiot's for dental pain (X5 yrs) that do not follow up with a dentist, sick people that don't fill their discharge scripts and end up coming back, super-idiots that exhibit NOT ONE objective s/s of pain yet want their pain meds, and so on......This issue, at it's core, will not be enough to push me out of Nursing. What, I predict, WILL push me out is, what i like to call "The dog and pony show." The "perception" that our hustling and urgency is for noble reasons VS padding the (insert expletive) money grubbing pigs at the top of the ladder. I could also call it "The hall of mirrors" (we, collectively, blindly follow along and don't recognize ourselves any longer) or whatever. It is not specific to health care but has finally penetrated the "moral/ethical" force field that used to protect the UNIQUE "Patient-Provider" relationship. We have become whores and have now allowed pt's to be called "customers." Customers?!?!...in this "non-profit" hospital system. The patient-provider relationship has always been unique, pt's are not customers!!!!!!!!! I didn't go to nursing school for retail sales!!!! I don't give a rip if the COO/CEO/ Physician gets his/her bonus or not!!! I did not have any of these "dogs or ponies" in mind when I decided to become a Nurse.

Ok, so that was a little wordy. So to address my topic related to the previous rant: I can see myself getting tired of running around, acting like everyone is an EMERGENCY, so that we can get them in and out faster (because of their entitlement mentality), so that our "quality scores (quality as it relates to the pt's perceived needs-NOT as it relates to safe or effective care)," so that the dogs at the top of the food chain can get their bonus (RN's are terribly under paid-we are the pt's most important encounter IMHO). I will get tired of taking risks in an effort to "get those quality scores up" BS that drives our "HOTEL MODEL" Health System (oxymoron).

But for now I am enjoying the pace, it gives me a reason to keep moving and get some exercise. As long as I don't engage my mind and act like this is an event all is well. Let's get that idiot coming in via EMS (2nd day in a row that pt has tied up an EMS vehicle and only lives 3 blocks from the hospital) in a room STAT for his "chest pain" (pt was just here yesterday for dental pain), while the allergic reaction waits for the Benadryl she needs for CT die reaction to diagnose that she hasn't taken a dump and is FOS, and get right to the moronic female that is pregnant and is apparently surprised to have some abdominal discomfort (NOT pain, no vag discharge, no blood, just stomach doesn't feel right)...etc....Yeehaaa!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It's more fun than a "Tilt-A-Whirl!!"

[DialysisRN12]

Wordy yes but so eloquently put. Love it!

[ogerpus]

Took the words right out of my mouth/keyboard!

[Sassy5d]

15 years ago when I was a baby nurse, things were so different. I really wish people would get a clue. I know things are only going to go down hill.

Tonight was a great example. I was satisfied with myself that I was able to calmly use my 'therapeutic' communication skill. Show empathy. But I quickly learned that it really didn't matter what I said. You're gonna call your posse in, they are going to come nag me every 5 minutes. They are going to glare at me. Nothing I say matters to you or your 'friends'.

It's a REAL shame because in the end, people are REALLY hurting themselves because, IMO, the quality nurses are being driven out of the ER's because of the 98% of non-critical patients.

It is a hotel approach. The docs and pa's and nurses just don't want to deal with the 'customer' is always right. The customer is going to kill their satisfaction scores because the pt who demands iv dialadid and does not get it is going to complain.

[LakeEmerald]

The trueness - it burns! I love my ER, but all too often I find myself blocking the dingleberries out of my head who are there to "come to the doctor" and are put off because "it's taking too long." These pts don't seem to have an ounce of perspective beyond their cell-phones. I keep my patients who are truly sick at the front of my mind and find satisfaction in taking care of them and their families. We have been instructed to make sure we smile at the CEO when he walks through the ER. We comply and move forward, but wish it were different.