Come On!!

Originally posted by ainz

Said it so much lately I'll just make it a thread.

The attitude that we are poor, downtrodden, and helpless victims of the evil and all powerful administration is

OLD, TIRED, AND PATHETIC!!!

We are better than that and we can do better. Wake up guys.

I guess you haven't worked short staffed lately, when admin refuses to call in any more nurses.

I think she/he is administration. Correct me if I'm wrong.

Originally posted by ainz

We are better than that and we can do better. Wake up guys.

You have a plan? I'm listening.

We have a situation in out hospital that OB is a closed unit. One weekend we were so busy on med/surg and ICU that we have 4 or 5 patients over our regular load and the superviser said that she called every single liscensed person in the hospital and no one wanted to come in. It was a hell weekend to say the least. We found out that OB had only one mom and no babes. They had two people on call and because of the closed unit business, we could not call them in. Even if they were uncomfortable, all they had to do was answer call light and do baths.

It was a mess. The next week it was the other way around and we had to send nurses to OB. It was so bad.

Sorry but there are situations that call for anger.

The poor poor me attitude sometimes cant be helped when you understaffed and underpaid and you have patients going bad and 6 admissions and 5 discharges and you are drowning with no support....I think nurses are underappreciated in general....people think kinda like the "old school" thinking; nurses are bed pan emptying, doctor do-girls. I had a doctor ordering a med one time and I told him that it interacted with another med the patient was on and his comment was "when did nurses get so smart?" nurses are trained professionals with skills and critical thinking that cant be replaced with a robot or machine.....

~jumps down off the soapbox~

teehee )

Waiting to read about how things SHOULD be....

stella123 rn, that's interesting, if that unit is closed in one direction it should be closed in the other. Was that issue addressed and what was the response?

You're right, there are plenty of situations that call for anger, starting with the number of patients in the assignment per shift. Management and their greed is not responsible for that???? All a lot of nurses want is a safe assignment based on acuity not on numbers, and that is not going to happen, no matter how positive an attitude we have.

Yep, positive attitude doesn't fix the problems

Well some nurses were upset by it and others were like "poor OB". Nothing was really said. I did not want to complain too much because I am still on the new side. I KNOW that I need to be more assertive ( I am working on it). Nothing really came about it because no one complained. This is what happens when people do not stand up for themselves.

Thanks for the responses!! An yes cannoli, I am in administration, and your point is . . . . .?

First, I am a RN and a die hard advocate for nursing and advancing the profession, that is why I am in administration so I could be in a position to help change things.

Look at it like this, where are we now? What is happening to nursing toay? How effective have we been with our current strategy? Problem is we don't have a strategy other than to quit nursing or go get a union to represent us, or form our own. There is no quick fix but there is a solution. Behaving as victims is certainly not the answer. Our solution is simple, remove ourselves as employees and become professionals that are reimbursed directly by the payors. To do this is an entirely different issue but can be done. We are the largest segment of heathcare professionals, there are more nurses than any other professional, we have the power if we will use it.

First we must organize as a unified body through an association much like the AMA. ANA has been pathetically ineffective, in large part because only 6% of nurses are members.

Second we develop a political srategy to CHANGE THE LAWS that govern nursing and reimbursement where nurses are paid as practitioners. A long term venture but very possible.

Third we take steps to "professionalize" ourselves including the education for entry level debate. We clearly define what a nurse is and how to become one.

Fourth we educate ourselves to be effective in business scenarios. We have to understand the principles of healthcare economics or we are completely in the dark with misinformation and misunderstanding like most of us are now. We have to be able to intelligently sit at the table and dicuss issues realistically. And rid ourselves of this attidtude that everyone else but us is greedy, only interested in the money and don't really care about the patients, that is simply not true and counterproductive.

Next we have to provide objective, quantitative data that links unique nursing interventions to patient outcomes to financial performance. The information is out there and no one is going to gather it for us, we must do it ourselves. We can begin this now in each of our own hospitals.

This is a large undertaking that will take some time but nothing will change unless we do these things. Again, there is no quick fix. After being in administration for a few years and learning the business side, I , and other nurse executives like me, are convinced that this is the approach.

What do you guys think?

My point was in reference to the comment made by MishlB.

You talked on another thread about forming a strong and unified association that can lobby for us. Are you going to form it? Let me know when you've done it and I'll be one of the first to join.

I think what's being said here, Ainz, is that nurses today (for the most part) in the current circumstances, have little time or energy left at the end of the long, exhausting, and headsplitting day to even begin thinking about undertaking a task of such magnitude.... as wonderful a plan as it is. There are kids to do homework with, dailey chores yet to tend to, and somewhere, somehow, perhaps even just a quiet moment to self.

Yes, a concrete plan which could be materialized is something we all long for.

But the average 12 hour shift bedside nurse has little left to give at the end of her day... this is where the "ants" look to the "queen".... surely there is a fragment of nursing SOMEWHERE which excells at tackling a challenge of such enormity...looks forward to the challenge, and has the wherewithall (energy, time, mental freshness, resources) to bring it to fruition.

The everday nurse has little of the above... barely enough to get through each day.

Those who choose to remain positive in spite of conditions do so to preserve some sense of selfrespect, accountability, and a genuine concern for the patient... not because they are martyrs or because they accept the status quo.

Is this passing the buck? You might say that... but how can we be expected to throw ourselves into such a huge project when we are barely managing to keep our heads above water during the average workweek? And work we must.