Complaining about your employer, loudly, at nurses' station

vampiregirl, BSN, RN · Dec 25, 2014

Also, it's a downer, a morale buster, to hear this constant kvetching, b--ching, moaning and groaning.

Yep, and misery is contagious (just like positivity)!

I've had prior employers that, well, haven't exactly made it easy to sing their praises. When asked if I enjoy my job, I always responded with relating something that I enjoyed about that particular job. And you know what, sometimes stating these things out loud reinforced them to me too!

There are some wonderful places to work. I'm currently in an area of nursing that I never thought of myself in. I am learning so much and have the most wonderful team of co-workers. It's very refreshing to work in this environment!

Mr. Murse · Dec 25, 2014

No its literal. I don't walk in and tell them hi I'm your nurse, by the way I hate my employer and this hospital, but if they ask, I tell them honestly. However the fact that I hate my employer doesn't affect the effort of my job, because I like my charge and my ER docs. I have seen enough to know that most employers don't care about their nurses.

Everyone in any type of public service industry knows that you don't have to just spill the "whole truth" every time a "customer" asks you a question, ESPECIALLY about personal issues. If a patient asks me a religious question, for example, I'm not going to get into some long, drawn out response about my non-religious beliefs. I answer honestly, but in such a way to respect their position as my patient and their beliefs that may differ from mine.

In the same way, if a patient asks if you enjoy your job you do not have to tell them the whole story. Most importantly, if you were a patient at a hospital, how would it affect your stay if your caregiver told you they hated their job? Would that really instill any trust that they're giving you the best care they can? Sure, you say it doesn't affect your care, but seriously, how can it not?

I happen to actually like my job, but even if I didn't and someone asked, I would probably reply something along the lines that "every job has its pros and cons" and then go on to focus on what I do like about it (your charge, doctors, etc). It's honest but not degrading and discouraging to your patient that they're being cared for by miserable people who dread coming to work.

No Stars In My Eyes · Dec 26, 2014

This is an off-shoot of the subject at hand.....Years ago I was applying at a well-known, national franchise agency. As I sat filling out my application I could hear the office employees in the back room discussing some of the field employees at great length and in unflattering terms. I decided I did not want to work for an agency where such hateful, judgmental people were 'in charge'. I stood up, ripped up my application and deposited it on the (empty) receptionists desk, and walked out.

LadyFree28, BSN, LPN, RN · Dec 26, 2014

While that may be the truth about your personal feelings....the patient and the bedside IS NOT the proper place to discuss YOUR feelings. If I was your boss in the ED we would be having a discussion about your longevity in your present position and professionalism at the bedside.
As a patient...if my nurse spoke about their job like that I would have serious concerns about my safety and the competency of the nurse caring for me. People who "like" their jobs are less likely to make mistakes. Recently, I was in a life threadtening emergency and required emergent abd surgery....if at any time my nurses displayed that attitude I would would have been terrified that they just don't care and are going to miss something vital that will threaten my life.
If the nurse doens't give a rat's ass about thier job why would they care about me?

THIS.

I think people do forget about that...there's a more artful way to deal with issues in the work place.

I wonder if people were MORE empathetic and wondered how they would feel on the receiving end of their negativity as a pt dying or near death; would they REALLY want to hear that???

Just something people need to step back and think about... :whistling:

blondy2061h, MSN, RN · Dec 26, 2014

If you hate nursing, and a patient asks you if you like your job, simply answer with a smile "It's very interesting work". Not a lie, yet not negative.

"I like a lot of what I do as a nurse- my coworkers, my patients, and the opportunity to always learn something new!"

VANurse2010 · Dec 26, 2014

Yeah, at least you have a job.That's what I say to anyone who complains about their workplace.

I don't think this is the standard we should be judging our workplaces or the economy by.

BuckyBadgerRN, ASN, RN · Dec 26, 2014

We received a memo that we should stop complaining about our hospital at work, especially where patients can hear, or in front of other employees. Our manager said that, if we hate our jobs so much, there are other options out there, and she'd rather us work elsewhere.
I have to say, I agree. For one thing, we should be careful what we say within earshot of patients. Also, it's a downer, a morale buster, to hear this constant kvetching, ********, moaning and groaning. As long as we work for an entity, we are their servants and we should not bite the hands that feed us. We should be thankful for our livelihoods, it feeds us and gives us shelter, we have it a lot better than many people in this world.
Merry Christmas everyone!

"SERVANTS"? Oh hayle no, not in this lifetime!!! I'm on board with most of what you wrote, but I am NOONE'S servant

BuckyBadgerRN, ASN, RN · Dec 26, 2014

If you hate nursing, and a patient asks you if you like your job, simply answer with a smile "It's very interesting work". Not a lie, yet not negative.

My go-to line/move is to smile and say "MOST days!"

Fiona59 · Dec 26, 2014

I work in Canada, so my employer is the provincial government. Right now, it's a very unpopular government that appointed a total twunt as Minister of Health.

Our patients understand that we are funded by the government and think nothing of venting to us about the health authority.

I just smile and nod and when pressed tell them that I can't have this conversation. A health minister a couple of years ago decided that healthcare workers aren't entitlted to discuss healthcare.

Gooselady, BSN, RN · Dec 26, 2014

No its literal. I don't walk in and tell them hi I'm your nurse, by the way I hate my employer and this hospital, but if they ask, I tell them honestly. However the fact that I hate my employer doesn't affect the effort of my job, because I like my charge and my ER docs. I have seen enough to know that most employers don't care about their nurses.

I'm sure you don't mean it to be, but this is totally inappropriate and harmful to the patient, who should not have to be thinking about YOUR problems while they are trying to cope with being hospitalized. Patients need to feel well taken care of, not suspicious or intimidated by the big mean corporation delivering their health care.

Using a patient's question as an opportunity for you to vent your dissatisfaction is NOT 'just telling the truth'. It is self centered and exploitative. The patient is stuck, the captive audience, helpless against this image you are giving them of the hospital they are trying to trust with their life.

It DOES affect your work. Whatever you say or do to a patient in your care affects that person stuck in the bed, at your mercy. It diminishes the patient's trust in you, and the patient NEEDS to trust you.

I'm afraid you can rationalize this any old way you want. I would feel very uncomfortable as your patient -- I mean seriously uncomfortable, like suspicious that mistakes will be made in my care and all I have is this dissatisfied, bitter nurse between me and some fatal error. I hope you at least consider this side of the story. I've felt very much like you, more than once. What you think of the hospital is not the problem, for all I know they are as horrid as you say.

Gooselady, BSN, RN · Dec 26, 2014

As to the OP; our manager sent out a very similar memo. Apparently nurses were complaining to the patients how busy they were. A patient would be upset they had to wait so long to be taken to the commode and the nurse would shoot back about how understaffed and busy they were.

For the patient's sake (NOT the administration, NOT the company running the hospital), we ought not to recruit patients to 'our side' in whatever dissatisfaction we have with our employer. I really don't care about reflecting 'well' on administration. I just don't want the patient to have such inappropriate things worrying their head while their lives are on the line, ya know?

To me it is one of the worst kinds of insensitive conduct a nurse could engage in. And I'll admit I was not exactly careful of not doing this myself until it hit me how selfish it was for me to 'use' a patient to vent on. Just put yourself in their place. Even overhearing nurse's do their normal and understandable kvetching at the nurse's station impacts the care.

nurseprnRN, BSN, RN · Dec 26, 2014

When patients ask me "do you like nursing?" or "do you like what you do?" my exact word is "No". They ask me why and I tell them that I don't mind the work but health care is full of crooks and that I work for crooks so I hate what I do. I have no problem talking smack about my employer, they are out for themselves in the end and their profit, their money, their bonuses.

Boy, this better have a "sarcasm" icon with it ... if not, well, nobody in a dependent position in a bed wants to hear that the person caring for him/her hates what s/he's doing and where s/he's doing it. Scary. The nurse-patient relationship is SOOO not about you.