Complaining about your employer, loudly, at nurses' station

[Emergent]

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!

[elkpark]

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

Well, of course not, but it's a heckuvalot better than not having a job, which plenty of people these days don't ...

[imenid37]

I agree with a lot of what you are saying. There have certainly been times for me that I really disliked nursing, my boss, the facility, a combination thereof, or all. I have never disliked taking care of patients, but got sick of poor benefits, being hounded about accruing overtime, or having a boss whose ego was inversely related to her intelligence. Free expression is great, but you have to be careful. I think something anonymous like a "concerns" box is better. If you openly complain about a ridiculous boss to HR, for example, you can be pretty sure she/he will know who did it. Likely, nothing will be done about it (yes I am serious) and then you will have a target on your back. In PA, it is employment at will. Employees have few rights. Things in healthcare ebb and flow. What is bad at employer A, is better at B BUT What is Bad at employer B may equal or outweigh conditions at employer A. You have to decide if you go or stay and what you can put up with. This forum is great because you see what others are doing at their jobs. In 27+ years as an RN, and 30+ years working in hospitals, I have learned that I am responsible for my own happiness, not a facility, a patient, or a boss. The patient is #1, I am #2. I never resign my total allegiance to a place where I, as anyone, can be replaced in a matter of days or weeks. That isn't bad mouthing or slamming an employer, it is being aware of my obligations as a nurse and the state of reality in healthcare. If you can't stand being treated poorly, leave if you have a better option. Sometimes you don't. Sometimes you really want to keep 4 weeks of vacation, or first choice of time off at the holidays, or your charge nurse position. You will never get an ideal job, you do not want to go elsewhere and then realize that because you trash talked your former place of employment, you cannot return when conditions change or your point of view changes.

[Esme12, ASN, BSN, RN]

OK, I take back the word servant, already. I meant it in the more noble, Biblical sense, but apparently the word is taboo and offensive to many. Mea Culpa. Maybe we can move on from my egregious faux pas ?

I understood what you meant

[SHGR, MSN, RN, CNS]

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.

People don't need to ask me whether I like what I do. I enjoy my work and it shows in my attitude and the quality of my work itself. Even so, it's just like any other personal question at work- brief vague answer, attention back to the patient.

[rnlane]

I have found that the people complaining are generally unhappy people anyway. I have had jobs I really disliked but did not burden the patients with my dissatisfaction. I stayed at the job while i searched for a new one and then left.

[Gooselady, BSN, RN]

While I agree that we should not do this in front of our patients, they know when we are understaffed, no one has to verify it for them. My mom was recently in the hospital, and she said she could tell by body language, the time it took to respond, and the overall anxiety on the floor and from the staff. They can also tell when your work phone is ringing every time you are in their room.

Of course they do :) They may be sick but they're on high alert to pick up on this kind of thing BECAUSE they are sick.

Within reason (and just being human), reassuring the patient their needs will be met is just part of helping them get better and go home.

Someone pointed this out to me once, it was quite apt: In the hallway, nurse's station and med room, nurses had eyes bugging out and speed walked but once they hit the patient room they are transformed Just outside the patient's door, the speed walk stopped, the bugging eyes and hyperventilation calmed, and a sweet smile and calming presence stepped into the room

I could give a fart about doing this to reassure ANYONE EXCEPT the patient, who is stuck in the bed at the mercy of the staff and their illness. I realize we do this FOR the patient, and their family, not to kiss administration's bootie. We do so much more as nurses than delivering meds and assessments, we use our whole self as a tool of our trade.

If that self is self-preoccupied with everything that is wrong, the tool sucks. Being a nurse is so not about 'me me me'.

[Nola009]

I agree with you. I complain when I'm off the clock, to non-employees who won't repeat what I said (AN, far away friends, & my husband).

[theboysmomx4]

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.

my interpretation of a patient asking "do you like nursing?" is that they are really asking if you like taking care of THEM. i feel that patients do not really care if you like your employer or not...they want to know that you care about them and helping them to feel better...not just there to pass out meds and update your computer. if i was a patient and asked this, it would probably be just because i was making small talk and being polite....to be given an answer like the above, would make me very uncomfortable, especially if this is my first contact with you. might be different if i have had you as my nurse for several shifts and we developed a friendly rapport and i loved the care you otherwise provided to me. however, if i do not know you and i'm maybe asking this questions the first time or two i have interacted with you, i would be taken aback and question the care you would provide to me...as a fellow nurse, i would ask to have you removed as my nurse for that day/night...lucky for you, many patients do not know they can complain to the charge and have you taken off their care.

[icuRNmaggie, BSN, RN]

I said "servant", not "slave". We are employed, paid wages, to serve our patients and the goals of our employers. An employee has the freedom to find other work in the marketplace, a slave does not.

Loudly complaining at the nurses' station puts our employers in a bad light, and makes those patients we serve insecure and fearful that they may be in danger. I do believe we have a duty to those we serve, both the company and the recipients of our care.

I guess I see being a servant to our fellow humans as a noble calling, not an indignity.

Some people are happy being of service to others. My mechanic, the man who painted my house, and my yoga teacher are all examples of that.

These are people that I want to have in my life.

I understood what the OP meant.

[Ruas61, BSN, RN]

I get what the OP meant.

I do see myself as doing service but I do not wish to have myself called a servant.

Don't think I am ignorant of what it meant or demean me for my preference of words.

[No Stars In My Eyes]

Poe-tay-toe / Poe-tah-toe......s'funny how a thread goes 90 degrees sideways over semantics.

Don't get me wrong, I have my trigger words, too; so if it was something that tripped my trigger,I'd be right there spouting my piece as well. But don't you think we've wrung the blood out of this particular side-jaunt?

(thank you :) .)

[casper1]

If I'm working night shift with 30 patients and three nurses, with one tech who has to sit with an elderly patient whose confused and delusional and a patient complains because they had to wait half an hour for water. I feel its fair to say i'M

sorry but were short staffed tonight. Is that considered complaining or telling the

Truth.