Driving out the older nurse

live4today, RN · Jul 26, 2005

That's a darn shame, night owl. How cruel and cold hearted can they be. :rolleyes: All kinds of things are happening in healthcare facilities today, and not all of them are good things. Employees usually end up on the wrong end of the deal...young, middle aged, and older. Greed has no age, and greed is at the root of the evil of healthcare. :angryfire

z's playa · Jul 26, 2005

I respect and look up to my elders. I want to learn and listen to ALL my elders because I believe I can learn from them.

To drive out older nurses is shameful and cruel. After all they've done and all those lives they've touched...........

I got my inspiration from them. Many will benefit from my chosen path in life. They have these nurses to thank.

Thank you to all of you.

(You know who you are.)

Z

Tweety, BSN, RN · Jul 26, 2005

That's a shame. We not only eat our young, but our old too. That saddens me.

leslie :-D · Jul 26, 2005

talk about the ultimate slap in the face of our seasoned and experienced nurses. :angryfire

browsing · Jul 26, 2005

maybe the older nurses who were forced to resign tried to eat their youngs before

psalm, RN · Jul 26, 2005

...at our hospital, we have nurses who are in their 60s and 70s still pulling 8 and 12 hour shifts. One has been a nurse for 57 years, one for 51, and still going strong. So maybe at your facility it is ageism...or maybe some things you aren't aware of that are specific to said nurses. Either way, be kind to them and be there for them. Sad, coz I have learned a lot from our "older" nurses.

chelojelo · Jul 26, 2005

Lately I've been concerned with the way things are going at my facility. It seems that management tries to find fault with the older nurse, looking for every little mistake and making a big deal out of it in hopes that she/he resigns/retires. Maybe I just never noticed before, but in the last few years it seems that at my facility, if you're still there after retriremnet age, this is the way you just might be leaving. One older nurse was accused of something that was done supposedly by her on a certain day. She wasn't even on duty the day of this incident. She actually had to hire a lawyer, pay him $2k to prove the fact she was on a day off. Can you imagine??? She resigned soon after. Another near retirement nurse was asked to log onto the computer and look something up in front of mock surveyors. This nurse became alittle nervous due to the fact she had a bunch of people plus the director hanging over her shoulders and just couldn't log into the computer. The director of the nursing home humiliated her so badly in front of these people, telling her she was incompetent and shouldn't be working. She decided that rather than to fight this attack of verbal abuse, she just resigned because it wasn't worth the fight. They are in the process of trying to "nail" to the wall yet another dedicated, excellent nurse for an incident that had she done 20 years ago, would have been no big deal, but probably would have received a verbal counseling. All of these nurses have never been in trouble their entire time at this facility, never written up for any thing, always had very good time and leave and then towards the end TPTB try to force them to resign/retire whether or not they want to leave. I'm confused here. Does this happen often at other facilities? Does it happen to those who feel they aren't ready for retirement, but want to continue to work as long as they are willing and able? Is it because the employer doesn't want to pay these well seasoned nurses the top salaries they deserve? Who forces out TPTB when they're ready for retirement??? And last, I'd like to work as long as I'm willing and able. Should I prepare myself for the big boot in the bootie in about 15 or so years down the road? What a way to leave. It's a gosh darn shame.

I've seen this happen to several older nurses at my last job over the course of the 7yrs I worked there. It was also a LTC facility. One particular nurse had been there for 20+ yrs. I was sitting outside on break with a younger nurse one day and she said to me, "they're trying to get rid of (insert older nurses name here) so i can have her position and come to 1st shift full time." I didn't think too much of what she said at the time, cause you know how rumors and favoritism fly at any workplace...then about a month later the older nurse was fired for endangering a patient. And loe and behold, that younger nurse who had made the comment immediately slipped right into that position. The nurse who was fired filed a lawsuit and though it took forever, finally won just less than a year ago! I have seen administration do some nurses, and other nursing staff too, pretty bad just because they didn't like the way they looked or because they didn't fit into their "social class". It's ridiculous, but it's real.

CseMgr1, ASN, RN · Jul 26, 2005

Sounds like these nurses need to band together and file a class action lawsuit against the owners of this facility for age discrimination.

renerian, BSN, RN · Jul 26, 2005

Wow if she needed the computer and the mock surveyors were there, I don't get the problem. Just because there is a mock or real survey in process patient care does not stop..Sheesh.

Yes it is very sad.

renerian

mattsmom81 · Jul 26, 2005

I have seen this happen over and over in my area and have posted about it. Many do not believe it really happens. Its easy to think 'no way' until we see it with our own eyes.

Management has so many ways to target nurses...too many are drunk with power and for any reason (age is an only one of their targets) they start a paper trail and then work their discrediting campaign until the nurse slinks off. Too many nurses won't fight this kind of thing...its expensive and by the time we're old the fight has gone out of us after so many hard years at the bedside.

I've been in management. When things got tight financially one of the things we were ordered to do is try to force the old nurses into early retirement (especially if they had ever been injured or had health problems). The older nurses were the most expensive and most risk laden, according to the CFO. We were to target them...dig up old writeups, and add to the list.

I just didn't have it in me to stay in management. Lots of folks here just think I'm jaded against management, but I've heard their scheming and been ordered to participate, so I'm not imagining anything.

ZZTopRN, BSN, RN · Jul 26, 2005

I have seen this happen over and over in my area and have posted about it. Many do not believe it really happens. Its easy to think 'no way' until we see it with our own eyes.
Management has so many ways to target nurses...too many are drunk with power and for any reason (age is an only one of their targets) they start a paper trail and then work their discrediting campaign until the nurse slinks off. Too many nurses won't fight this kind of thing...its expensive and by the time we're old the fight has gone out of us after so many hard years at the bedside.
I've been in management. When things got tight financially one of the things we were ordered to do is try to force the old nurses into early retirement (especially if they had ever been injured or had health problems). The older nurses were the most expensive and most risk laden, according to the CFO. We were to target them...dig up old writeups, and add to the list.
I just didn't have it in me to stay in management. Lots of folks here just think I'm jaded against management, but I've heard their scheming and been ordered to participate, so I'm not imagining anything.

Thank you for being so brave and honest and not playing into it. I have not worked in management, but I don't have to work in management to see the things that go on.

I always wonder how these cruel people justify the mean things they do to other people. Do they like themselves? How can they not know the pain they cause other people and be so unfeeling about it?