Employer Respect

[MySunshineHasCome]

I must give all great nurses a standing ovation for braving it out in your profession. Working as a CNA has detered me away from the profession but left me with the utmost respect for GOOD nurses of ALL educational backgrounds. I find that nurses get the least amount if respect from their patients and family and the least support from their employers. I notice that employers would take the word of a patient over a nurse even if the patient is elderly and has zero credibility, OR the word of the patient's family (who isn't there all the time), sometimes resulting in the nurse losing his/her job. (I could go on about these unfair practices, but I'm on my cell, which also means you should ignore my typos and horrid sentence structure.)

How do you deal with working in a system/employer that is against you (if this is your work situation, I'm aware ther are ecxceptions.)?

[Zookeeper3]

I need to pay my bills and I have a healthy life away from here that makes me whole.

[canoehead, BSN, RN]

Move the heck on. If you can't move on, take lots of night and weekend shifts.

[RN-ing, BSN, MSN, NP]

Move the heck on. If you can't move on, take lots of night and weekend shifts.

Yes, working nights helps a lot! Also, a good husband and a warm house is nice too

[Guest717236]

Find a working environment where you are respected. Not all

jobs are in the inpatient setting. I found outpatient to be a better

fit for me. Save the fact the pay was a bit lower, the working environment

was excellent and I learned a lot. I lucked out and worked for a physician

who valued nurses and treated them with respect.

[Zookeeper3]

Move the heck on. If you can't move on, take lots of night and weekend shifts.

And to add to this, 16 years in that's why I STILL work nights and many weekends:D I can simply nurse!

[danh3190]

Guess I'm lucky, but on my inpatient floor I've had plenty of support from my UD and his assistants so far.

[GHGoonette, BSN, RN]

My patients don't give me any lack of respect; but then they're whacked out from anaesthetic anyway, and there's very little that's more of a leveler than having to go for surgery.... We never have problems with family who accompany patients to the pre-op either.

Regarding doctors, I never encounter disrespect from any of them except for the occasional "new kid on the block" who may try a bit of shirt, but we usually subtly put these guys in their place and afterwards they're as sweet as sugar.

As for my employers, I have to say that they have no respect for their nursing staff, and none for their patients either; nothing much I can do about it, money-grubbing SOBs is what they are and I can't change that. I can, however, return their regard for me....as I have repeatedly said on this forum, the feeling is entirely mutual.

[RNperdiem, RN]

When it comes to complaints, I suspect managers look for patterns.

A nurse with an excellent reputation can survive the occasional random family complaint, especially if there is doubt about the validity of the complaint anyway.

A nurse who gets frequent complaints often gets them for a reason.

I don't worry about these things. I am part of a younger generation who does not expect high levels of loyalty and lifetime employment.

Right now I am working at a hospital that does treat me right, and I have been working here for 12 years.

[Jules A, MSN]

OP, if you were planning on pursuing nursing I would urge you to try other CNA positions before making the decision to give up on the field. Many of the things you wrote about do happen however for the most part I have found nursing to be a wonderful profession. Most of my patients are very appreciative, most of my co-workers are incredible and for the most part even the bosses that I think are less than stellar leave me alone because they know I get the job done. Nursing offers a great amount of flexibility with schedules, hours, types of work and the money isn't bad especially when you consider the relatively small amount of education required. Think about it. :)

[enchantmentdis, BSN, RN]

I was ready to leave nursing until i found a hospice on call position. Now i can be a nurse and not be burned out and resentful. Getting out of acute care saved my life and i work w/out anyone following me--prefer to be on my own.

[wiley6coyote]

Well this is EXACTLY the problem in our facility at the moment and the employee morale is zero. It is a well known fact that if someone is in from head office, the upper management is throwing their arms around the employees and being BFF!! but when corporate leaves it is a whole different scenario. We are losing great staff at an alarming rate.