Everything is our responsibility. Rant.

I wish, as an orientation exercise, every department of the healthcare team was required to shadow a nurse for a day. I think many eyes would be opened.

As would nurse's eyes be opened if they had to shadow in other departments/specialties as well...

Not only is everything our responsibility, everything is also our fault. That's one thing I hated about hospital nursing... a room change happens at 10pm, the kid's mother is mad that the bathroom isn't cleaned fast enough (because it was somehow clearly inappropriate that we disposed of her son's roommate's emesis in the toilet and crazy mother is convinced that germs from vomit flushed 8 hours ago are going to aerosolize and infect her son's covered surgical site) so it's clearly the nurses fault that there is ONE environmental services person covering the whole hospital on the night shift.

Kel...that's the part that is frustrating. We are on the front lines, so we get the dissatisfaction. It's a part of our job, I know, but it really wears on me at times. I have a vacation coming up to recharge. :)

You know, I remember when I was in nursing school, someone I know who had a daughter who was in and out of hospitals told me that she felt she could realize empathize with nurses because she used to be a waitress and she felt like it was very similar. At the time (I was a senior nursing student), I thought the comparison was a little insulting though I kind of understood after she explained that waitresses, like nurses, are on the front line so they get yelled at/blamed for things they cannot control. And then after working as a nurse for just under a year I FULLY understood what she meant one day... my patient who had had surgery for an arachnoid cyst had developed a CSF leak and was on-call to go the OR. He was made NPO that morning because we had no idea when the OR would be able to fit him in. His surgeon had several other surgeries that day and couldn't predict low long they would take either. If I recall correctly, one was a brainstem tumor operation... obviously a very complicated surgery. Anyway, Dad wasn't too happy that Jr had to be NPO and Jr was only 4 or 5 years old so after a few hours, he really started complaining about wanting to eat. So, who is there for Dad to yell at but the good old bedside nurse? Clearly I control the OR schedules and can make the Chief of Neurosurgery move faster when operating on another child's brainstem... All day, Dad screamed at me about how we were torturing his child by keeping him NPO and how if I couldn't give him a time for surgery right.this.second. he was going to feed the child.

"Hey, thanks a lot for coming up and fixing the refrigerator in the break room. We really appreciate it. Do you suppose that you could come back up and PLUG IT IN??????"

You know, I remember when I was in nursing school, someone I know who had a daughter who was in and out of hospitals told me that she felt she could realize empathize with nurses because she used to be a waitress and she felt like it was very similar. At the time (I was a senior nursing student), I thought the comparison was a little insulting though I kind of understood after she explained that waitresses, like nurses, are on the front line so they get yelled at/blamed for things they cannot control. And then after working as a nurse for just under a year I FULLY understood what she meant one day... my patient who had had surgery for an arachnoid cyst had developed a CSF leak and was on-call to go the OR. He was made NPO that morning because we had no idea when the OR would be able to fit him in. His surgeon had several other surgeries that day and couldn't predict low long they would take either. If I recall correctly, one was a brainstem tumor operation... obviously a very complicated surgery. Anyway, Dad wasn't too happy that Jr had to be NPO and Jr was only 4 or 5 years old so after a few hours, he really started complaining about wanting to eat. So, who is there for Dad to yell at but the good old bedside nurse? Clearly I control the OR schedules and can make the Chief of Neurosurgery move faster when operating on another child's brainstem... All day, Dad screamed at me about how we were torturing his child by keeping him NPO and how if I couldn't give him a time for surgery right.this.second. he was going to feed the child.

I agree with the waitress thing. 100%

That's why I've said this, time and time again: leave a 20% cash tip on the bedside table.

Nurse's work is very necessary and vital but not generally very valued by employers or sometimes by other providers. As I see it, and in my experience, employers and (sometimes) other providers (note I said "sometimes other providers") who can bill independently for their services, have a vested interest in trying to secure their positions as close to the top of the totem pole as possible, making sure nurses who provide direct patient care as employees stay in their place; overworked, harassed, with poor working conditions and little job security. There is an oversupply of nurses. It is cheaper for employers to have nurses do part of other disciplines jobs, and why not hold nurses accountable at the same time? More opportunities to discipline or fire. The majority of nurses are women; women are generally easier to intimidate, manipulate and bully than men. It comes down to money, control, and power.