General Disdain Toward Job

[shaneb9]

I have a question regarding the amount of negative that I perceive within the nursing community. I am currently a tech so obviously I do not have the full taste for it exactly but given my job location in the military our nurses more so handle admin type work and LPNs and techs do a lot of the hands on work. My question is simple, is it simply having the wrong expectations about nursing that makes some nurses so angry about their jobs? I mean granted I can understand feeling under appreciated and feeling like you don't get paid enough to deal with some patients **** and the incessant poor communication from MDs and down the chain but overall I have to say that I really do not understand the poor attitudes. It's the job you signed up for and gave your sweat blood and tears for and I get scoffed whenever I transport a patient to a different unit. I know some patients are a pain but no one truly enjoys having to be in a hospital. I worked corrections as my previous job and I can honestly say that the inmates and people who came in and out really hated us so I don't know if maybe that life experience is what causes me to not understand or if it's a burn out thing maybe? I was just wondering if someone could shed some light on it? Second part of my question, why is it that more experienced nurses have such ******** attitudes toward new people? It's something that I have never understood it's your job to provide patient care and train the new nurse or tech or cna shadowing you I don't understand the attitude? I think it's unnecessary and disrespectful and the excuse "because that's how it was for me" is dumb.

[kidsmom002]

I work in an LTACH and my co-workers are amazing. The CNAs, LVNs, and RNs all really care about our patients. We work hard and care about our practice. They really inspire me. Sure, we might complain about a patient privately, but we really do our best.

I have worked in other fields before nursing and have noticed that some companies have a culture of negativity. We are not the best paid healthcare workers but we are treated fairly and with respect. Maybe the negativity you see is more about the company, not the nature of the actual job.

I can't agree with this more. When the culture of a company becomes oppressive or otherwise toxic it often seeps into every nook and cranny of the place. It begins to seem like everyone is miserable every moment of the day. Even wonderful nurses who care deeply about their patients begin to complain about everything when the environment makes it difficult to provide adequate care in an appropriate manner. You always have to ask yourself the question why are the staff unhappy? What are assignments like? Is there severe under staffing that makes staff fear for their licenses? Sometimes nurses are unhappy because they feel they can't provide care the way they feel they should due to institutional policies and poor staffing, not because they don't like or care for the patients. Good luck. :)

[AuDDoc]

You are in the military and complaining about seasoned folks treating newbies like crap? Ever seen how an E-6 treats a private?

Most places I've worked there isn't this attitude, but in the places I have worked where there seems to be this attitude is in toxic work environments where management is bad and they do things like hire new nurses at a higher wage or similar wages as those who have worked there for years so they hold a grudge.

The military works completely different than the rest of the world. You'll be able to do things in the military as a tech that you would never be allowed to do in the real world. That's part of the reason many people have such a low opinion of mil med to begin with.

I think a lot of the "attitude" comes from poor middle management that play politics and don't treat their employees well or bully them or throw them under the bus at every chance they get to make themselves look better. I had a director who was this way. She was dumb as a box of rocks, but she was likeable and cute so everyone just loved her, but she was an airhead. She would have easily been officer material in the military! She would screw any of her employees over in a nanosecond if it made her look better or not look like she was at fault. Our department has lost every employee who worked there when I worked there because of her piss poor leadership style. When people don't feel respected or like someone has their back or supports them they tend to not be happy workers.

[quiltynurse56, LPN, LVN]

Are these military nurses or civilian contract nurses? If civilian, I am sure that having a never ceasing revolving door might be part of it. By the time a new nurse is trained for your facility and is working out well, they may be moved on. Or, they civilian ones get burned out with getting new people all the time. Just some guessing on my part here.

As has been said, there just seem to be some people who do show disdain for their jobs, they may have become jaded over time. I have always said that if I become jaded in my job, it is time to leave and look for another job or to leave nursing.

[Mavrick, BSN, RN]

Or they spend a year nursing and go off and become an NP since they started giving them out in cereal boxes so we have a desk full of new inexperienced NPs who really don't do anything.

I knew I was having trouble respecting the pre-nursing types here who post they want to be NPs but now that I see how they actually get to be NPs I'm shocked, I tell you, shocked.

The direct entry MSN, all the on-line quickie credentials is degree degradation at its finest.

[AuDDoc]

I think a lot of the quick start direct entry programs aren't bad if they would only take people with pre-med degrees or some other healthcare degree like PA programs do.

I can tell you I could run and did run circles around a lot of my classmates and even some nurses when it came to understanding a lot of the underlying causes of diseases and sterile practice.

There do seem to be a lot of bad programs out there, but I think nursing has done this to themselves also.

[calivianya, BSN, RN]

For me, it's the sense of not accomplishing anything ever. I feel like I am running in place all shift. I got my documenting done, because they audit that, but we have had more patients than we are supposed to almost every shift because we are so understaffed. My documentation is perfect (and if I haven't caught it up, my team leader nags me about it and even documents it herself if I don't do it fast enough - I have seen my team leader document 8+ hours of restraint checks on my patient when she's never stepped foot in the room, for example, because that's how things are done at my job). My care is frequently substandard. I had one patient that I think I only turned three times last night - so at least he got q4h turns. We don't have techs to help us, so if I don't do it myself, it doesn't get done. It's hard to do total care when you have more patients than you are supposed to.

I honestly got more satisfaction out of being a CNA. I didn't like being a CNA, but at least at the end of the shift I feel like I got stuff done. Most of my patients don't really ever get better or go home - they just go to a SNF or LTACH - so I feel like I am just extending a long, slow death that I wouldn't wish on myself. So I feel like I'm not even doing things that result in long-term good for the patients.

At least I can pay my bills. That's the only good thing about my job.

[Wishinonastar, BSN]

On Friday I snapped at a patient. I am still feeling bad about it. I try to never ever take out work stress on the patients. None of it is their fault. Normally they are what keeps me going. After all these years, I still want and need to help people. But work environments can suck the life out of your soul until there is nothing left. It is hard to give when you feel like a hollow image of your former self.

Is this burnout? I don't know. I know what I need as a professional from my employer and I am not getting it. I am so trapped. I can't leave. I am trapped by my circumstances and I know that I am unhappy at work. It is a culture of negativity and I am caught in the current. I try to stay out, but I am pulled back into it again and again. I have never felt like this before.

What set me off on Friday? I found out that CNAs in the VA health system are making more than me- with 30 years as a nurse and a BSN and MBA. The lack of respect for nurses and their educations just wears my spirit down and when you feel like you are fighting a hopeless losing battle you become this unhappy person that you never wanted to be.

I always believe that behavior does not occur in isolation. If you have a happy workplace it can be a relief to go to work, it takes you out of your personal problems and feeds your soul. But an unhappy workplace is like living a nightmare 8 hours a day, 5 days a week. It drains your life force. I feel for these nurses because something is making them act this way, and like me they may be powerless to change it.

[NursesRmofun, ASN, RN]

I knew I was having trouble respecting the pre-nursing types here who post they want to be NPs but now that I see how they actually get to be NPs I'm shocked, I tell you, shocked.

The direct entry MSN, all the on-line quickie credentials is degree degradation at its finest.

I worked with a BSN (done online) that was 1/4 way into her MSN program going for her NP credentials, and she couldn't properly assess breath sounds.

[NursesRmofun, ASN, RN]

It could be the job you are in or the nurse's job where you are that is getting them evil and angry -OR- it could be burn out. I don't love nursing as much as I use to. At least not in the pressured environments that are common place now. It's sounds like you are new and they are not treating you as you'd like to be treated, but there could be a number or reasons for that having to do with them or you.