Nurses are Pathetic!!

[lorster]

I have been reading thread after thread on this forum and I have come to one conclusion. We are all a pathetic bunch. We take abuse that most other human beings would not put up with. We are physically, mentally and emotionally abused by doctors, managers, patients, and families. We work ungodly hours, skip our much needed breaks without pay for months and years on end. And this goes on and on and on. The stories are endless. Then we are all shocked when a nurse who has had enough finally cracks and administers 32 vials of Dilantin and kills a patient. Is this so different than any other human being who finally after years and years of this abuse, just cannot take it anymore? I think not. When are we all going to stand up and demand decent pay, decent working conditions, and respect? Well, the answer is never because we are not a solid group. We have no autonomy or solidarity because we are a weak profession. We pit one against another. We ***** and backstab. We deserve all the abuse that is dealt to us. In nursing school, we are taught to make beds, empty bedpans and clean dentures. Instead we should get vast lessons in how to deal with some of the real issues that face us today. We are understaffed, overworked, pushed to the breaking point. But yet, the martyr instinct kicks in, we get up and go back and endure more of the same. When is enough, enough? When are we all going to come together and and start shouting about our working conditions and wages? We make less than a crew on road construction or a plumber. And look what we do. We are responsible for peoples lives. I went to work down the road as my current employer is union and I felt that maybe the non union hospital down the road would be a better place. Well, it is not, it is worse. 13 nurses have quit in the 6 weeks I have worked there. I won't renew my contract. It is just too unsafe. The hospital is all about profit at the expense of some great nurses. They even charge for an individual bandaid. It is ridiculous. I have decided that as soon as I can afford to, I'm getting out. I will no longer be a member of a profession that eats its young while at the same time, taking unwarrented abuse from unapreciative doctors that we bend over backwards for. Its not about making a living any more, it is about retaining some self respect, free of abuse by doctors, managers and other nurses who have nothing better to do than put a knife in your back the minute you turn around. At least at walmart I won't have to worry about making a life threatening mistake because I'm overwhelmed by what is required of me each day.

[hooterhorse]

"...The hospital is all about profit at the expense of some great nurses"

HELLO...our entire country is headed down this path! Selling out for the sake of a profit! Doesn't matter which profession your in....it's everywhere.

Not until the leaders of our country (government and buisness alike) quit paying themselves at the expense of the masses and the well being of our great but dying country...will we be able to reform and repair all the damage our american greed has caused. It's not terrorism that scares me so much as the outsourcing of american jobs....the selling of our great nation...piece by piece....to make a quit buck for the few at the top that are in control. American pride has been replaced by american greed.

Hooterhorse

[Salesman217]

Let's see...you went into nursing to have enough money to buy baby shoes. That might actually be "pathetic." There are just so many other jobs that pay better for doing less.

Please list those jobs. At forty years old with a mediocre (at best) track record in sales and trying to work around homeschooling my three boys, I found out that I could GUARANTEE myself $22.50/hr (going rate in Cleveland OH) after only 16 months of school (based on having previous college credits). It's the only deal I could find that was as lucrative and stable with jobs readily available.

Please list the jobs that are readily available that aren't going south of the border that pay that much for a newbie fresh out of school.

I seriously want to know.

PS: Why the insult? (Pathetic?)

[woody62, RN]

I worked as a nurse for about twenty-five years. And I don't ever recall becoming 'burnt out' or even approaching it. Perhaps it is because I changed my jobs every two to three years, going into an entirely different type of nursing. I did work as a case manager for ten years and was never burnt out by that job either. Perhaps it was because my clients and responsibilities were very varied.

Woody

[Woodenpug, BSN]

... I could GUARANTEE myself $22.50/hr (going rate in Cleveland OH) after only 16 months of school (based on having previous college credits). It's the only deal I could find that was as lucrative and stable with jobs readily available.

Entry into nursing is not so easy. Most positions require 1 year or more of acute care experience. If you look at the number of positions available to new graduates and compare that to the number of new graduates, I think you may be disappointed at your prospects.

Other jobs that pay as well with 16 months of school, based on having previous college credits: Teacher, Firefighter, Policeman, Postal worker, CPA to name a few. Those jobs are unlikely to be exported.

Your post did get me thinking. Entry is very difficult, I believe, because the drop-out rate from our profession is so high. Employers are reluctant to hire someone who is likely to leave after a short time.

That may also explain the the pay inequities. Once we get that job, we hold onto it.

Your reasons for choosing nursing, quite likely, mean you will be one of the many drop-outs. Nursing is a chance to help others without feeling that you are taken advantage of by the recipient. You do not need to fear enabling more than actually helping. Nursing also gives you the opportunity to experience "miracles." I was going to list one, then I remembered that most of us who have been around have cared for a patient who rallies or in another way defies scientific explanation. Please consider getting your CPA, one more person competing for a position that a real nurse could use, is potentially two less nurses. You, because you won't be here and the real nurse who did not get hired.

I don't know why the op choose the word "pathetic," but I probably would not have read this thread if a different word like "marginalized" or "tender" had been in the title.

[showbizrn]

WHEW!

I hope you can find some peace, balance and joy in your life.

Nursing is not for everyone and epecially in your case...

EVERYONE IS NOT FOR NURSING OR NURSES!

Blessings,

Showbizrn.

REGISTERED NURSING. The BEST profession healthcare dollars can buy.

[socalpca]

Speak for yourself, lorster. Don't attempt to pull all this "we" crap. If you feel pathetic, then that's fine. I certainly don't feel that way. The MDs in my hospital would be taken out behind the woodshed for yelling at a nurse in the nurse's station.

[Weeping Willow]

I don't think we're pathetic at all. Abused yes, and little solidarity. Pathetic, no.

[time4meRN]

It's a matter of preception. Yes , we as nurses have a difficult job. But abuse may be takining it a little too far. Nursing has never been easy, it never will be. When I was a nurse aid in the late 70's, nursing was He**. The nurses had to get up out of their chair for a DR, they were continually yelled at by DR's , heaven forbid they spoke up for the selves, hositals could care less about work conditions, the pay 4.00$ an hour for new grads. Even in the 70's that was low. Even they had it good compaired good old flow nightengale. Abuse is places like McDonald, Walmart etc...that pay low wages , high cost insurance,talk about over worked those people are over worked.

[Salesman217]

Entry into nursing is not so easy. Most positions require 1 year or more of acute care experience. If you look at the number of positions available to new graduates and compare that to the number of new graduates, I think you may be disappointed at your prospects.

Other jobs that pay as well with 16 months of school, based on having previous college credits: Teacher, Firefighter, Policeman, Postal worker, CPA to name a few. Those jobs are unlikely to be exported.

Your post did get me thinking. Entry is very difficult, I believe, because the drop-out rate from our profession is so high. Employers are reluctant to hire someone who is likely to leave after a short time.

That may also explain the the pay inequities. Once we get that job, we hold onto it.

Your reasons for choosing nursing, quite likely, mean you will be one of the many drop-outs. Nursing is a chance to help others without feeling that you are taken advantage of by the recipient. You do not need to fear enabling more than actually helping. Nursing also gives you the opportunity to experience "miracles." I was going to list one, then I remembered that most of us who have been around have cared for a patient who rallies or in another way defies scientific explanation. Please consider getting your CPA, one more person competing for a position that a real nurse could use, is potentially two less nurses. You, because you won't be here and the real nurse who did not get hired.

I don't know why the op choose the word "pathetic," but I probably would not have read this thread if a different word like "marginalized" or "tender" had been in the title.

In your response you touch on many subjects. You say that I will be disappointed to find that nursing jobs are hard to come by for new grads. I was made several offers to work in ICUs in my area despite the fact that I graduated from a less than distinguished brand new nursing program and I had zero experience. All my classmates who've taken the NCLEX have had multiple job offers.

The professions you listed all pay less than nursing according to salary.com and I doubt very seriously they would be lining up to hire me like these hospitals are.

You were very presumptuous to assume that since my motivation to get into nursing isn't primarily "to help others" I will burn out or poop out or quit as soon as something better comes along.

A real nurse is the one who does it in order to care for others in a context where they won't develop co-dependency? That nurse needs a therapist.

I'm really surprised. I thought the Angel of Mercy thing was out of style. I chose nursing to become a healthcare professional and get paid like one. Helping others is secondary to helping me and mine.

This from "Fundamentals in Nursing", 7th edition. Kozier, Erb, Berman, and Snyder.

Research Note

Why Women and Men Choose Nursing

Using grounded theory and methodology, a study by Boughn (2001) revisited data from two previous studies to compare and contrast why women and men selected nursing. The analysis of the data focused on three main constructs: caring, power, and practical motivations.

The subjects included 12 males and 16 females who were enrolled in the same baccalaureate nursing program. Each of the four class levels was represented. Except for two men and two women, all subjects were under 23 years of age and single.

Both female and male subjects expressed that the desire to care for others motivated their decision to become a nurse. Likewise, both sexes indicated a strong interest in power and empowerment for themselves by expressing such statements as desiring to be the best or advancing to a management position. A difference did exist between the two groups, however, in the desire to empower others. The female subjects were more interested in empowering others while the male subjects were more interested in empowering the profession and themselves as professionals. Another difference between the two groups concerned the third construct: practical motivation or expectations regarding salary and working conditions. The men clearly chose nursing based on financial expectations while only one of the female subjects mentioned finances as a motivating factor in choosing nursing as a profession.

Implications: Both male and female nursing students were motivated by the desire to care for others. The differences in the focus of power and empowerment could complement each other. The author discusses that caring theory points out that caring for self is needed in order to care for others. Male and female nurses need to incorporate both values into their thinking. Salary and working conditions have been and continue to be chronic complaints among nurses. The author suggests that female nursing students be socialized to become assertive and proactive and to subsequently expect financial rewards and favorable working conditions.

[dopaminequeenRN]

I don't think nurses are pathetic, rather that they are "angels". They take abuse and turn the other cheek, they care for the ill/injured and they do it while accepting little in the way of pay and respect. That's an angel in my book.

You couldn't have said it better. "Pathetic" may not be the best word choice, but I hear what you are saying. The problems you speak of may never be solved....but your kindness will always be remebered by those who matter-the patients.

[gaylordfaker]

Nurses are not pathetic. Our corrupt, multi-layered bureaucratic management of health care organizations is pathetic. Yes JCAHO that includes you too. You big group of worthless, overpaid elders who has to justify your existence by making up new agenda every year. Everyone who is in some form of a management position should step up to higher level of administration to paint a clearer picture as to what type of hazardous, dangerous environment we work in. If you are in management and are not willing to do this please step down and leave health care. Stop showing up for a paycheck you greedy, greedy people. Hospital employee satisfaction is currently rated at an all time low across the nation, yet all I hear about is how to make patient surveys improve. Let's see, ever heard of happy cows make great cheese. Hospitals love to paint the image that they are wonderful, kind and patient oriented yet they have many slaves known as RN's who pay hell and do not collect. I will smile, keep my chin up and continue to act like I give a flying "f" because it's paying the loan I spent going to school.

[nursemike, ASN, RN]

just remember as you give up your nursing license, and the ability to make more than $8:00 an hour. in the movie from rainman, where tom cruise tells dustin hofman, k-mart sucks. well, so does walmart. they treat their employees badly, and they don't give anything back. its pretty much the same no matter what profession you work in, and the medical profession isn't easy. but unless you plan on owning your own business, you'll always have to put up with the front office or buricatic bull----. just like now. try, leaving acute care and going into some other part of nursing. or go to a different shift. sometimes, all it takes is a change of pace. if not for you, then i wish you well at walmart(wally world), and we'll miss you. you didn't really get into nursing for the glory or money did you? think about what your goal was when you decided to become a nurse. then think about why you can't fulfill that goal.

I was self-employed for many years. My experience was that the boss was still a bit of an idiot, but I didn't feel as inclined to tell others about it.