Nurses to The People: we did not fail you, you failed us.

[RNingBSNing]

Hey all: here is my humble opinion about the sad state of nursing affairs today and the direction it appears to be heading in the years to come. Feel free to leave your own ideas and opinions on this post.

Dear Boards of Nursing, Nursing Schools, Goverment Regulatory Agencies, Law Enforcement and The General Public,

Nurses have not failed you, you have failed nurses.

Let's start from the beginning; it takes a special person to decide to dedicate their lives to others. Nursing calls a special group of persons to the profession: people who will spend years in school, many late night studying hours, passing exams, meeting requirements and learning about NEXT TO everything with regards to helping and healing. Out of school, new nurses all pass a federally-regulated board exam gauranteeing that they possess the minimum knowledge necessary to carry out nursing duties. At their first job, new nurses pick up extra shifts, obtain certifications, stay late and work themselves to death. Older nurses are forced to work back-breaking jobs late into retirement age because they lost everything in a stock market crash. Throughout the course of a career nurses will work against impossible ratios, the addition of new tasks and requirements for charting, care for even sicker patients but with less autonomy. Nurses will face horizontal and vertical violence, be disrespected by patients and families alike, and can no longer feel safe and protected at work (Utah nurse, Dartmouth-Hitchcock). Many will leave the profession, others will be injured to the extent that they can never work again. Still other nurses may destroy their home lives, turn to addiction or burn-out and give up on safe nursing care. State Boards of Nursing will face a serious nursing shortage lightly, giving nursing schools and nursing educators little incentive to beef up enrollment and (on the flip side) allow employers to mandate unreasonable hours that almost gaurantee nurses will make mistakes-- only to be penalized for them. Nurses themselves will become exhausted, snappy and careless versions of the bright-eyed, loving and gentle souls they once were because we didn't fail you, you failed us.

Thank you for reading.

[catsmeow1972, BSN, RN]

I think lots of us are disillusioned in some ways. But we have to be realistic here.

It is hard work, for a decent paycheck. I say decent, because so many make much less.

We are not the only profession that struggles.

You sound so disillusioned and burned out. Maybe time for a change? Changing areas can help you start fresh. At least we have the ability to do that. Teachers do not. They make more, but they are stuck in their tenure and their specialty for the duration unless they go back to school and then they struggle to find a job. We move about freely so count your blessings.

The days of sweeping in like Florence Nightingale disappeared a long, long, long.....long time ago. Over the last several years i have worked myself into a deep hole, trying to be perfect, horrified at the notion that ANY mistake i make could/would kill someone. I went down in flames and nearly ruined my career. Does that make me a "victim" of nursing? With the lower probability of killing someone, any career I went into, i would probably do that to myself, because that is just me.

Sitting here and moaning woe is me, I've been so mistreated by the profession that I CHOSE to enter fixes nothing for myself or anyone else. I chose it out of a desire to help others. Whining about being victimized is not helpful to others.

Currently i am having to learn that their are many other areas of nursing outside of the hospital, that i had truly never considered before. As a nurse i have the ability to execute a near about-face in my career without requiring many more years of schooling. Because of this i can look forward to many more years in nursing, (hopefully having learned to not metaphorically set fire to myself):)

[kbrn2002, ADN, RN]

"Dear Boards of Nursing, Nursing Schools, Goverment Regulatory Agencies, Law Enforcement and The General Public...." All these people failed nursing? well that's a little melodramatic.

I can agree with at least one point of your rant. The ever increasing documentation requirements are no doubt a giant pain that can probably be dropped directly at the feet of the Government regulatory agencies you mention. With an assist from the unscrupulous facilities that made the increasing documentation necessary to help curtail medicare/medicaid fraud.

As far as schools not providing enough new nurses? Well, ask the new grads looking for employment in an oversaturated market area if there aren't enough new grads. Believe me there are plenty of new grads the problem is not the number of new nurses, it's the number of jobs new nurses are qualified for.

I fail to find anything in the post that leads me to believe that the State's BON [really? all of them, every state?] , the government or law enforcement has it out for nurses.

[sevensonnets]

This is a personal manifesto that has nothing to do with the rest of us.

[Salisburysteak, BSN, RN]

Speaking for myself here, but I don't stay late, work extra shifts, destroy my home life, abuse drugs. I don't work for employers who do mandate extra hours (yes, in interviews I ask under what circumstances they consider mandatory OT acceptable), I take my lunch a good 95% of the time... and I CERTAINLY don't "work myself to death."

Nursing is a large part of my identity, BUT I maintain firm enough boundaries so that work doesn't over-encroach on my self. It seems to be working for me, as I have a very good relationship with my job -- I love it, even.

I could not have said it better!!

I rarely stay late also; always manage to take my lunch no matter how busy I am.

The nurse as a martyr thing is getting old! Nursing is what you make of it. I enjoy my profession, and I love my job!

[Garden,RN, ASN, RN]

They are pretty unhappy too.