Survey for Abused Nurses :

Nurses General Nursing

Published

Specializes in OB, ER, M/S, Supervision - Acute care.

RNs speak up !

Granted that nursing experiences are as varied as the numbers of nurses who are practicing; please help me to identify some of the practices that you would like to see changed.

    *Do Policies & Procedures @ your place of employment control or interfer with your practice of good nursing ?

    *Do you believe that the Standards of Clinical Nursing Practice are being followed @ your place of employment ?

    *Have you observed seriously poor job performance by other nurses ?

    *Have you observed that this poor job performance led to patient injury ?

    *In what specific ways has your practice of nursing been negatively affected ?

    *Are your incident reports or suggestions taken seriously ?

    *Have you been victimized or unfairly treated in any nursing position that you have held ?

    *Have you ever applied for a position & been turned down ? Were you ever given an explanation ?

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Oh ,of course I would be one of the first to answer this. I am not an RN, I hope that LPN's are also invited to share on this thread. I was fired in retaliation for reporting illegal/ unethical/ unsafe practices by my former employer. I am still in an appeal process in the court system, so I cant go into details of what the illegal,etc practise actually was, but it is shocking.There are many things that hamper a nurse from doing her job and we all have talked about them in depth on this forum. Understaffing,due to corporate greed and corruption creats the scenario for many of the reasons nurses cannot do their jobs, a floor nurse is in a constant state of "catching up", "covering their butts". No time to make proper assements, no time to chart, no time to pt. teach, no time to properly supervise your staff, no time to take a pee, not even speaking of a lunch. Management plays into the hands of the corporation by doing their bidding, example setting a nurse up to be fired right after that nurse reported to the state. How could these nurses who have transitioned into management lower their ethics so drastically, are they SO glad to be off the floor that they would do anyting it takes to keep their own jobs in nursing? I also have a bone to pick with the oversight agencies, the BQA here in Wisconsin has a history of closing their eyes to what is going out there. Pleas read the book by a former Wisconsin state examiner, called "Patients, Pain and Politics" by Mary Richards Rollins, RN BSN. It will open your eyes.I dont have the answer , but I have a feeling that one step inthe right direction is to empower ourselves. HOW? Im not sure, STRONG NATION WIDE UNION? STRONGER laws to protect reporting nurses from retaliatory discharge? Nurses associations that have a BITE? I am willing to do whatever it takes to help enact change, I would LOVE to have the opportunity to testify in front of congress, write an expose, etc. etc. Now that I am out of nursing I hope to do all that and more.

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Specializes in OB, ER, M/S, Supervision - Acute care.

Dear Ingelein,

I'm always sorry to see the downside of the profession & how it can negatively affect many of the lives of those who are in it. Your experiences & the experiences of other colleagues are important bits of data. By collecting little bits & putting them all together, we can present a better case to our state nursing assoc.

What would you like an assoc. to do ?

---Organize a nurse support group or nurse support council.

---Offer a website where legal questions would be answered .

---Have a Nurse Advocate Office.

Please add on to the practical support list.

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Thanks for the reply, I think a nurse advocate office that would give legal advice/ support to nurses would be GREAT. If there is anyway I could be of service, I would be happy to do so.

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RNs speak up !

Granted that nursing experiences are as varied as the numbers of nurses who are practicing; please help me to identify some of the practices that you would like to see changed.

    *Do Policies & Procedures @ your place of employment control or interfer with your practice of good nursing ?

    *Do you believe that the Standards of Clinical Nursing Practice are being followed @ your place of employment ?

    *Have you observed seriously poor job performance by other nurses ?

    *Have you observed that this poor job performance led to patient injury ?

    *In what specific ways has your practice of nursing been negatively affected ?

    *Are your incident reports or suggestions taken seriously ?

    *Have you been victimized or unfairly treated in any nursing position that you have held ?

    *Have you ever applied for a position & been turned down ? Were you ever given an explanation ?

    WOW, I cant believe so few nurses have replied to this poll, here is your chance to lay it all out!!!
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Specializes in ORTHOPAEDICS-CERTIFIED SINCE 89.

This isn't really a poll so much as an essay question. Polls are usually a yes no or maybe aren't they?

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Specializes in OB, ER, M/S, Supervision - Acute care.

Dear Quite Tired RN,

Maybe I should have just posed a question as you did when you asked "Why are they all leaving?" You received quite a few responses. I am looking for specific negative incidents that nurses encounter as well as positive ideas that they would like to see presented to our nursing associations. Maybe you have some positive ideas of your own.

Example: In order to maintain the Standards of Clinical Nursing in the acute care setting, & in order to prevent nurse abuse, hospitals would place a Senior Nurse Expert on every unit.

This Senior Nurse Expert would be selected from a list of successful nurses who have the most longevity in their field. Their legs may be tired, but they have invaluable knowledge to share.

Job Description:

1. Collaborate with the nursing staff & be a resource for less experienced staff.

2. Supervise all patient care activities.

3. Determine ongoing patient / staff ratios.

4. Identify problems & work at problem resolutions.

5. etc.

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Specializes in med/surg.

Ingelein: I hope you are not out of nursing because of this? Does that mean you lost your license, or you opted out? How would they find out they were reported? Isn't that supposed to be confidential?

I can see a lot of adverse goings on, and no help for it just working on the floor. But I thank you for the name of the book. I am not necessarily blind to the "Industry" that medicine has become, but just working and being in a union, I keep on learning new things.

I am indeed sorry for what has happened to you. And, sickingly, all in the name of money.

I have read somewhere that you should not let your job or profession define you. Oh??????? Just forget about a part of your life and accomplishments?

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Specializes in Day Surgery/Infusion/ED.
This isn't really a poll so much as an essay question. Polls are usually a yes no or maybe aren't they?

Not only that, but what do some of these questions have to do with the title of the poll?

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Ingelein: I hope you are not out of nursing because of this? Does that mean you lost your license, or you opted out? How would they find out they were reported? Isn't that supposed to be confidential?

I can see a lot of adverse goings on, and no help for it just working on the floor. But I thank you for the name of the book. I am not necessarily blind to the "Industry" that medicine has become, but just working and being in a union, I keep on learning new things.

I am indeed sorry for what has happened to you. And, sickingly, all in the name of money.

I have read somewhere that you should not let your job or profession define you. Oh??????? Just forget about a part of your life and accomplishments?

Dear Boxter, Yes I am out of nursing because of this. Basically I have been blackballed from any of the halfway decent LTC facilities that have a Alzheimers/ Dementia unit.I cant work any other type of unit anymore due to my health. Dementia units are traditionally easier physically than the acute care units LTC's are pushing now. I was hired at a couple of absolute DUNGEONS, even worse than where I was fired from.They were not comparible to the unit I had been working on for the last 5 years, MUCH more physical and because of DDD and DJD-spine and knees, just could not do it .

No I did not lose my liscence, there was no reason to lose my liscense, I was squeeky clean ,with EXCELLENT yearly evaluations for all my 27 years of nursing.

The nursing home that fired me was the one under investigation, not me.

You ask how did the employer find out I reported them to the state? I TOLD them I was reporting them to the state for demanding me to do something illegal/unethical.I would not have gotton any protection under our state whistleblower law if I had kept it a secret that I reported them to the state, so I thank God that I told them. I want all out there to know that if you feel you must report your employer to the state and want protection under the law, you HAVE to let them know that you have reported them, otherwise they will claim they did not know so how could they have retaliated against you for reporting them? BUT, be aware that if you report them to state and they find out OR you told them, as I did, you WILL BE FIRED in retaliation, and most likely blackballed, probably will never work in healthcare again.

If you report and think it will remain a secret, I say good luck , you have put yourself in danger and you will not have garnered yourself any legal protection.The healthcare industry and their lawyers know that it is a GREAT RISK for a nurse to report to the state and they use this as leverage to get their employees suficiently intimidated, SO very little reporting actually happens, and they continue to do what they are so good at doing.

It is a big risk to take, but WORTH IT for me, speaking ONLY for myself.You are very fortunate you are in a union, I would have been protected if I had been in a union.

Yes money is definatly the bottom line, and the LTC is one of the most despicable dirty industry's out there , of course in my opinion only, dont want any lawsuits coming my way until I get this one done with.:uhoh21:

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Specializes in med/surg.
Oh ,of course I would be one of the first to answer this. I am not an RN, I hope that LPN's are also invited to share on this thread. I was fired in retaliation for reporting illegal/ unethical/ unsafe practices by my former employer. I am still in an appeal process in the court system, so I cant go into details of what the illegal,etc practise actually was, but it is shocking.There are many things that hamper a nurse from doing her job and we all have talked about them in depth on this forum. Understaffing,due to corporate greed and corruption creats the scenario for many of the reasons nurses cannot do their jobs, a floor nurse is in a constant state of "catching up", "covering their butts". No time to make proper assements, no time to chart, no time to pt. teach, no time to properly supervise your staff, no time to take a pee, not even speaking of a lunch. Management plays into the hands of the corporation by doing their bidding, example setting a nurse up to be fired right after that nurse reported to the state. How could these nurses who have transitioned into management lower their ethics so drastically, are they SO glad to be off the floor that they would do anyting it takes to keep their own jobs in nursing? I also have a bone to pick with the oversight agencies, the BQA here in Wisconsin has a history of closing their eyes to what is going out there. Pleas read the book by a former Wisconsin state examiner, called "Patients, Pain and Politics" by Mary Richards Rollins, RN BSN. It will open your eyes.I dont have the answer , but I have a feeling that one step inthe right direction is to empower ourselves. HOW? Im not sure, STRONG NATION WIDE UNION? STRONGER laws to protect reporting nurses from retaliatory discharge? Nurses associations that have a BITE? I am willing to do whatever it takes to help enact change, I would LOVE to have the opportunity to testify in front of congress, write an expose, etc. etc. Now that I am out of nursing I hope to do all that and more.

I looked for the book you mentioned, Patients, Pain and Politics at Barnes and Noble, but it could not be found. Any suggestions? Thanks

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I looked for the book you mentioned, Patients, Pain and Politics at Barnes and Noble, but it could not be found. Any suggestions? Thanks
Amazon.com has it for $10.00.Really an eye opener, any body thinks that they can depend on their state inspectors to do the job they were entrusted to do must read this book.
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