Governator kicks nurses butts!!!

Published

In an article in todays Los Angeles Times in the California section Ahnold tells a group of supporters during an annual conference on women to "pay no attention to those voices over there", referring to a group of nurses who were protesting his freeze on the staffing ratio law. "They are the special interests, and you know what I mean. The special interests in Sacramento don't like me because I am always KICKING THEIR BUTTS!!" Anyone care to comment on this? Sorry I am unable to cut and paste the article but the latimes has a website: http://www.latimes.com if anyone would like to view the article called "Cheers and Jeers Greet Gov."

I think every nurse in this country was watching, hoping that the ratios would work in CA and would become nationwide. To call nurses "special intrests groups" is crazy...does that mean all his voters are too? Those are the people we are caring for. Glad it is you and not me but I was really looking forward to those ratios.

I think it was ironic that the Guvernator used the word "special interest" to describe someone other than himself.

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Specializes in Med-Surg.

I agree Bellehill, I'm terribly insulted to be considered a "special interest group" as if it's a bad thing. He'd better watch his PR, sooner or later everyone needs a nurse, including those who voted for him.

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If I read the article correctly, he was calling the union a special interest group, not the nursing profession as a whole a special interest group. I find it hard to believe people use so much energy to protest a 1:6 ratio on a med/surg floor! What do they do when they get that next admit due to the ER overflowing, and the floor was originally staffed in the morning for what the census was at that time? Are they unable to handle new admits? Even with the on-call nurse coming in to help, sometimes it is hard to predict how many times the new admits will make the rounds of the nurses available. Do what you can, stabilize the patients, and then we have, guess what? ANOTHER SHIFT COMING IN! I would love to have fewer pts. per shift, but what would the extra staffing do to the cost of healthcare? The profit of the hospital? We already have another thread here about how Americans are deprived of healthcare. The nurses apparently acted in an unprofessional manner, that is too bad. But, if you can't stand the heat, as they say.....

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Specializes in Critical Care/ICU.

"Do what you can?" "Stabilize the patients?"

Is that the way you want your nursing practice to be?

Is that the way you want your loved one or yourself treated?

The Union may be considered a PAC, but not a special interest group.

Maybe 1:6 is okay, but 1:5 is better.

All I can say is when my dad was taking his last breaths and there was no nurse available to be in the room with my mom and brothers to explain what was happening and lend support because she had 8 other busy patients is just crazy and not what I believe the profession of nursing respresents. It was my mom who hit the call button to let the nurse know that her patient just stopped breathing. Inexcusable. This was not in California.

The cost of healthcare is ridiculous. That's why this country needs an overhaul because billions and billions of dollars are thrown into healthcare, but it's so terribly mismanaged that we have what we have. This affects nursing directly. Who cares about hospital profits?!?! How about taking care of people?!?!

It would be much safer for new admits when a nurse is starting out with an assignment of 5 patients than it is when they start out with 8-9.

And yet again, if you don't like it...leave. Is there no other answer for you. Must we accept everything as it is because that's the way it is? Most do not follow blindly.

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Specializes in Specializes in L/D, newborn, GYN, LTC, Dialysis.
"Do what you can?" "Stabilize the patients?"

Is that the way you want your nursing practice to be?

Is that the way you want your loved one or yourself treated?

The Union may be considered a PAC, but not a special interest group.

Maybe 1:6 is okay, but 1:5 is better.

All I can say is when my dad was taking his last breaths and there was no nurse available to be in the room with my mom and brothers to explain what was happening and lend support because she had 8 other busy patients is just crazy and not what I believe the profession of nursing respresents. It was my mom who hit the call button to let the nurse know that her patient just stopped breathing. Inexcusable. This was not in California.

The cost of healthcare is ridiculous. That's why this country needs an overhaul because billions and billions of dollars are thrown into healthcare, but it's so terribly mismanaged that we have what we have. This affects nursing directly. Who cares about hospital profits?!?! How about taking care of people?!?!

It would be much safer for new admits when a nurse is starting out with an assignment of 5 patients than it is when they start out with 8-9.

And yet again, if you don't like it...leave. Is there no other answer for you. Must we accept everything as it is because that's the way it is? Most do not follow blindly.

yes yes, it all sounds good on paper.....try being that patient or loved one who you just "stabilize" and leave for the next shift. Such compassion, wow it overwhelms me, too. :angryfire

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if the nurses are members of the union and they were there to protest the way they were treated and to protest that the patients endangerment then it would be difficult to see how they would be called 'special interest' groups...to say that they should be ignored because they have a position that is different than his shows that he is only a governor to his own 'special interests'

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Specializes in Critical Care/ICU.
I am not sure what you are saying to me. I merely was trying to tell what little bit I knew about Arnold as a person.

NurseGuy - I'm sorry, I just realized that my post #7 should have been to TraigeNurse.

Again, sorry.

:imbar

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If I read the article correctly, he was calling the union a special interest group, not the nursing profession as a whole a special interest group. I find it hard to believe people use so much energy to protest a 1:6 ratio on a med/surg floor! What do they do when they get that next admit due to the ER overflowing, and the floor was originally staffed in the morning for what the census was at that time? Are they unable to handle new admits? Even with the on-call nurse coming in to help, sometimes it is hard to predict how many times the new admits will make the rounds of the nurses available. Do what you can, stabilize the patients, and then we have, guess what? ANOTHER SHIFT COMING IN! I would love to have fewer pts. per shift, but what would the extra staffing do to the cost of healthcare? The profit of the hospital? We already have another thread here about how Americans are deprived of healthcare. The nurses apparently acted in an unprofessional manner, that is too bad. But, if you can't stand the heat, as they say.....

Wow. Just...wow. :uhoh21:

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if the nurses are members of the union and they were there to protest the way they were treated and to protest that the patients endangerment then it would be difficult to see how they would be called 'special interest' groups...to say that they should be ignored because they have a position that is different than his shows that he is only a governor to his own 'special interests'

I think that one of the reasons health care costs so much and therefore leaves much less money to go for nurses wages is the drain that illegals put on the system. My solution to increase the profits of the hospitals and thereby increase the money available to the nursing profession is to bill the federal government for the services performed on illegals. The federal govt. is supposed to protect our borders. And before you say we pay the taxes they will spend I say tax any company that moves their production overseas to pay for it. Also tax any company here that hires a certain % of their workforce from non-citizens. This is exactly what the border states are beginning to do.

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NurseGuy - I'm sorry, I just realized that my post #7 should have been to TraigeNurse.

Again, sorry.

:imbar

Hey, if I didn't have a thick skin I couldn't be a nurse, right? :stone

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Specializes in Specializes in L/D, newborn, GYN, LTC, Dialysis.
I think that one of the reasons health care costs so much and therefore leaves much less money to go for nurses wages is the drain that illegals put on the system. My solution to increase the profits of the hospitals and thereby increase the money available to the nursing profession is to bill the federal government for the services performed on illegals. The federal govt. is supposed to protect our borders. And before you say we pay the taxes they will spend I say tax any company that moves their production overseas to pay for it. Also tax any company here that hires a certain % of their workforce from non-citizens. This is exactly what the border states are beginning to do.

you know, you are onto something there.......

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If I read the article correctly, he was calling the union a special interest group, not the nursing profession as a whole a special interest group. I find it hard to believe people use so much energy to protest a 1:6 ratio on a med/surg floor! What do they do when they get that next admit due to the ER overflowing, and the floor was originally staffed in the morning for what the census was at that time? Are they unable to handle new admits? Even with the on-call nurse coming in to help, sometimes it is hard to predict how many times the new admits will make the rounds of the nurses available. Do what you can, stabilize the patients, and then we have, guess what? ANOTHER SHIFT COMING IN! I would love to have fewer pts. per shift, but what would the extra staffing do to the cost of healthcare? The profit of the hospital? We already have another thread here about how Americans are deprived of healthcare. The nurses apparently acted in an unprofessional manner, that is too bad. But, if you can't stand the heat, as they say.....

Personally I think a 1:6 patient ratio on med/surg is a lot. I really don't care what everyone is doing. The nurses in California are doing the right thing and if they get changes in nurse patient ratios nurses all over the country will benefit.

"I would love to have fewer pts. per shift, but what would the extra staffing do to the cost of healthcare?"

The high cost of healthcare is not because of nurses. I don't know how long you have been a nurse or what experience you have but I could write a book about the wasted money in healthcare. Its not nurses who want to take care of their patients. That really hit a nerve.

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