I read Allnurses every day, rarely do I post. Over the past year or so I've been reading more and more about how hard "that first year of nursing" is and how many new nurses just can't handle it and are looking to get out. I understand.
As an old, seasoned nurse, now retired I have watched nursing get harder and harder, working with sicker and sicker patients with less resources. How long can this continue? I've read lately about nurses who need antidepressants and anti-anxiety meds just to be able to come to work each day. And we all nod and say that's just how nursing is now. I read about nurses who cry and dread each day that they have to come to work, working in fear of making a mistake. The horror, a human being might make a mistake. And then I read other nurses who say, "we should never make mistakes, we should triple/quadruple check everything we do because the poor patient should not be harmed in any way, ever." What utopia do they live in? And yet we have to drop everything that we are triple checking to run and get a family member an extra pillow or a soft drink or risk being reprimanded.
What other career puts such a burden on it's members? I can't think of any that routinely have members dreading to come to work and needing medications to get through a shift, maybe airtraffic controllers, or combat soldiers. I don't know.
And then we tell ourselves that we should be happy that we're lucky to have a job. Really? What is so lucky about this?
I started nursing 40 years ago on a busy labor and delivery unit. I was afraid at times. But there was a support system from the top down. Director of nursing, nursing supervisors, head nurses (they weren't called managers back then) and the shift charge nurse, everyone pulled together. I miss that. I left hospital bedside nursing 10 years ago because of the lack of support and teamwork, and the increasing focus on the patient "experience" versus a positive outcome of disease or injury.
I don't have an answer, well I do but for some reason, nurses I have known don't want to talk about solving problems for their profession. We're great at solving everyone else's problems but not our own. How long can this continue? I feel sorry for new nurses and for my older colleagues as well.
Specializes in Cath/EP lab, CCU, Cardiac stepdown.
After reading all these posts, the only conclusion I have is that I must work at an amazing hospital. I don't really get stressed, I give patients meds, I help them with ADLS, I chart my assessment etc. I don't really feel this soul-crushing environment.
Specializes in Peds/outpatient FP,derm,allergy/private duty.
I probably wouldn't have lasted in nursing if things were then as they appear to be now, but I believe there will come a time when the powers that be will reap what they sow.
I think that current for-profit healthcare interests believe that (for example) there was no reason to treat such things as med errors as a system-wide learning opportunity rather than a stick to strike terror in the hearts of new nurses.
Arrogant people often assume the reason somebody did not implement their methods prior to their arrival on the scene is that they just weren't smart enough to think of it.
Specializes in UR/PA, Hematology/Oncology, Med Surg, Psych.
I agree with you so much nurse42long. I feel chewed up and spit out after my shifts now. I am pulled in so many directions all day long that my head is literally spinning after work sometimes. I've been a nurse a long time and over the years I've seen more and more added to the nurse's plate with nothing being taken away. I'll be with a very sick patient and get call after call after call regarding the most asinine things imaginable, interrupting my thought process and compromising the most important thing; patient safety. We're audited on completing stupid forms, but never evaluated on our critical thinking skills. Honestly I think that there are more employees that audit our form completions than are actually providing patient care. I never used to worry about my patient's being pleased with my 'customer service', I was worried about keeping my patients' safe and assisting them to heal. Nurses' are no longer respected like they used to be by other departments; the time and energy we need to provide care is no longer considered as very important. I am expected to know everything about my patient without being given the time to do so. I guess I'm fried to a crisp right now.
Specializes in L&D, OR, ICU, Management, QA-UR, HHC.
Over the years nursing has been good to me, I was able to raise my child and contribute to the mortgage and bills. My husband and I moved throughout the country and I was always able to walk into a hospital human resources office and walk out with a job. I loved nursing. Not every day. Every job has "those days." That's what Happy Hour is for. But for the most part, I was respected by physicians and my fellow nurses. And even more so, I was respected and appreciated by my patients. I still get Christmas cards from some of my "baby mamas." But over the years, hospitals and nursing changed. Respect, forget about it. Nurses are barely tolerated by my local hospitals. The attitude is "if you don't like it here, we have 50 applications on file for your job." It is an abusive relationship. Nursing holds very little power. And yet, we should be and would be the most powerful force in the hospital. Without us, the whole healthcare system breaks down. But instead of demanding our power, we turn on each other instead, almost as if to deflect criticism from ourselves. Instead of holding each other up, we scrabble for whatever scraps we can get. I have worked with some of the most amazing women and men in the nursing profession, strong, capable, creative, and whip-smart. I see the same in the hospital now. I have been hospitalized many times since I left nursing, mostly due to injuries sustained from nursing. And while hospitalized I have had excellent care. My nurses, new and seasoned, seem to like to congregate in my room and discuss nursing. Again I see, creative and smart, and if we're so smart, we can fix this somehow. I want the best of the best to remain at the bedside, I'm going to need you all. We need each other.
I too often fear for the future of nursing- it seems like a lot of folks are now entering the field with no idea of what they are getting into or have these romanticized versions of what it means to be a nurse, then are appalled by the thought of actually having to touch a patient and then start planning on how to leave bedside nursing after 1-2 yrs. It does not help that most healthcare organizations seem to have little or no interest in 'backing up' nurses. I have been a nurse since 2005 and one of my first nurse preceptors- who was a COD told me that "You missed the time when it was good to be a nurse". Having said all that, on most days, I feel very fortunate to be a nurse in my area.
Beyond over nursing. It could be a lack of guts portrayed by the new generation (the one I belong to) entering the work force, combined with the overwhelmingly profit-driven healthcare system to which we're enslaved. Match that with the soul-deadening regret one feels when they realize they were essentially forced to get a 4 year degree in order to pull together a career AND wage that (1.) was ascertainable by a 2 year diploma not 10 years ago, (2.) works alongside several other specialties with lower education requirements/job responsibilities for same or better wage, and (3.) is virtually inapplicable to ANYTHING else, ANYWHERE else, but bedside nursing if you're relatively new to the field.
And yes that last point was added for the obligatory "you can do so much with it!" people. Not with any of these far fewer qualifications than my more experienced competition for whatever nice non-bedside job you're referring to! Should an employee put in their time before they get worthy "promotions" (so to speak)? Absolutely. That is a system I respect and I do hope it stays intact. But when I'm over here lamenting my awful career choice, physically sickened by the prospect of going back to work, not even batting a surprised look to mention that I require antidepressants to function long-term in my job as a nurse -- and the primary stipulation to your suggestion that "I can do so much with it" is for me to endure in this hell for several more years before this "so much" opens up... to those people I say get busy living or get busy dying. Which is fair. So what do the young nurses do? Well of course they go back to school for their advanced degrees, en masse.
And what do such nurses harp on these days? The Bureau of Labor Statistics prediction that by 2020 the employment will be up some 40% with particular focus on the aging of the current population, the aging of the current work force, the retirement of the Baby Boomers, and the increased demand for primary care services especially given the new healthcare system in the US. Naturally, every single graduate of an accredited nursing school and their mother should go back to school to be NPs! And nurse educators, of course, because who is going to teach all the new nurses (which we totally need by the way with this nursing shortage that totally exists /sarcasm). And at the end of the day nobody is working at the bedside and all the patients are dead or healthy and everyone is happy :) clearly this is fiction.
I agree with the poster who said nurses should unionize nationally and really advocate for themselves. Nothing is going to get better without a collective voice, and more importantly a collective of walking shoes if need be.
I acknowledge the poster who mentioned the depression and suicide rates of other professions. allbusdrivers.com is a great idea and it should happen - I feel for those guys! The grass is not necessarily greener, that much is definitely true. I don't know how my young physician colleagues handle the intense hours for such little reward for however many years. By the same token I just met a pharmacist (owner) who drove a Maserati and seemed pretty content with his life. 3 more years of school for a doctorate, a lot of mindless work during normal hours, and a wheelbarrow full of cash every year? What's not to love? Probably the fact that pharmacists seem to love their jobs so much that they're not retiring and there's no job growth.
I totally agree with the few posters who mentioned being chewed up and spit out after their shifts, or how they're pulled in so many directions. I think this is probably the biggest stressor for me and many other nurses - there are simply way too many things expected of us. Small some things may be, but the cumulative effect is crippling under all the unnecessary stress. When I'm taking care of a patient and someone calls in from the hallway for something.. anything really.. it sets me the **** off. What if this was your mother you're essentially expecting me to provide incomplete care for so I can take a bull **** critical result? Get someone else to listen to the number and write it down. Yet every single process in the hospital is put under an electron microscope by however many quality improvement and performance improvement employees (you know, those nurses we were talking about who hate the bedside so much, good to see you!).
I could go on all day about this thread but I have to cut myself off here cuz I'm about to throw my head through a wall lol :headbang:
This is exactly why I'm in grad school. After 23 years and 3 certifications I resent being lumped in with the housekeeping. I've amassed such an extensive knowledge and experience that I simply won't accept being treated like a commodity. If I come to work in your ICU, do NOT float me to med/surg! If I'd have wanted to be a med/surg nurse I would have become one. I didn't do all that work and spend all that money on my education to be flipped around the hospital to fill staffing gaps that YOU created by inventing those ridiculously inadequate staffing grids. And just because we have 14 patients and not 15, don't float the aide! Those 14 patients are still just as sick and we still need help! And even though I haven;t even extubated my fresh open heart, sure....go on and give me a new admit in active ST elevation and chest pain. Nope....time has come. They're getting rid of seasoned and experienced nurses because they're too expensive. Why not hire a young new grad and pay them half the money. That'll work, right? I can't imagine why people are leaving in droves. Oh wait...
I admittedly work on a wonderful unit with very supportive coworkers and an unwavering 1:2 ratio (1:1 for fresh open hearts, IABP patients, therapeutic hypothermia, CRRT), but my plan is to go to CRNA school as soon as I can. Nursing wages are not sufficient for the work we do and stress we endure. I'm young and want more without having to work 50 hours a week to get it. The funny thing is, I say things like that and get judged harshly by the holier than thou nurses who waited 20 years before deciding they were over it, but then we have threads like these. A central theme in nursing is disorganization. I think that has been and will continue to be our downfall.
Specializes in Allergy/ENT, Occ Health, LTC/Skilled.
I admittedly work on a wonderful unit with very supportive coworkers and an unwavering 1:2 ratio (1:1 for fresh open hearts, IABP patients, therapeutic hypothermia, CRRT), but my plan is to go to CRNA school as soon as I can. Nursing wages are not sufficient for the work we do and stress we endure. I'm young and want more without having to work 50 hours a week to get it. The funny thing is, I say things like that and get judged harshly by the holier than thou nurses who waited 20 years before deciding they were over it, but then we have threads like these. A central theme in nursing is disorganization. I think that has been and will continue to be our downfall.
Your last part about disorganization is SO true. Sometimes, I don't understand how hard it is for managmenet/administration to implement systems that make sense and benefit staff AND patients. But, apparently, it's really really hard. I left my position at an Occ health job (had been there over 2 years) because there was a change of management. I am not conceited AT ALL, actually the opposite, but I was pretty damn good at my job. Once the new manager came in, and implemented rules like we were no longer allowed to eat "unhealthy" food (Such as potato chips) in the work lunch room, I was done. It's like, really? We have so many organizational issues right now that involve patient care and THIS is what you focus on? Oh yeah, they promoted a 30 year old physical therapist with no managerial experience to this position, to manage an occ health clinic full of nurses, np's, pa's, and md's. Make sense? um, no. He is also overweight and is the one implemented the "no snack or junk food" at work. Everyone left, they are about to loose thier contract with the company, and he still works there! It's freaking insane. They fired a damn good MA because she asked a patient to stop aggressively coming at her because he was a VP in the company, he has a history of privay invasion in our clinic and yet still they fire her......mind boggiling, all of it.
Sorry OP went off on a tangent out, apparently needed to get that one out lol
And side note, I am surprised to read that about bus drivers! My husband is a diesel mechanic for a large city and he works on the city buses so obviously in close contact with the drivers. He is always complaining they have an easy job and make things difficult for them, turns out these poor drivers feel just like me at times
RescueNinjaKy
593 Posts
What's your ratio and acuity like?