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.
Or not hire anyone at all and increase your margin! Meanwhile, literally suck the life out of your remaining staff by increasing weekend requirements and twice daily off-day nags about working overtime. It's a lot cheaper to pay a few people time and a half than to hire full time staff. People should be brought up on criminal charges
Specializes in Psychiatric nursing; Medical-Surgrical.
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.
The nursing profession has collectively decided to become submissive. I believe that it is time to rise up and say enough is enough. It goes without saying that the health care system would collapse without nurses. We KNOW nursing is a pushover and we KNOW nursing is submissive, but do we really understand WHY?
What is this fear and lack of initiative I notice among my nurses?
What is this silly "Well we gotta work with what we have" attitude.
Do you seriously think you're a patient advocate or some type of hero when you decide to take on 10 patients with no tech?
Is it that some nurses want to be martyrs?
I'm no martyr, I'm no robot, I'm not your slave.
I am counting the days until I can start graduate school.
The one good thing about all this is that many of us did go into nursing for a reason that was a positive one. Many of us were disappointed, but carried on for the love of nursing. I was actually out of work in nursing for a couple years but went back to it. Now, I know I wish I could leave it in many ways. It's the hardest job you will love and hate.
The nursing profession has collectively decided to become submissive. I believe that it is time to rise up and say enough is enough. It goes without saying that the health care system would collapse without nurses. We KNOW nursing is a pushover and we KNOW nursing is submissive, but do we really understand WHY?
What is this fear and lack of initiative I notice among my nurses?
What is this silly "Well we gotta work with what we have" attitude.
Do you seriously think you're a patient advocate or some type of hero when you decide to take on 10 patients with no tech?
Is it that some nurses want to be martyrs?
I'm no martyr, I'm no robot, I'm not your slave.
I am counting the days until I can start graduate school.
Be a NURSE advocate
THEN
Be a patient advocate.
Yes. You are right. It is, collectively, a submissive group....and we do not help ourselves at all by being so.
Specializes in Allergy/ENT, Occ Health, LTC/Skilled.
The nursing profession has collectively decided to become submissive. I believe that it is time to rise up and say enough is enough. It goes without saying that the health care system would collapse without nurses. We KNOW nursing is a pushover and we KNOW nursing is submissive, but do we really understand WHY?
What is this fear and lack of initiative I notice among my nurses?
What is this silly "Well we gotta work with what we have" attitude.
Do you seriously think you're a patient advocate or some type of hero when you decide to take on 10 patients with no tech?
Is it that some nurses want to be martyrs?
I'm no martyr, I'm no robot, I'm not your slave.
I am counting the days until I can start graduate school.
Be a NURSE advocate
THEN
Be a patient advocate.
It's not always that easy though.
It was the perfect storm when the nusing profession started going down this road because the recession was hitting as well. That means many houses only had one adult with full time hours and health insurance. It was not so much as submissive as it was surviving. I was a LPN grad who graduated in 2008, it took me over a year to land my first position, it was part time at that. It was scary, almost defaulting on my student loans. I think it's natural that people still have that fear, even more so nurse likes me who have small children who need a house, heat, and health insurance.
With the amount of nurses that are being pumped out - it isnt an optimal time to unionize, at least not around here. They literally can and will replace you in a second with a traveling nurse or the 50 other nurses who applied for that spot.
My husband and I have very little debt but still, after I graduate, I have to work to pay my bridge loans, there will be no other option than not paying them and losing our home. I love a good cause to fight over, and wish it were the time for us to do so, but until the number of nurses out there decreases, it won't be.
The only way I could see it work now is if an entire hospital of nurses went on strike. And with the reasons stated above, I don't think many nurses, while they would like, are in a financial situation to do so without major reprecussions.
This is my opinion: There is a surplus of nurses, and employers are in the driving seat. For all the nurses who can afford to stand by their principles and vote with their feet, there are many, many, new graduates and other nurses who will jump at any position to get experience and to pay their bills. If nurses have the money for graduate school, or are comfortable taking out student loans, all power to them, but the surplus of nurses is what the health care industry wants, and nurses' relative powerlessness is no accident. So if/when you leave your position you will have freed up a position for someone else, who will likely be less experienced and will be paid less than you.
Yes, all that experience and knowledge is valuable, but unless you (the collective 'you') are fortunate enough to work in a position where experience and knowledge is valued and rewarded by your employer, unless patient outcomes obviously trend downhill, 30 day readmissions are at too high a level, the facility loses money, and administrative action is taken to recruit and retain experienced nurses, don't expect any changes, because the goal is to deliver health care as economically as possible whilst maximizing revenue. From what I have seen, just in my own family, patients often cannot tell whether they are receiving good care or not, and rate the quality of the nursing care to a large extent on how pleasant, helpful, and communicative the nurse was, even when errors in their care that could harm them are actually present. Good feedback from patients translates into good patient satisfaction scores, which is the desired outcome as long as 30 day readmission rates are not too high.
Nurses are regarded by employers as a commodity, the supply and demand of which can be tweaked in order to affect prices (wages/salaries) just like any other commodity. I don't see any of these things changing in the short or medium term, partly because the nursing force is largely made up of women (I am one) and men who desire flexible employment, and who do not wish to be independent contractors (I don't), and prefer to be employees. Unionization is a good idea, and affords much better employee protection and patient protection, but is not always achievable.
With the ACA, what I see is that patients and families in some ways are listened to more, and treated more respectfully. Then again, my family member was not offered the opportunity for assistance with personal hygiene when they were in the hospital, was not provided any towels or washcloths, or soap for this purpose, beyond a complimentary kit that was given to them, that they were unable to use because they were too sick. Errors were made in their care, just as before the ACA, that were fortunately caught before serious harm ensued.
I'm a high school senior looking to pursue a career in nursing and health. My two options I have so far is to be a registered nurse or a medical assistant. Now I'm not sure whether or not to change my career interest based on the nerve-wrecking environment. Are there any tips or words of wisdom you guys can give me, especially if you are an RN or MA. Thank you very much for responding and your time
Specializes in CCU, SICU, CVSICU, Precepting & Teaching.
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.
What's a "COD"?
I've been a nurse for a long time, all but three months of it at the bedside. I had that coveted Monday-Friday desk job and hated the hours. Nursing has changed a lot over the years, but the biggest change is the never-ending chase after high patient satisfaction scores at the expense of good patient care. The second biggest change seems to be the folks who are entering the field with no idea of what they're getting into -- but they have a calling! -- who are then appalled by the thought of actually touching a patient and are planning to leave the bedside as soon as possible.
When I started, back in the 70s, there wasn't the constant complaining that there is now about having to work a holiday, a weekend or night shift. People just assumed they'd be coming to work in the snow. Staffing sucked then as now -- 15 patients on the day shift with an NA on a Med/Surg telemetry floor. But the patients and the families listened to and respected the nurse and management backed us up unless we were WAY out of line.
We fought hard for the right to wear scrubs to work and to choose which scrubs to wear -- something that todays nurses are giving away. We fought for unions to better working conditions, staffing ratios, floating and overtime policies -- another thing that today's nurses don't seem to value.
I've worked in a number of large teaching hospitals over the years. and I have always had the respect of my colleagues, the backing of management and a secure job. Maybe I've just been incredibly fortunate. I still think it's good to be a nurse. It's been an incredibly flexible, interesting, challenging career and it's allowed me to live in a nice home, drive a reliable car and take some wonderful vacations.
I imagine that some day soon PCT/CNA will gain more autonomy and start the "creep" onto typical "RN" roles. Md's have PA/NP/CRNA, Dentists now have a dental midlevel program starting up in several states, Hygienists have expanded functions dental assistants. I'm not saying this is comparing apples to apples but rather the seeming trend is that you are replaceable in some ways, laws/regulations are changeable and everyone wants to payout the least amount.
It's always nice to read a good news story, especially from a more senior nurse. Empathy in nursing is part of effective leadership. Hopefully we get better at solving our own problems soon, as you're right, it's getting harder to stay a nurse.
I feel this post 100%. This is why I left staff and became an agency nurse. I get more thank yous and appreciation from management as an agency nurse than I ever did as a staff member. I make my own schedule, and don't have to worry about all the nit picky crap that staff nurses have to handle. And if they piss me off, I never have to come back. It has done wonders on my mental health. Agency nursing has made my nursing experience SO MUCH better and more enjoyable. I'm almost 28 and just got a job as a new grad FNP. Very excited to start!!!!
Overall, I have had a great career as a bedside nurse. It has treated me well. BUT all this stupid micromanaging and double/triple documentation, and EVERY new policy/rule being a "you better do it or ELSE!" threat, wears me out!
TU RN, DNP, CRNA
461 Posts
Or not hire anyone at all and increase your margin! Meanwhile, literally suck the life out of your remaining staff by increasing weekend requirements and twice daily off-day nags about working overtime. It's a lot cheaper to pay a few people time and a half than to hire full time staff. People should be brought up on criminal charges