I've been a nurse for a little over a year now. They say we all get into nursing because we have the need to serve and care.. I thought nursing would be a fulfilling job. I wanted to have a meaningful job. I wanted to find purpose.
I hate my job. I hate nursing.
I've been working in a hospital on a telemetry unit for 7 months.
I feel my intelligence is slowly fading. I almost cried the other night because one of my patients actually said thank you- that is how rare hearing those words are. How screwed up is this? My night revolves around refilling water, taking patients to the bathroom, getting extra blankets, filling up cups with "just the right" amount of ice and fluffing pillows. I'm lucky if I get a chance to look at labs, critically think, and evaluate the care plan. I'm overwhelmed.
I feel as nurses, we have done this to ourselves. We have entitled our patients to some sort of gratification; and we have no choice because we are micromanaged and everything is money related. Managers round and only care about patient satisfaction; compared to their actual health care outcomes. What can we do about this? I've thought about leaving the profession because nurses are treated like dirt. Because I don't get the respect I deserve, as a human being, let alone as a health care provider.
Are there any other nurses that feel this way? Are there any nurses that feel completely swamped, down in the dirt, and have to drag themselves to work? I get anxiety just thinking about the night ahead when I do have work. What have you done? What can I do? I need some advice because I feel completely lost and I'm about to abandon ship.
I work also bedside nursing as well on on a hectic IV/PICC team and yes there is a huge difference in my home health job and my hospital job. I despise the whole patient satisfaction score focus and am sick of hearing about it! I have just had to accept it but not without doing my research. I do think that the fact that a percentage of Medicare reimbursement is based on the patient satisfaction scores is just Medicare's dirty little trick to save money. The truth is that hospitals with high patient satisfaction scores have higher admit and readmit rates and mortality rates so yes you are more likely to leave in a body bag! I am well aware of this, I have just had to find a way of not sacrificing the standard of care I wish to provide and will not compromise while at the same time focusing in the things that tend to make the patients feel cared for realizing that sometimes it conflicts with what is truly best for the patient. Have you read the survey questions and what they actually rate their experience based on? Look at this sample:
During this hospital stay, how often did the nurses treat you with courtesy and respect?
During this hospital stay, after you pressed the call button, how often did you get help as soon as you wanted it?
During this hospital stay, how often did your doctors listen to you carefully?
During this hospital stay, how often did the staff do everything they could to help you with your pain?
Would you recommend this hospital to your friends and family?
When I left the hospital, I had a good understanding of the things I was responsible for in managing my health.
What does this really measure ..its too vague and so terribly subjective and it not based on any clinical indicators. So if the patient was cured of pneumonia but did not get their ice water fast enough because you were on the phone asking why their IV antibiotic has not been delivered and the patient got it on time because of you...you may get a bad score. The whole thing is a mess
THIS. THIS IS EXACTLY IT. Our system is 100% screwed up!
Bless you! This is what happens when we mix healthcare and capitalism. It just doesn't work! I see a future in advocacy for you. Nursing is not what it should be. And its a shame. But we can change it if we stick together. We have a huge amt of power collectively yet we chose not to use it. Head on over to the collective bargaining forum. Be the change you want to see!
Man I tell you. The joint commission is going over board with this pain mess. If the pt's goal is no pain we have to do everything we can. We have to do some intervention every hr until they meet their goal. Now these pt's with chronic pain will never have no pain. To reach that goal we have to kill them with narcs. I guess the joint commission wants us to dope them up through the roof just so the documentation looks flawless. Sorry not sorry! I will not kill my pt just for them to reach their goal of no pain. I wish pt's would be more realistic with pain. And I wish the joint commission would back up off my nuts. End of rant. TJC probs!
@suanna LOL! I just had a convo the other day with a fellow nurse. I will not be *that* nurse who can shoot the **** blow smoke up a pt's orifice like no other. But can't nurse myself out of a paper bag. I refuse to be *that* nurse whos pt's always end up in the morgue! But isn't it funny how its always *that* nurse who gets all the praise. No one ever cares about the *other* nurse that actually knows some medical stuff. My oh my what kind of monster have we created here!
Specializes in Infusion Nursing, Home Health Infusion.
The government set the ball in motion and the the payees not wanting to lose a cent then went to work! The new thing now is "service recovery". Basically it is this: If the patient of family is unhappy, how can you as a healthcare provider fix it, make it better, put a band-aid on it so ultimately when it comes time for them to do the survey they will score higher...remember there issue was solved. The hardworking healthcare workers have been forgotten in this equation. You will never get the best out of us unless our efforts, our value is respected. If we are listened to and acknowledged instead of brow beaten we do more and give more and the score will go up naturally. Give us enough staff and they will go up naturally too!
I believe that when patients and their families enter a hospital that they need to be reminded that they have responsibilities. We do this in home care and they sign a form and we review it with them. It says in a nutshell that disrespect for any healthcare worker will not be tolerated , that we expect that they answer the phone for their appointments and that they too must communicate their needs so we can meet them and they will follow the plan of treatment prescribed by their doctor and if it needs to be changed the RN will communicate with the other members of the team so we can address it.It lists their rights as well as their responsibilities.
This I believe is one thing that is missing in the hospital system and I think patients need to be told that they too have to behave to the best of their abilities. I realize that many medical conditions make this challenging for patients such as those with a CVC, IVDA,other neurological conditions, plus many more but we are aware of these conditions and take this into account. I am talking about the patients and family members that can control their behavior and choose not to and have learned in hospital setting they don't have to! I believe that the sense of entitlement I see is growing worse by the day and very few have any gratitude in their hearts and souls. I am so used to it now that it becomes a memorable day when I am thanked and treated decently. Yesterday was rare as three family members thanked me for easily obtaining vascular access.I no longer expect it but it is sure nice to just get a plain old thank you!
You want higher scores ..show the staff you support them. Show them you believe your long term employee and not the lying, cheating IVDA that said you did something you did not. Also nurses you need to support each other. There are some that will just save themselves and twist the truth not caring who they through under the bus. I see this happening a lot too as organizations seem to want to investigate any and all patient and family complaints. The truth is always the best and if you save yourself with twisting or altering the truth and throw you co-worker under the bus there is a high price to pay.
Specializes in Infusion Nursing, Home Health Infusion.
Ironically, I just saw someone posted an article written by Dr. Kevin that said the same thing I did. Treat your employees with respect and they will give and give and the scores you desire will improve.
Nurse216
86 Posts
THIS. THIS IS EXACTLY IT. Our system is 100% screwed up!