I'm Over It, Already!

I've been nursing for 20 years now, and I've about had it up to here (indicates area somewhere above my head).

I'm worn out, aggravated, disgusted, disillusioned, fed up, dried up, and over it all in general.

I'm a consultant (hence the handle), so usually I'm about as welcome as a skunk at a church picnic in the facilities I visit. I love my job, because it entails a lot of teaching in long term care, and if I can help an individual or a facility do well on their state survey, I'm a happy nurse.

Here lately, though, I'm asking myself if the stress is worth it. Last week I had a DON tell an outright lie to a family and my boss and insist that they were doing what they did because *I* told them that they had to. What pisses me off the most about it is that I *know* what I've told her and her nurses; I've handed them printed material pretty much every visit and have pointed out pages in the P&P manual detailing the policy on the incident, as well as discussed it individually with her and some staff nurses. I've been going there for about five years now, so it adds up. What I've given them and told them is all documented, of course, but it chaps my ass that a fellow professional would tell a bald faced lie like that.

I'm sick of the apathy among the nurses I meet every day. I can instruct a group of nurses or an individual nurse on the same thing 20 times, and if I sprouted antlers and started speaking Russian they wouldn't look more surprised when I do it for the 21st time. I've tried different methods, different words...I'm over the "maybe it's me" aspect of the whole thing. You can't make somebody care.

I understand the frustrations, believe me; too little staff, too little pay, too much work, too little appreciation. I've BTDT, too.

I'm an LPN. Most other nurses assume I'm an RN automatically; guess it's too much for them to imagine that a lowly LPN like me would know more about medications and their administration than they do (I work for a pharmacy). The shock on their faces is priceless, but it's beside the point. I have learned what I know through years of hands on experience and hard work, just like most other nurses. The lack of respect and lack of pay is very discouraging, especially when I see others with supposedly more education who can't administer oral medications correctly or give an injection safely making more and doing less.

I'm in school to get my degree, but here lately I've been asking myself why. Why knock my brains out when I can go sweep floors at Mercedes and make more money with better benefits and less stress. I'm sure most everybody here has asked themselves that question at least once, though. Maybe I'm just not a quitter; I dunno.

Anyway, thank you for listening to my rantings. I keep reminding myself: One day at a time, one day at a time, one day at a time...