Is the increased love for healthcare workers an irony that will fade away when things get better?

[DesiDani]

I mean the love is good, but what happens when the dust settles? Will things improve for all healthcare workers all over the world?

[Naturally Brilliant, BSN, RN]

It's not even love. It's media-driven infatuation. Real love entails sacrifice, and if American society is one thing, it's sacrifice-averse.

Most Americans will gladly tie a yellow ribbon around a friggin' tree to "support the troops in Iraq and Afghanistan". They'll also have no qualms about applauding nurses from the comfort of their own balconies after shift change. Those are slacktivist deeds which give zero meaningful support to those on the front lines.

You only get the respect you feel you deserve. That's why nurses need to organize for their interests and work conditions on a continual basis, not just during crises like the Coronavirus.

[TriciaJ, RN]

Amen to this. Not only will conditions not improve, but the heroic measures seen during the crisis will become the expected norm.

On another thread, travelers are currently raking in beaucoup bucks for working grueling schedules in the hot zones. So management is willing to pay.

Now is the time to start planning ahead if we want better conditions to come out of this. Nurses absolutely need to start standing together as never before. And quit being bought off by cheap empty gestures.

[Daisy4RN]

The "increased love" you see today is probably from the same people who were screaming at you a few months ago (prior to Covid) because they, or their family, didn't get the meal they ordered, the Doctor didn't come yet, it hurt when you started that IV, they have been waiting too long etc. People will fall right back when the dust settles because they can! Admin is still fighting spending money, getting enough staff etc, and of course should have planned better to begin with. The last few years I worked in the hospital staff who could not/would not get a flu vacc were forced to wear a mask all day for the entire flu season (6mo) because of (new) p/p. Now there are a shortage of masks and some admin say staff cant even wear their own. Hypocritical and ridiculous, they won't change either!

Agree with above posters, the work environment will never change unless nurses unite. (But because this is so difficult I am afraid it will never happen).

[DesiDani]

4 hours ago, Daisy4RN said:

The last few years I worked in the hospital staff who could not/would not get a flu vacc were forced to wear a mask all day for the entire flu season (6mo) because of (new) p/p. Now there are a shortage of masks and some admin say staff cant even wear their own."

My job has the same rule. Wonder if that will change?

[Daisy4RN]

2 minutes ago, DesiDani said:

My job has the same rule. Wonder if that will change

Not sure which mask scenario you are referring to but I sincerely hope that if you mean you still cant wear your own mask at present that will change asap, like yesterday!!

[rzyzzy]

3 hours ago, DesiDani said:

I mean the love is good, but what happens when the dust settles? Will things improve for all healthcare workers all over the world?

I think if we learned anything from the Ebola scare it was how fickle the “love” is. Read back through the articles on “Ebola nurses” & you’ll find government officials lying about nurses, employers throwing nurses under the bus & public comments piling on and excoriating nurses for acts that never even happened.

Ebola was more lethal than covid, but not as infectious as covid. Look at the precautions nurses were taking during the Ebola scare and try not to laugh at the tragic comedy playing out today.

[Doris Seefeld Strunk]

We had to get a flu shot or be fired. Unless we had written MD excuse.

[Emergent, RN]

7 hours ago, DesiDani said:

I mean the love is good, but what happens when the dust settles? Will things improve for all healthcare workers all over the world?

Nurses now have increased licence to inform patients to decrease their unreasonable demands.

[lemur00, BSN, RN]

Don't confuse love and "love-bombing". People clap and post memes, meanwhile in my province we've been working without a contract for two years while we battle a pay cut and for our hard won right to determine staffing. To be fair we're better off than a lot of nurses. But it tells you how much love there is that marginally decent working conditions are considered giving us "too much".

They don't love us, they just need us to overexpend ourselves for them yet again and when the dust settles they can go back to kicking us and telling us we're greeedy for wanting decent pay and staffing. This is just manipulating us to do more with less once again and more likely it will become an expected norm as we "proved" we could do it.

There is research showing that people tend to be fine with exploiting those who do a "passion" or "calling" kind of job. This is a narrative that is pushed on us every time we are called "heroes". Well, you accept that mantle then you better act like a hero and be selfless.

I say let them prove they support us by supporting unionization, manditory ratios, raises, better safety measures, et c. Then we might believe the sappy memes.

And that I think might be the real value of the otherwise empty accolades. We may be able to leverage this good will to shame people into supporting our demands for better working conditions. But that has to come from us. As the self-help people used to say, no one is really going to love you if you don't love yourself.

[theoneandonly]

Yes, it will fade away 100%. They are feeding you b/c they need you to take care of their loved ones. Once the crises is over, it will be back to the norm. The public expects you to risk your well-being for strangers which is idiocracy. Remember risking your life and facing potential death is not what you signed up for.

[Katie82, RN]

The love and adoration you see are coming from the general public (we have always been high on the list of most respected professions), not the administration. That will not change, ever...