I am sooooooooo SICK AND TIRED of the CRAP being dealt with by us nurses! I am giving up nursing for good! Back to college for a new degree in a totally different career field where I can get the respect and appreciation for what I invest most of my time in these days.
I am TOTALLY disgusted with family members accusing me of doing wrong when I did NOT do anything wrong! I'm sick and tired of NOT getting any recognition for the GOOD things I do as a nurse!
I work three twelve hour shifts a week. In the process of working those 36 hours plus, I care for at least five to seven patients a shift (counting discharges and new admits before the shift is over). Mulitply those five (let's do the minimum here) times three days worked, and that's 15 patients a week...60 patients a month. Out of 60 patients, dealing with their family members complaints, the patients issues and sometimes complaints, the doctors and the other hospital staff involved with those 60 patients, a few strangers come along and make out like I'm the worse nurse they've ever laid eyes on. Do I get credit for the 57 plus patients who happened to like the care received by them from me? Oh noooooooo....just let ONE irate family member complain about something I did NOT do, or let a doctor complain they didn't get what they wanted when they wanted it, let me come into work and be the nurse blasted by unhappy family or patients for the care they've received all week (not from me by the way cause I've not been at work all week), and I'm NOT a nice nurse. Whatever!
I QUIT!!! Those people have walked on me for the last time! I am NOT their handmaiden. Heck, I'm not even respected as "the nurse", so why stay in nursing. Someone PLEEEEEEZZZZZ tell me WHY should I stay in this crappy disrespectful put the nurses down for everything that goes wrong field?
I believe that management focuses too much on "customer service" ~ we are in the business of caring for the sick, not catering to visitors.
Last I checked it was the HOSPITAL, not the HILTON. Easily confused, I know! :chuckle
Again ~ many hugs to you!!
That's supposedly why our floor has the pod system, to create a "hotel-like" atomosphere.
Oh great, more reason for the GOMER-patients to request (yes REQUEST) our floor. If people want the Marriot, i'll give them the directions, but last i checked, hospital stays were for sick people, not accomidations and amminities.
I hate to see the nursing profession lose you, Cheerful, your posts have plainly stated what a benefit you are to the healthcare world.
Speaking of hotel, last night someone came to our ER via ambulance for (get this) DRY MOUTH!
Talk about hotel!!! with limosine service!!!!!
I, too, am sick and tired of catering to all of the idiots who think that we are the enemy or the handmaiden. What a bunch of crap. I would love to know what else I could do. What else makes this kind of money? I don't want to sell anything.
oh cheerfuldoer i really feel for you and you are right in what you say. I have only been qualified since March 2003 and already i have seen alot of it. I love my job so much but at times i think i should not have gone into nursing i should have done teaching. i didnt know whether to do nursing or teaching. I have only been on ward for 8 months and want to get out of hospital setting and do my health visiting where i care for babies to pre schoolers (10 day olds to 4 years olds) but it is so difficult to get on the course.
Anyway you must be so proud of what you have done for people in the time you have been nursing. It is a shame nursing is what it is today. (compared to what people have told me what nursing used to be like)
I've been a nurse for 27 yrs and yes, it has changed a lot. And not for the better.
I am convinced the keys to surviving in this profession is to know one's boundaries well, resist the push to be all things to all people, and try to find a place where there is SOME support.. It has worked for me and many others who are still standing.
Remember when we were kids and our moms told us'sticks and stones...' etc? When my manager, patient, visitor, doctor starts their spiel I try to remember my sweet mom telling me this. And then I go out there and do like I've always done: the very best I can with the cards I've been dealt.
Yes, it is demeaning the way we have to work today. But, it is still only a job, I 'know' I am not a worthless servile human being...so I will not let others' attitudes hurt me. We cannot control the hospital environment and we cannot make them listen to us. But...some environments ARE more tolerable than others....and we can all find a less objectionable workplace...which is where most of us are at...finding that 'less objectionable' place.
I do the best I can and that's all we can ask of ourselves. When I get to the point that my career is hurting my soul, I will leave, because my job cannot be allowed to hurt me in this way...life is too precious. Some days I am very very close.
Renee, if you are there please leave and look for greener pastures for your soul to flourish in. I know many many nurses who have done just that. It is a very personal decision, knowing 'when to hold 'em, when to fold 'em, when to walk away, and when to run'. Many in our profession have RUN and nurses know why.
God Bless all nurses...and give us strength...and peace :kiss
(((((cheerful)))), i pray you stay in the profession [nursing need those such as yourself to make a difference] and hope you feel much better today than you did on yesterday.
I've been a nurse for 27 yrs and yes, it has changed a lot. And not for the better.
I am convinced the keys to surviving in this profession is to know one's boundaries well, resist the push to be all things to all people, and try to find a place where there is SOME support.. It has worked for me and many others who are still standing.
Remember when we were kids and our moms told us'sticks and stones...' etc? When my manager, patient, visitor, doctor starts their spiel I try to remember my sweet mom telling me this. And then I go out there and do like I've always done: the very best I can with the cards I've been dealt.
Yes, it is demeaning the way we have to work today. But, it is still only a job, I 'know' I am not a worthless servile human being...so I will not let others' attitudes hurt me. We cannot control the hospital environment and we cannot make them listen to us. But...some environments ARE more tolerable than others....and we can all find a less objectionable workplace...which is where most of us are at...finding that 'less objectionable' place.
I do the best I can and that's all we can ask of ourselves. When I get to the point that my career is hurting my soul, I will leave, because my job cannot be allowed to hurt me in this way...life is too precious. Some days I am very very close.
Renee, if you are there please leave and look for greener pastures for your soul to flourish in. I know many many nurses who have done just that. It is a very personal decision, knowing 'when to hold 'em, when to fold 'em, when to walk away, and when to run'. Many in our profession have RUN and nurses know why.
God Bless all nurses...and give us strength...and peace :kiss
This is a truly wonderful post - expressing what a lot of us feel.
I, too, am a seasoned nurse, and wish I could have found this forum LONG ago. I've been a nurse 27 years, and I, too, never wanted to do anything but bedside nursing. Until managed care and HMOs waltzed in and took everyone by the ____. I have felt and expressed every one of the sentiments you all have expressed here. I use to cry on the way to work because I didn't want to go to a job I'd loved so much that had changed so much. And I'd cry on the way home because I always left feeling like the patients didn't get what they deserved because I was spread too thin. And there was no one to talk to who understood. I was VERY fortunate, though. The Lord sent a WONDERFUL job my way, and now I look forward to going to work again. I work in a cardiology office, and I love it. I never thought I'd be happy in an office, but I know I'm where I belong.
I'm not sorry for the 23 years of bedside nursing....most of those years were wonderful. Just the last 4-5 "inhaled vigorously" (I really hate the 's' word). I had a lot of great experiences, most of which prepared me for today. I hope those of you who are as unhappy as I was will be as blessed as I. If all else fails, come to NC and work with me!!!
I am so sorry your job is so crappy Rene. The one thing I don't miss about the US is the emphasis on "customers" in health care. Fortunately Canada hasn't seen that as much, but even here it's starting. I think some families are just nuts, and that's universal!
Specializes in Specializes in L/D, newborn, GYN, LTC, Dialysis.
((((((((((((RENEE))))))))))))))) Along your lines, where I work today, an interesting issue came up.......
just today the powers-that-be asked US NURSES to remove light covers in ceilings and vacuum out flies. (yes they are disgusting). Reason? This ought to make you scream: For SAFETY REASONS OUR HOUSEKEEPING STAFF CANNOT BE PERMITTED TO DO THIS---THEY WOULD HAVE TO (gasp) GET UP ON LADDERS!!! (and maybe risk on-the-job injury)........
See how DEVALUED NURSING/NURSES has become? Asking college-educated, specially-trained, overworked NURSES to do this????? WHAT (*^%$$. Welp you can imagine WHAT THE *&%$ our response was....basically to shove this request where the sun never shines and find someone who CAN climb a ladder and do this!
AS IF!!!!
as if we have time
as if we want to risk *our * safety anymore than we already do on the job....
SHEESH...this tops the cake for me...the most assinine request from administration I have seen to date. BUT they did NOT DARE push it; union grievances are a b****. So they will have to hire "fly-suckers" to do this task, I suppose. Awwwwwwwww....
UGH!!!
As to you students who are upset by this venting...I am sorry. Really, but with all due respect....THIS is the reality, folks, like it or not this is what you are getting into! And you best enter with EYES wide OPEN.... And it is NOWHERE NEAR inappropriate for a seasoned nurse like Renee to come and vent to us.......we understand as fellow nurses. I wish you new grads and students the very best with your careers; I hope you are treated better and last longer than some others have. CAUSE WE NEED YOU, and DESPERATELY...after we have had enough or need nurses ourselves, we need you to step up to the plate and TAKE OVER. IF anyone burst any bubbles here today, that is not the intent, but we have the right to vent and you have the right to PASS on such THREADS as always!!!!!
Try to remember the other 57 patients.....Yes, one irate co-worker, family member and physician and really spoil our rare moments of feeling as if we have handled "The world". The attitudes that you described are everywhere from McDonalds to the Banks to the Hospital setting. Unfortunately we can't change the people that we come into contact with and yes, we all, as upsetting as it is, are expendable.
However, focus on the other 57 patients, especially the cute little old man that didn't ask for a thing, but just gave you a wink and a smile when you walked into the room.
You did make a difference through all your hard work and that is why you are a nurse.
Specializes in Specializes in L/D, newborn, GYN, LTC, Dialysis.
I WANT TO FOCUS ON THE 57 other PATIENTS...IF only the *&^$%(@ bean-counters and administrators would NOT stand in the way of that. THAT IS WHY MOST OF US ENTERED nursing, TO EARN A DECENT LIVING and MAKE A DIFFERENCE!! Were it that simple..huh...
this gets harder and harder to focus on in light of all this insanity in our way, however.
yea, "welcome to nursing" is right indeed". Those 57 other patients will just have to sit tight while I do others' jobs (e.g. lab, respiratory, housekeeping, kitchen staff, etc.), in addition to nursing, first.
Do I get credit for the 57 plus patients who happened to like the care received by them from me? Oh noooooooo....just let ONE irate family member complain about something I did NOT do, or let a doctor complain they didn't get what they wanted when they wanted it, let me come into work and be the nurse blasted by unhappy family or patients for the care they've received all week (not from me by the way cause I've not been at work all week), and I'm NOT a nice nurse. Whatever! 
Marie_LPN, RN, LPN, RN
12,126 Posts
That's supposedly why our floor has the pod system, to create a "hotel-like" atomosphere.
Oh great, more reason for the GOMER-patients to request (yes REQUEST) our floor. If people want the Marriot, i'll give them the directions, but last i checked, hospital stays were for sick people, not accomidations and amminities.
I hate to see the nursing profession lose you, Cheerful, your posts have plainly stated what a benefit you are to the healthcare world.