labor policy changes

[wjdda]

anyone concerned about the new labor policy changes set to take affect march of this year. It certainly has potential to help the hospital stockholders to the nurses detriment. Any feelings out there?

[ascnbe, ADN, RN]

The changes are not beneficial to nurses. I will allow us to be grouped as professionals and taken out of the time and a half category for OT. It doesn't effect me since I work for the state. They took away our OT long ago. I believe "if they can they will" when it comes to money. Nurses are a huge group nationwide with the potential to have great political power. We lack only solidarity.

[been there]

We have no solidarity...we "eat our young", LPNs complain about the suggestion that entry level nurses should have a BSN, there are too many RN designations (diploma, etc.) with differing levels of education, hospital RNs begrudge giving a BSN student help, our ages vary from young and cute to old and ragged out without a common ground, new nurses refuse to do what it takes to get the job done because "it isn't my job" so the old ones have to pick up the slack. And, why does everyone seem to think that all nurses work in hospitals??????? I have hospice,dialysis, home health and nursing home experience. I've never received overtime, have taken call for entire weekends without pay because it "comes with the job", had several agencies close owing me pay twice and the Feds won't do anything about it. Each nursing field comes with its own set of problems and issues. Patient/nurse ratio, as an example, may work in a hospital but a nursing home usually has a 35 pt/1 nurse ratio during the day as routine. In dialysis it can be 25/1. The only issues I hear being discussed are from a hospital environment, and, so goes the legislative decisions. The rest of us fend for ourselves as best we can. So much for any hope of "solidarity".