Married to my job?

[luckynurse_1234]

Hey guys. I am sure you've all seen me on prior posts complaining about my work conditions. I am taking a leadership course, and it talks about being an active "follower" rather than leaving everything up to your leadership. I would consider myself a good follower. I USED to enjoy my job. I want to see us using evidence-based practice. I think all the patients should be taken care of thoroughly i.e.- prn pain medications given, fresh/full icewater pitches @bedside, clean linens/showers given, abnormal (even if only abnormal for patient's trend) vital signs addressed, etc. I genuinely feel happy when the patients say "I've received great care."When I mention these things, my co-workers look at me like I have three heads. Often they say, "I am so tired, I don't want to be here, I don't want to deal with these patients." Or, "This stupid patient keeps asking for pain medication (non-drug seeking)." It is very common when taking over to find the patient in a dirty gown/bed, the IV site is bad, and they say they are in 10/10 pain and have been for hours when the last dose was 8 hours ago. If I mention it to theb nurse the next time I see them, they just say "Yeah," and shrug. Most of them want to just show up, do the bare minimum, and leave the minute the shift is over.To tie in the title, I have been accused of being married to my job/a workaholic. So maybe I am the crazy one? I have had some bad days where I have left the little things undone, but I felt so bad. To everyone else, it's just the norm. Of course, leadership is useless so they aren't helping. We are in an extremely stressful environment interpersonally speaking where a few individuals are acting like moody 12 year olds putting everyone on edge, so I guess I can understand not caring/wanting to escape.Does anyone else still want to do a good job? Or is the inevitable outcome of years of nursing shutting down in order to survive? I also think maybe we don't say "thank you" enough. All we hear is what you are doing wrong from leadership down.

[Perpetual Student]

Sounds like you work with some real sad sacks who deserve to be fired, and then tarred and feathered. The bit about some coworkers not medicating patients for pain has me enraged.

Wanting to do a decent job isn't being "married to your job," it's being a professional. It's not being a useless waster of oxygen. It's having basic human decency to want to keep those entrusted to your care comfortable and safe.

You need to find somewhere else to work. That indifference and lack of regard for patients would not fly in my hospital, nor in most others I've been to. Sure, nowhere's ever perfect, but most places people at least try to do a decent job. Sounds like you're in a real dive.

[luckynurse_1234]

Thanks, I feel as though I've gone crazy since no one else seems to notice or care. What I am hoping for is that it's a cyclical thing, and eventually enough personnel will rotate out to change things.