Does anyone know how to start a revolution? I'd like to know because I think our profession is in serious need of a nationwide strike...quite possibly a global one. Of the 4 hospitals I've worked at 3 of them have awful working conditions....and I've worked in 4 hospitals in several states and different cities so I don't just think its the 'region' I'm in. From the horror stories I've read about nursing in the U.K., I guess I should feel lucky to have an 8:1 ratio, no aids, on a post op ortho floor.
I love caring for people...I became a nurse to care for people, but I'm just darn tired of our 'profession'. We are still treated like waitresses and ****** on severly by upper management and hospital administration in my opinion. There is very little professional respect given to us...there is a lot of talk about giving us respect, but it rarely happens. We mistake all the hot air about respect from our managers/hospital administrators for real respect, just because they talk about it a lot doesn't mean they are doing it.
What is worse is that I feel that it is horribly misleading to encourage ANYONE into our line of work. We talk about being fufilled by helping others and what not in our profession, or at least that's the line of bull I fell for when I decided to become a nurse. Hospitals (75% of them in my experience) don't want us to provide care to patients. You'll be lucky to see your patient again after assessment and med pass. I understand that medicine is a business, BUT here's the kicker: Don't ask me to be compassionate, caring, and customer serivce oriented if your bottom line is more important than my patients. I can't provide good service to 7,8, or 10 people at a time. There's a reason that research is showing that a basice med surg nurse should have no more than 4....you know why? Because that is the number of patients the RESEARCH is showing to be a safe and feesible. And to be frank I'm tired of being the hospital's scapegoat for unmet unreasonable expectations
Why do we allow are selves to put up with being gripped at for staying late but knowing we can't leave until we are done? I've seen nurses clock out on time just to stay for 2 more hours to finish up. THAT IS NOT OKAY! I've seen nurses clock out that they got to have a lunch when I know for certian that they didn't, just because they don't want to get in trouble with management. This is perpetuating false beliefs in what we are capable of!
We brow beat each other when other nurses are not willing to work like a dog and stand up for themselves. It's usually because then we get screwed into taking on the load that that nurse wouldn't take, but really what we should be doing is saying no too. We tell other people who have less loads but still high loads, that they are lucky and should quit complaning about their job. HELLO! We should ALL have reasonable loads and just because you are taking care of 8 people instead of 12 does not mean that either load is good!
We should all be able to go to work and on a regular basis (75% of the time) be able to have 2 breaks and a 30 minute lunch, do a through check of our patient's charts for errors and missed orders, have time to spend with our patients and know their needs, and leave ON TIME!! That shouldn't be a dream! That should be the average day! We should be complaining about missing a break, not missing urinating for 12 hours!
I do not, cannot, understand why there are nurses out there who stab us in the back with the ideal that they took care of 20 people back in the day so we need to shut up and quit complaining about our 8. Well the fact was you were getting screwed back in the day too, I'm sorry they treated you that way, but that doesn't make our current loads right.
We need a revolution. We need to say no, not just for our sakes but for our patients! And it isn't just nurses, this is for most of the people in medicine. 80 - 100 people for a doctor to see in a hospital in a 14 hour shift is crazy unreasonable too. I have a friend who is having to do this right now and I told that to a doctor I worked with and his response is that my friend was 'lucky'. Crazy!!! It's all maddness I tell you and we aren't helping anyone by not be more vocal about it!!!!!!
Remember......Karma. I am tired of "expecting to understand" that all the problems are just trickeling down from the top. Now the nursing supervisor is running around asking the charge nurse "will there be over time"? How the XXXX does the charge nurse know 4 hrs before end of shift? These issues are happening all over now. Why don't they just cut a bit of hours at the top? NEVER! As for travelers our hospital has not used them in years so I wonder if there is still a good market for them? If I was single and there were traveler jobs available I would love to do it. As for that gall bladder surgery, interesting, because I never had an issue with my gall bladder and I had it out also and there was NO connection to food or weight like they used to connect with ages ago.
NeedsHaldol,
Me either.. just starting getting sick one evening and thought at first it was gastroenteritis. Then I started having extreme pain in my upper back. It was weird and I agree. I don't think my weight had anything to do with it either. It was just one of those things.
Remember......Karma. I am tired of "expecting to understand" that all the problems are just trickeling down from the top. Now the nursing supervisor is running around asking the charge nurse "will there be over time"? How the XXXX does the charge nurse know 4 hrs before end of shift? These issues are happening all over now. Why don't they just cut a bit of hours at the top? NEVER! As for travelers our hospital has not used them in years so I wonder if there is still a good market for them? If I was single and there were traveler jobs available I would love to do it. As for that gall bladder surgery, interesting, because I never had an issue with my gall bladder and I had it out also and there was NO connection to food or weight like they used to connect with ages ago.
I think this article has some interesting points. Most of the information is stuff that we already know - however, I think it's worth repeating.
The article is worth the read. The author also conducted interviews with three RN's. A lot of their complaints mirror what has been written on this thread.
Thank you:) AppalachianRNstudent and Needs Haldol for your kind words and you helped me NeedsHaldol to think this through and get over being angry because angry will not change anything in my career.
Trish, best to you. Yes, it is best to just go forward and learn from the past and learn that you will not accept poor treatment ever again. My gall bladder issue was two nights of thinking I had food poisoning. Never had an issue with food, weight, etc. To top it off, in the ER (which was my first visit in 30 years), the doc thought I was drug seeking. He withheld pain meds while I curled up in a ball. When my labs came back out of range, he allowed me to have pain meds. Yes, this is America at its best? I have full insurance. The average home in this area is over 1 million dollars, so I can't even use the excuse of being in a poor city hospital. Now I stay away from doctors. Some would say that is not good, but if I have a question I just hit up one of the good docs at work and ask. Sort of like a "work doctor visit". ha ha. The best to you and don't let them take you down!
The main goal of of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (a.k.a. "Obamacare") is to contain costs, not improve access or provide excellent service to patients.
In that respect, I think it's clear where the axe will fall first - worker's and the poor. The management of Medicaid was recently privatized in my state. There will be four companies in charge of the management. At least two of them have been involved in lawsuits; one regarding embezzlement and another involving the with-holding of services to Medicaid recipients.
This is the future of health care in the USA. Care will be rationed for the vast majority of us while the upper middle class and the ruling class will enjoy the greatest of health care privileges.
And just a few thoughts on Unions - they no longer play a progressive role for workers. If we examine the function of a union (any union), we find that it can only go so far as to gain concession from the employer. The trouble is, employers are unwilling to give concessions because they understand that giving concessions to their labor force cuts the bottom line.
The world economic system is objectively imperialist, and in this age of transnational corporations, competition is at such frenzied pace that the ruling class (i.e. CEO's of the Fortune 400) and the financial oligarchy (banks) are unable and unwilling to budge an inch to provide better pay, benefits, and working conditions for their employees.
What is to be done in such dire circumstances? I would propose the expropriation and democratization of the large banks and financial firms. Furthermore, I would suggest that all privately owned manufacturing and information technology corporations valued at over $10 billion be transferred to publicly owned enterprises - with safeguards in place for small investors. Also, telecommunications, agriculture, education, health care and transportation - must also be subject to public ownership and democratic control.
These things will never happen unless the working class (including nurses) are imbued with a socialist consciousness and collectively fight for it.
Been reading a lot of history lately, and this sounds eerily like the goals set forth at the introduction of Communism in China back in the 1950s. The promises made to the poor and working classes sounded good, but the reality was something entirely different. Conversion to "collective" enterprises did not come without resistance, and even those who welcomed the ideas and ideals of these changes were not prepared for the upheaval that came with trying to build and impose such a system. Nor did they expect the deprivation and harsh treatment that came after several "honeymoon" years. Millions upon millions of people died of starvation, while others were sent to toil in "re-education" camps for minor offenses like hiding small amounts of food and expressing doubt in farming practices or manufacturing systems that were clearly inadequate or downright harmful.
Think that can't happen here? Any time you have a system where nearly everything is controlled by the government, such tyranny becomes an extremely likely possibility. If you think corruption is bad now, consider what might happen in a government-run country where "everyone is equal, but some are more equal than others (as George Orwell so eloquently expressed this thought in Animal Farm)."
We have our problems now, but I don't want to exchange them for communism or socialism where dissent is punished and extreme fear is a part of daily life.
Dissent is not only punished in communist /socialist states , it is also punished in fascist / dictatorships . Some of those who have won their freedom in the Arab spring , did not live in socialist states . All systems of governing taken to extremes lead to people being oppressed .
Agree with RNWriter. If you think things are bad now? Just wait and see how bad they will get. We need a board of docs/nurses who look at certain cases, case by case. I had a 60 lb woman whose family refused to make her a 'No Code'. What a disaster. She bounced around the hospital and now she is in ICU and still "no code". Yes, folks, she is starving to death. Now the family wants a feeding tube in addition to the TPN. She is demented and full of bedsores. The docs are too afraid of "being sued" if they do not do what family wants. If family was approached that they need to start paying for this care, sure enough, she will be a "no code". She needs to be a "no code". When I see situations like this, I want to change jobs.
slow code??? or my fave ,,,FAUX CODE??? And I wonder,,,who tells the family that we would break her ribs,,cause her tremendous pain,,,etc??? AND because we are the ones doing the code,,,of course the NURSES caused this horrific pain,,,and isn't it so nice of Dr. Do Little for saving her life???
An aside,,,,a college in this town that has a nursing program has a commercial with the cute litte blonde,,,and she says,,,"I GET TO WORK WITH DOCTORS!"
Sure,,wait till you have to call one at 0300,,and he says "what do you want me to do?" just give me a ******* order to transfer,,,pulse ox 72%,, P148 irr,,,BP 80/40,,,,what do you want ME to do???
And don't get me started on the bean counters,,,what do you mean the ambulance isn't covered??? It costs $200 just for them to leave the garage,,,out of pocket for the family,,,so the when they get the bill,,,yep,,falls on us,,,"You should have told us about the ambulance cost ,,we would have taken her, there's no way we can pay this!":eek:
slow code??? or my fave ,,,FAUX CODE??? And I wonder,,,who tells the family that we would break her ribs,,cause her tremendous pain,,,etc??? AND because we are the ones doing the code,,,of course the NURSES caused this horrific pain,,,and isn't it so nice of Dr. Do Little for saving her life???
An aside,,,,a college in this town that has a nursing program has a commercial with the cute litte blonde,,,and she says,,,"I GET TO WORK WITH DOCTORS!"
Sure,,wait till you have to call one at 0300,,and he says "what do you want me to do?" just give me a ******* order to transfer,,,pulse ox 72%,, P148 irr,,,BP 80/40,,,,what do you want ME to do???
And don't get me started on the bean counters,,,what do you mean the ambulance isn't covered??? It costs $200 just for them to leave the garage,,,out of pocket for the family,,,so the when they get the bill,,,yep,,falls on us,,,"You should have told us about the ambulance cost ,,we would have taken her, there's no way we can pay this!":eek:
Amen,
lpnkharma. Man thats crazy about having a cute little blonde advertise nursing wow .. I call docs to get orders and I do work with them in a way but I am usually telling a doc like you on the phone what I need and what the resident needs.. its oh like critical thinking LOL.... I agree with all you say... I feel the same way about what you said but you said it better.
Been reading a lot of history lately, and this sounds eerily like the goals set forth at the introduction of Communism in China back in the 1950s. The promises made to the poor and working classes sounded good, but the reality was something entirely different. Conversion to "collective" enterprises did not come without resistance, and even those who welcomed the ideas and ideals of these changes were not prepared for the upheaval that came with trying to build and impose such a system. Nor did they expect the deprivation and harsh treatment that came after several "honeymoon" years. Millions upon millions of people died of starvation, while others were sent to toil in "re-education" camps for minor offenses like hiding small amounts of food and expressing doubt in farming practices or manufacturing systems that were clearly inadequate or downright harmful.
Think that can't happen here? Any time you have a system where nearly everything is controlled by the government, such tyranny becomes an extremely likely possibility. If you think corruption is bad now, consider what might happen in a government-run country where "everyone is equal, but some are more equal than others (as George Orwell so eloquently expressed this thought in Animal Farm)."
We have our problems now, but I don't want to exchange them for communism or socialism where dissent is punished and extreme fear is a part of daily life.
I'm glad you take an interest in history. When I hear or read that workers are interested in history, it makes me happy because as Rosa Luxemburg said, history is the "Via Dolorosa" of the working class. And only through learning from past struggles - not only victories but defeats - can the working class (which is the only class that has revolutionary potential because we produce and provide everything and thus create the wealth of the world) be prepared for immense revolutionary struggle.
I'm a bit confused, because China never actually implemented a communist society nor has any other nation in the entire 12,000 years of human civilization. I think you may be basing your analysis on a flawed understanding of communism.
The CCP was firmly in control by the 1950's. Furthermore, Mao's regime - as it objectively existed - implemented bourgeois nationalist measures, including the expropriation of the landlord class, however, it was intensely hostile to the working class. And in fact, Mao's largest constituency was not the working class at all, but the rural peasantry.
The CCP brutally oppressed Chinese Trotskyist (which at that time, was - and still is - the highest form of revolutionary socialist strategy and theory). The CCP recognized the immense threat that Trotskyists presented and worked very hard to eradicate them. They did, and they established a bureaucratic police state along the Stalinist model. They combined nationalization of industry with "socialist" rhetoric with an internal regime that ruthlessly oppressed opposition, particularly from the left.
This led to disastrous consequences including a famine that killed an estimated 30 million people. Internationally, Maoism perpetuated the Stalinist theory of an alliance with the bourgeoisie in backwards countries, which led to unspeakable horrors throughout Asia. For example, in Indonesia, a million workers and peasants were slaughtered by the CIA-backed Indonesian military and anti-communist paramilitary forces in 1965-1966. Another example is the Stalinist's brokering a partition in 1954 with French imperialism which set the stage for the US intervention.
These theories (Maoism and Stalinism) were not communist or socialist. They were opportunist, reactionary and unprincipled.
Marx elaborates that communism is the highest stage of human social evolution where mankind is classless, moneyless, has all needs met and can continue to progress for the betterment of our species.
Engels defines modern socialism as "scientific" as opposed to utopian. Socialism, first and foremost, must not be understood as some utopian idealistic future, but, as part of a historical process that may or may not come to pass. So, clearly I do not advocate any sort of unprincipled, reactionary and opportunist approach. I advocate political and economic power placed squarely in the democratic hands of the working class - not a distant and often cruel bureaucratic caste.
I was told by a medical resident (and I have no reason not to believe it because it makes total sense) that hospitals have people who crunch the numbers to see how many short they can staff (saving $$$) versus how much they will have to pay out in a wrongful death lawsuit, and staff so they will save more money than they will have to pay out. Sick, isn't it? All about $$$.
Does anyone know how to start a revolution? I'd like to know because I think our profession is in serious need of a nationwide strike...quite possibly a global one. Of the 4 hospitals I've worked at 3 of them have awful working conditions....and I've worked in 4 hospitals in several states and different cities so I don't just think its the 'region' I'm in. From the horror stories I've read about nursing in the U.K., I guess I should feel lucky to have an 8:1 ratio, no aids, on a post op ortho floor.
I love caring for people...I became a nurse to care for people, but I'm just darn tired of our 'profession'. We are still treated like waitresses and ****** on severly by upper management and hospital administration in my opinion. There is very little professional respect given to us...there is a lot of talk about giving us respect, but it rarely happens. We mistake all the hot air about respect from our managers/hospital administrators for real respect, just because they talk about it a lot doesn't mean they are doing it.
What is worse is that I feel that it is horribly misleading to encourage ANYONE into our line of work. We talk about being fufilled by helping others and what not in our profession, or at least that's the line of bull I fell for when I decided to become a nurse. Hospitals (75% of them in my experience) don't want us to provide care to patients. You'll be lucky to see your patient again after assessment and med pass. I understand that medicine is a business, BUT here's the kicker: Don't ask me to be compassionate, caring, and customer serivce oriented if your bottom line is more important than my patients. I can't provide good service to 7,8, or 10 people at a time. There's a reason that research is showing that a basice med surg nurse should have no more than 4....you know why? Because that is the number of patients the RESEARCH is showing to be a safe and feesible. And to be frank I'm tired of being the hospital's scapegoat for unmet unreasonable expectations
Why do we allow are selves to put up with being gripped at for staying late but knowing we can't leave until we are done? I've seen nurses clock out on time just to stay for 2 more hours to finish up. THAT IS NOT OKAY! I've seen nurses clock out that they got to have a lunch when I know for certian that they didn't, just because they don't want to get in trouble with management. This is perpetuating false beliefs in what we are capable of!
We brow beat each other when other nurses are not willing to work like a dog and stand up for themselves. It's usually because then we get screwed into taking on the load that that nurse wouldn't take, but really what we should be doing is saying no too. We tell other people who have less loads but still high loads, that they are lucky and should quit complaning about their job. HELLO! We should ALL have reasonable loads and just because you are taking care of 8 people instead of 12 does not mean that either load is good!
We should all be able to go to work and on a regular basis (75% of the time) be able to have 2 breaks and a 30 minute lunch, do a through check of our patient's charts for errors and missed orders, have time to spend with our patients and know their needs, and leave ON TIME!! That shouldn't be a dream! That should be the average day! We should be complaining about missing a break, not missing urinating for 12 hours!
I do not, cannot, understand why there are nurses out there who stab us in the back with the ideal that they took care of 20 people back in the day so we need to shut up and quit complaining about our 8. Well the fact was you were getting screwed back in the day too, I'm sorry they treated you that way, but that doesn't make our current loads right.
We need a revolution. We need to say no, not just for our sakes but for our patients! And it isn't just nurses, this is for most of the people in medicine. 80 - 100 people for a doctor to see in a hospital in a 14 hour shift is crazy unreasonable too. I have a friend who is having to do this right now and I told that to a doctor I worked with and his response is that my friend was 'lucky'. Crazy!!! It's all maddness I tell you and we aren't helping anyone by not be more vocal about it!!!!!!
Wowsers! I can relate to EVERYTHING you've said here! Your observations are so right. I think we've been brain washed into believing that this is just the way it is and there's nothin we can do about it. Actually I don't think there is. The powers that be (huge financial interests!) that run the hospitals across the country are too big and powerful and we nurses are nothing to them. So we either have to put up with it and just do our jobs or leave. We were taught all that "you're going to be professionals" smut in college/nursing school but when it comes down to it we're not treated any better than the coal miners in the mines and the hospital administrations don't look at us any differently than the owners of the mines look @ the miners. We keep the hospitals going and bringing in the money for them just like the miners keep the coal coming and padding the coal mine owner's pockets! I don't look for this to ever change. Sadly, it would take a revolution to change this.
Correct: not going to change except to hit where it hurts----$$$$. We clock in and out and if we are over-time (which they dislike as much as I do) we get 1 1/2 pay. If we get no dinner then 1 hr penalty pay, no 15min break, more pay. So now they tell us this is a 24hr job so leave the work for the next nurse. So I now take my breaks. I do as best I can, and just tell the oncoming nurse what needs to be done that was not done. Plain and simple. Yes, the patient does not get the care the patient used to. When a family member says "oh I see you are short staffed" I tell them the truth, "no we are not short staffed". I have had a patient family complain that the light was on for 30 minutes (untrue but feels that way when they need something) and right in front of them I ask the CNA, "how many patients do you have this shift" and the CNA is honest and says "I have 15". The family then knows what is what. So, I take breaks, get meds out, do the best I can with the time I am given, and get out on time 75%. The fact is is this is a very stressful job and management does not care as they are on a strict budget.
I agree with all you say... I feel the same way about what you said but you said it better. 
Psychtrish39, BSN, RN
290 Posts
NeedsHaldol,
Me either.. just starting getting sick one evening and thought at first it was gastroenteritis. Then I started having extreme pain in my upper back. It was weird and I agree. I don't think my weight had anything to do with it either. It was just one of those things.