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!!!!!!
I agree with all posts here, but I'm a realist. In order for a revolution to occur, the first several hundred nurses on the front line will be cut down. (Fired). That's the nature of war. Which one of us is expected to "take one for the team"? Which ones of us can afford it? Does the fear of job loss make us cowards?
Definitely I think so and "they" know it and use it to their best advantage!
Could you get ahold of the daily staffing sheets, with the day to day, "REAL STAFFING NUMBERS", to show the inspectors? You could always send them anonymously after they leave, and explain that the staffing, and other unit situations, were, "prettied up" to "prove that you have safe staffing". This is nothing but fraud that they are committing, when the unit is spiffed up to pass the inspections. JMHO and my NY $0.02.
Lindarn, RN, BSN, CCRN
Somewhere in the PACNW
I have always thought and said that the JACHO inspections are a big joke because they know months and months in advance of when they're coming and are able to get their acts together and of course staff adequately for the weeks that they're supposed to be coming so that everything always looks like it's running smoothly. Personally, I think they're all in bed together. If you were truly doing an inspection to see that they were following all the regulations, had a safe environment for patients with adequate staffing and everything, why wouldn't you want to surprise them with a visit and see what they're up to when they think nobody s watching? This phenomenon of giving them ample notice when you're coming has always seemed like foolishness to me!
It seems like a joke but it is not. If they did "surprise" visits, the hospitals would be dinged so hard they may lose their credibility so that is why the hospital knows well in advance. Isn't it great to see the halls entirely empty of equipment to prepare for them and then a few days/and weeks later the halls are filled with chairs, tables, etc. a total mess. Gotta love it.
I agree and I give up on LTC and I feel like getting a lawyer. I thought I finally found a good full time job at a good place until I had to have emergency gall bladder surgery I was out for 7 days and when I called to let the DNS know I could come back to my full time job I was hired for. I was told I was now on call and my position had been filled by a new hire. I know there is nothing I can do but I am so mad . I am sick of being treated like ****.. I hope their new hire doesnt stay and I called the staffing coordinator today and said sorry I am not accepting the few once in a while on call shifts I cant make a living with it and its unfair. She is not a nurse and said she understood. I agree its revolution time from acute care to LTC. I am sick of it. I am sure my friends and family think I am an idiot but there are too many nurses that are getting treated this same way. The worst thing is if they had told me I could have been looking for other positions during my time off and have been getting calls for jobs I turned down because I was happy at a job for once... I am so damn mad... and I can't get over it this time.
This is horrible that they didn't save your position when you were only off for 7 days! I've never heard of such a thing? We have people that are on medical leave for weeks where I work and they come back to their position.
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 used to work at a hospital that had your 15 min. breaks on the board along side of your assignmnet (break 1, 2, 3, 4, 5) but the hospital I've been working @ for the last 7 years has nothing like that in place and taking breaks is not a priority at all so we work 12 hrs shifts without any 15 min. breaks hardly ever. The smokers (which I am not) are the only ones that make sure they get a break! Management doesn't seem like they notice or care. I've NEVER heard anyone encouraged to take their 15 minute breaks.
Because of "penalty pay" for no breaks and no lunch breaks, they just started this. The union has gotten on the hospitals butt which of course infuriates the hospital and then the hospital retaliates by cutting back on other staff so that the nurse has to pick up the slack there. We are now in process of getting a "break nurse" to make sure we get our breaks. As another poster said, being that we are caregivers the hospital loves it and knows that we will give 150% instead of 100%. So what has to happen in order to not be crazy, is to take your breaks esp your lunch one and get your meds out and blood sugars done, and the next shift will do what you did not do. This is a 24hr job remember? I work my butt off but I have learned how to prioritize and get out on time. If I gave excellent care, I would never get a break, and be over-time and be a basket case, so I have decided to do what I can in the time given and if someone does not get turned, oh well. Unfortunately the patient suffers, and will get bedsores, be dirty, and no or little oral care, but as long as I get meds out on time, get dressings done, get blood transfusions in, and do dressing changes, etc. the hospital is happy and leaves me alone. I also encourage family members to stay and do the care that they can. Now that is another blog: families who sit there and call you to add a pillow which is at the bedside.
It seems like a joke but it is not. If they did "surprise" visits, the hospitals would be dinged so hard they may lose their credibility so that is why the hospital knows well in advance. Isn't it great to see the halls entirely empty of equipment to prepare for them and then a few days/and weeks later the halls are filled with chairs, tables, etc. a total mess. Gotta love it.
This makes my point. JACHO inspections are a big joke! The point is they should be inspection ready @ all times and they are NOT! So obviously, they know that they are not ready at all times, so they compromise the inspections by telling them approximately when they'll be making them, thus allowing them to appear that this is actually how the hospital/facility is being ran. I say, why even bother with the inspections then because they're not an accurate observation of how they're running the hospital? It's all bureacracy and $$$ driven!
The bottom line is $$$$$$. And the buzz word is "due to the economy" which is a total joke in my part of the world. All you have to do is go out during lunch and try to get a table? Our area is crowded. Had lunch with another nurse in our area and we almost peed our pants. The wine list had $600 bottles available and the servers were acting as if this is just "business as usual" which I am afraid it is. We decided against having a drink lol. So, being said, in my area, there is no problem with economy but they sure use it to make more $ for their bonuses. This is why my new life at such a stressful job is to just get what I need to get done, do little extra, and clock out on time. This is what keeps management from getting on my case about anything much. If I was taking overtime all the time, like so many, they would be on my case for any little non-important error. I still work damn hard but by taking my heart out of it, it is less stressful. I am just upfront and when families are upset at the lack of attention, I show them the # on the wall of the manager and tell them I cannot do anything about it but perhaps they can by calling the manager with their legitimate concerns. This keeps the families off my back.
The bottom line is $$$$$$. And the buzz word is "due to the economy" which is a total joke in my part of the world. All you have to do is go out during lunch and try to get a table? Our area is crowded. Had lunch with another nurse in our area and we almost peed our pants. The wine list had $600 bottles available and the servers were acting as if this is just "business as usual" which I am afraid it is. We decided against having a drink lol. So, being said, in my area, there is no problem with economy but they sure use it to make more $ for their bonuses. This is why my new life at such a stressful job is to just get what I need to get done, do little extra, and clock out on time. This is what keeps management from getting on my case about anything much. If I was taking overtime all the time, like so many, they would be on my case for any little non-important error. I still work damn hard but by taking my heart out of it, it is less stressful. I am just upfront and when families are upset at the lack of attention, I show them the # on the wall of the manager and tell them I cannot do anything about it but perhaps they can by calling the manager with their legitimate concerns. This keeps the families off my back.
OMG NeedsHaldol we are specifically instructed that we are to NEVER tell a patient that we are short staffed, in fact we are told to make it appear that there is no problem even when we are truly short staffed. It's kind of analagous to the old saying "never let them see you sweat", well we're supposed to never let them "see" that we are short! Things are going to get way worst because now the Press Ganey scores are tied in with their reimbursements so more and more (well almost all of it) of the pressure to be the best is going to fall on the nurses! Patients are supposed to come away from the hospital these days with an almost spa like experience. Maybe they could start hypnotizing them and programming that into their minds? I don't know what more we can do, how much more sacrificing can we make to satisfy the patients and their families? I just don't know?
Specializes in LTF, ALF, Primary & Rhuematology offices.
First excuse me in advance I'm so frustrated with nursing not because of the job itself but the disregard we are treated with. Not to mention the lines or segregation we are letting keep us from banning together in our medical world to make it better regardless if we are rn, lpn, cna, etc.. I am so tired of management treating me / us like we nothing. I swear if I hear one more condescending remarking about me being just a lpn from a rn whom I have more experience than by the way going and passing our ideas off as her own or that phrase to another co worker I think I will let my license lapse. Sometimes I feel like upper management feels like because I went to nursing school and decided to wipe ***, enjoying wound care and the like,give shots, and do something I love like oh I don't know make my residents day better by sitting and having a convo. And acknowledging them for more than how long we can skill them for I don't have a brain!! Oh yeah I don't have a masters degree so of course my lowly lpn means nothing. I adore helping people I truly do but this is not nursing. I feel like if in my state of VA if there were unions or SOMETHING in place to keep us from being abused by residents, THIER family, management, and some time our own it would help. I mean I know families and residents are dealing with things and there are bad experiences that lead them in their behaviors. But if I am doing my best giving 200+% then back me. If I'm on my feet 8 hrs working like management and families seem to think I am back me. I sometimes wish a strikes would happen to show them how much we needed not only for the money but the real care we give but I know in my heart we can't the residents would suffer. And even at their worst that is not right and when if ever I need the care I hope someone looks out for me like I do my residents. My mom is in a nursinghome I work in one so all of my residents are my family I treat them like I want my mom treated. I don't understand how nursing and other public service people can be so under appreciated. We give up family time when people are short, we come in half dead and in pain with smiles, are cut down verbally and professionally. Yet most people seem to be blind to it. I thought once I would retired from this profession now I don't know. I wanted to be a NP still think I do but why? I mean even then people will still only see a lowly nurse dispite all the care I give. I sleep good at night knowing I did my best at work then nights I don't and I pass it on for someone else to finish bc I'm tired just too I don't sleep well. So I know I still am passionate about nursing I think highly of our profession and all but I feel like the garbage lady.... If we didn't do who would? Feeling like I should've got a business degree.....:argue:
Focus.... you sound like you had a truly bad day. Even being union does not help with families or patients being nasty, etc. It just helps with pay and job security. Of course pay and job security is very important. I think you need to get a bit of a thicker skin. Nursing is not going to change. There will always be nice patients and awful ones. Management will always look out for themselves and their "higher ups". That is it. Nursing is business. The hospital or long term facility or skilled facility is just that: a business. Everything is a business; it is just that taking care of people is different than most businesses as it has a real person's needs. Either leave and find work elsewhere or stay and learn to realize that you cannot do all you want to do. It is just not possible.
Chiggysmom
166 Posts
Definitely I think so and "they" know it and use it to their best advantage!