Nurses Are Leaving the Bedside In Droves

[panurse9999]

We can debate the why's, where's, how's, when's of the toxic culture in many hospitals and nursing homes.

More work, less support staff. More work, less pay. Too many patients. Higher acuity, more orders, fewer nurses being hired. My boss is dumb. My boss is toxic. Yes, its a BIG factor in a nurses decision to leave. We hate drama. We want to do our jobs in peace.

But those are just workplace semantics. There is drama in every workplace, wether in nursing, retail, law enforcement, food services, housekeeping, gaming, farming, hospitality, transportation, or basket weaving. Yes, its there now, and yes, it was there 50 years ago.

Truth be told, years ago, before corporate mergers/ takeovers/ acquisitions became as simple as buying pizza, we had hospitals and nursing homes. Today we have hospital systems and nursing home chains. With these corporate conglomerates at the helm, our profession was taken away. We lost our voices. We lost our sanity. We lost our zeal. Same thing happened to the banking system in the 1980s. Local stand alone banks were bought up, one by one, until we had 6 or 7 worldwide megabanks.

Corporate mentality stole the nursing profession and burned it at the stake. What used to be patient focus, is now billing focus. Today we do not have patients, we have inventory. Some generate substantial money, others are a drain. This is why, when and how "staffing to census" began rearing its ugly head. Back in the old days, there was no such thing as staffing to census. Nurses were hired on certain units, and that is where they stayed. Some days were super busy, others were not.

Staffing in hospitals and nursing homes today is soley based upon inventory (patients) and money (acuity). Not enough inventory in the burn unit? Float the nurse. Not enough inventory in L & D? Tell the nurse to stay home. Too many nurses on telemetry? Send 2 home, or let them work as techs on med-surg. And the list goes on.

What used to be paper documentation by exception, became EMR to generate maximum amounts of reimbursements from medicare, medicaid, and insurance. This is why we have box checkers (formerly known as nurses) spending 75% of their time at computer stations, and 25% of their time at the bedside. If you're lucky. So the next time your wife, husband, brother, sister, friend or companion starts mocking you for being a serial job hunter/ hopper, send them to this article.

Spread the word. Nurses didn't leave the bedside, the profession left us.

[guest974915]

To commiserate, I also have many regrets with my career choice. I have three cousins who are civil engineers and their educational preparedness was similar in length to mine. However, that's pretty much where the similarities end. As far as I know, neither they, nor their peers, are ever mandated to work graveyard shifts, weekends, holidays. They all command a higher yearly salary than me, enjoy better benefits, more respect, and are not exposed to infectious body fluids. Then, there's widespread (albeit accepted) lateral/vertical violence and an enormous amount of 'grey area' in professional nursing practice and the constant worry of litigation. I definitely bet on the wrong horse in this race thirty years' ago and rue my decision nearly everyday. Not being melodramatic or excessively negative, just brutally honest. I definitely would not recommend Nursing as a career path and struggle every day with the knowledge that, at minimum, I have another 10 years before I can get off this hamster wheel and retire.

[panurse9999]

8 minutes ago, morelostthanfound said:

To commiserate, I also have many regrets with my career choice. I have three cousins who are civil engineers and their educational preparedness was similar in length to mine. As far as I know, neither they, nor their peers, are ever mandated to work graveyard shifts, weekends, holidays. They command a higher yearly salary, enjoy better benefits, more respect, and are not exposed to infectious body fluids. , here's lateral/vertical violence and an enormous amount of 'grey area' in professional nursing practice with theconstant worry of litigation I definitely bet on the wrong horse in this race and rue my decision thirty years ago.

I went to school 22 years ago as a second career nurse whose job was wiped out due to automation. I knew it was not going to be clean, easy or glamorous. I knew I'd be exposed to vomit, poop, pee, bodily fluids. I knew I'd be on my feet 12 hours at a clip. I knew I'd have to watch people die. I knew I'd be spending my time consoling family of the deceased.

What I didn't know is that I'd be assaulted by patients, thrown under the bus by co-workers, verbally abused by doctors, harassed by my boss

What I didn't know was that I'd be lied to in the hiring process

What I didn't know is that I'd be sent home after 2 hours on the job due to low census

What I didn't know was that I was enrolled in a medical plan, and cancelled the same day, so a card was mailed to me, to dupe me into thinking I had medical insurance

What I didn't know was that while I was out sick 4 days straight with a raging GIvirus, my position was eliminated , and I was replaced by 2 part time LPNs

What I didn't know was that the sorority sisters who were supposed to be training me were partying behind my back, laughing at me, accusing me of wrong doing, and setting me up to fail

What I didn't know was that if you were still on the job at your 90 day mark, you were considered senior staff

What I didn't know was that the $10,000 sign on bonus was a hoax, because no one actually collects it. It is payable after 6 months . On month 5, day 29, I was fired without explanation

What I didn't know was that 99% of nurse job ads are fake

What I didn't know was that my RN job was set to morph into RN, LPN, CNA, Unit clerk, and if I did not like it, I could leave, because HR has 200 fresh resumes on their desks

What I didn't know was to make sure you get your offer of employment in writing, including your rate of pay (especially)

What I didn't know when I went to my interview, was that the job ad was for a job that may exist in the near future, but does not exist now

Should I go on? I could go on. My decision to go into nursing was the worst decision of my life. I wish I could hit the back button.

[panurse9999]

14 minutes ago, morelostthanfound said:

I definitely would not recommend Nursing as a career path and struggle every day with the knowledge that, at minimum, I have another 10 years before I can get off this hamster wheel and retire.

Ditto. Realistically , its 15 more for me, at minimum. Love the hamster wheel analogy....for me its high tide at the beach...a continual repetitive motion of a wave crashing on my head, then sucking me right back in to the riptide.

[myoglobin, ASN, BSN, MSN]

I’ve seen and experienced the bullying. Also I still work for an HCA hospital, in Florida no less which many consider to be “the worst possible combination”. However, at the end of the day I’ve never been unemployed and I work with some people that I love and admire. I think that what certain people might be missing is how tough, competitive and even dehumanizing many jobs have become. In a world which is often becoming an Orwellian nightmare nursing may not be an oasis, but it very well may be a life raft to something better. Also, I wasn’t kidding about the bartending. In the 1990’s I waited tables at Max and Erma’s and seldom made less than $200.00 in tips for a double shift on a Friday, Saturday or even Sunday. The bartenders that I knew usually doubled my take. Like nursing it was hard, stressful work. Then again I’ve never expected work to be fu, enjoyable or even rewarding only to allow me to sustain life when I’m not working.

[nate411]

4 minutes ago, myoglobin said:

I’ve seen and experienced the bullying. Also I still work for an HCA hospital, in Florida no less which many consider to be “the worst possible combination”. However, at the end of the day I’ve never been unemployed and I work with some people that I love and admire. I think that what certain people might be missing is how tough, competitive and even dehumanizing many jobs have become. In a world which is often becoming ann Orwellian nightmare nursing may not be an oasis, but it very well may be a life raft to something better. Also, I wasn’t kidding about the bartending. In the 1990’s I waited tables at Max and Erma’s and seldom made less than $200.00 in tips for a double shift on a Friday, Saturday or even Sunday. The bartenders that I knew usually doubled my take. Like nursing it was hard, stressful work. Then again I’ve never expected work to be fu, enjoyable or even rewarding only to allow me to sustain life when I’m not working.

I have 7 years in, and while I do not expect work to be fun, or necessarily rewarding, I do expect just baseline civility and respect in the workplace , which I am not finding in nursing. I've worked in several other industries both short and long term. Can't quite help but think, I may soon be one of the "formers" .

[Oldmahubbard]

I went to school in 1991, and got my ADN as a second career. Nobody in my class was planning on a long term bedside career. Incivility, or even outright bullying, was rampant, I soon discovered.

When we graduated, it was supposed to be in the middle of a huge shortage, but full time hospital jobs of any stripe were few and far between. People eventually cobbled a career together.

It could be things are worse now. It is a different world, I admit.

[TheMoonisMyLantern, ADN, LPN, RN]

I love nursing, it's the only field I've ever worked in and I truly have a passion for it. That said, it has taken a heavy toll on my mental health. I won't blame nursing for my current condition but I certainly believe the stress and the experiences have contributed to my decreased ability to function. Nursing has many problems I just hope one day we will finally address them.

[vintagemother, BSN, CNA, LVN, RN]

Why are nurses leaving the bedside?

Because some of them have never enjoyed providing bedside care and aren’t good at it...which leads them to become nurse managers. This, in turn, causes other nurses to leave the bedside because they are being told what to do and how to do it by those who can not do it.

[Workitinurfava, BSN, RN]

On 5/25/2019 at 8:26 AM, panurse9999 said:

I've heard that the corporate hospital systems are pushing the BSN-MSN-NP on all nursing staff. Its part of the systematic moving the goal post to the right, and embroiling the nurse into constant higher education, while working full time, for which there is never an increase in pay once attained. The pay rates are exactly the same for an ADN, BSN, or MSN who are bedside nurses in a hospital. I have speculated that the ultimate goal of the corporate hospitals is to have every nurse who works in the hospital be an NP, so they can cut out RNs entirely, and combine the NP job into one.

I feel this as well. It will be NP in 10 years. Techs or cnas will gain more nurse duties. It's already happening with lpns..getting jobs rns..used to get.

[Workitinurfava, BSN, RN]

11 hours ago, panurse9999 said:

I went to school 22 years ago as a second career nurse whose job was wiped out due to automation. I knew it was not going to be clean, easy or glamorous. I knew I'd be exposed to vomit, poop, pee, bodily fluids. I knew I'd be on my feet 12 hours at a clip. I knew I'd have to watch people die. I knew I'd be spending my time consoling family of the deceased.

What I didn't know is that I'd be assaulted by patients, thrown under the bus by co-workers, verbally abused by doctors, harassed by my boss

What I didn't know was that I'd be lied to in the hiring process

What I didn't know is that I'd be sent home after 2 hours on the job due to low census

What I didn't know was that I was enrolled in a medical plan, and cancelled the same day, so a card was mailed to me, to dupe me into thinking I had medical insurance

What I didn't know was that while I was out sick 4 days straight with a raging GIvirus, my position was eliminated , and I was replaced by 2 part time LPNs

What I didn't know was that the sorority sisters who were supposed to be training me were partying behind my back, laughing at me, accusing me of wrong doing, and setting me up to fail

What I didn't know was that if you were still on the job at your 90 day mark, you were considered senior staff

What I didn't know was that the $10,000 sign on bonus was a hoax, because no one actually collects it. It is payable after 6 months . On month 5, day 29, I was fired without explanation

What I didn't know was that 99% of nurse job ads are fake

What I didn't know was that my RN job was set to morph into RN, LPN, CNA, Unit clerk, and if I did not like it, I could leave, because HR has 200 fresh resumes on their desks

What I didn't know was to make sure you get your offer of employment in writing, including your rate of pay (especially)

What I didn't know when I went to my interview, was that the job ad was for a job that may exist in the near future, but does not exist now

Should I go on? I could go on. My decision to go into nursing was the worst decision of my life. I wish I could hit the back button.

Of course senior staff can be made to be charge nurses. A mess.

[OUxPhys, BSN, RN]

I get that we all have to vent every now and then but some of these posts are hilarious. Every job will have co-workers who will throw you under the bus if it means they will look good for management (or if they simply dont like you).

Yes, there are plenty of careers that make make more than nursing. That can be said for a lot of other careers. Nursing makes more than alot of careers too.

I became a nurse because I cant sit in an office 8 hours a day 5 days a week. Ive been a nurse for about 4 years now and have never been assaulted (then again I dont work psych or ER) but I also know it happens.

Unfortunately the suits have taken over healthcare and if we want to see any changes it will have to be by the government. I also think people are a lot worse now than they were decades ago....which also contributes to the problem.

[OUxPhys, BSN, RN]

8 hours ago, vintagemother said:

Why are nurses leaving the bedside?

Because some of them have never enjoyed providing bedside care and aren’t good at it...which leads them to become nurse managers. This, in turn, causes other nurses to leave the bedside because they are being told what to do and how to do it by those who can not do it.

This times 1000. I think this is the biggest factor. Do your 2 years on the floor and jump into management and start making policy decisions without the experience.