Nurses Fight Back! Why Some Hospitals are Despicable

[allnurses]

This article was written by a member on allnurses in response to reading the article

Hospitals Firing Seasoned Nurses: Nurses FIGHT Back! . Due to the controversial and emotionally charged nature of the article, she is afraid of retribution if her hospital administrative staff should read this article and link it back to her. So we offered to publish it for her anonymously. Please add your comments regarding this issue negatively impacting nurses and the healthcare system.

---

Sue, a new nurse three months into her first job, had a rough assignment, along with every nurse on the floor that day. A wing of 25 beds - and 24 of them filled, there were only 4 nurses - including the charge nurse. Sue barely had time to do an assessment more than open the door and check to see if her patient was breathing. If they talked - they were breathing - and that had to be good enough. The doctor was rounding and wanted to talk to her. Bed 8 needed pain meds and bed 10 needed to get off of the toilet. Would have been great if they had a tech working that day, but that is just fantasy. She still had not taken vital signs or opened her charts to see what meds were needed by 8 am.

Overhead, a Code blue was being called. As Sue ran to assist, she passed by room 11 and her patient screamed out that she had fallen out of bed. The IV pole was lying on the floor next to her and her iv site was bleeding...she was on a dopamine infusion. Sue stops in her tracks to help her patient, a 200-pound female who tried to move from the bed to the chair without calling for help but tripped on her IV tubing. Undecided if she should immediately restart the IV while her patient was still lying on the floor, or try to move her up to the chair without help, Sue wanted to scream in frustration. It was only 7:30 am.

Sadly, this is an example of nursing that should not ever be imposed on anyone, much less a new nurse who has no experience to draw on. Hospital administration who expect to have success by cutting corners and hanging the staff out to dry are at high risk for increased turnover rates, high morbidity/mortality, and disgruntled employees.

10 Reasons Nurses Believe Some Hospitals are Despicable

1. Nurses are under...or not... appreciated.
2. Equipment is outdated, broken, or non-existent.
3. Doctors are coddled to and they are allowed to treat nurses disrespectfully.
4. Improvement suggestions are ignored by management and are not appreciated.
5. Understaffing units and placing nurse licenses at risk with a high/unsafe workload.
6. Unit directors do not lend a hand to help out on the floor when everything is in chaos.
7. Benefits are decreased, pay increases are decreased or not given, and retirement is bleak.
8. The hospital takes better care of administration than it does the staff caring for the patients.
9. Nurses have no support system within the hospital, do not have mentors, nor trust other nurses within their unit.
10. Creating an environment of "us vs them". Nurses are written up by management for things beyond their control due to the heavy workload. Yet, management does little to ease the load of their staff.

Understanding why some hospitals are despicable paints a clear picture of how NOT to manage a hospital, and lends credence to creating a hospital workplace that succeeds. The comparison from one environment to another is striking. Hospitals that succeed place a lot of time and money into proper training of their nurses and value the staff. Take a look:

Anna was a graduate nurse who landed her first job at a local hospital. While waiting to take her board exam, Anna was started in a Pathway Program with other new nurses at the hospital that lasted 6 months. During the first week, the hospital prepared the graduates to take their NCLEX exam with an intensive review.

After the nurses passed their boards, they spent days in Pathway training in classroom training. This included going over hospital policies, safety issues, guidelines, and best practices for hospital patients. Over the next 6 months, they worked on different units with mentors, trained on medication administration, the computer programs used for patient charting, and completed the hospital computer education curriculum. The program instilled the hospital values and mission in the training. Nurses were not "eaten" by the staff, but supported and encouraged.

Anna, along with the others in her program, then graduated and started on the unit they were hired for full time. She had an assigned mentor who she could approach at any time if she had any concerns in caring for any of her patients. The workload at the hospital was acceptable and did not overburden the nurses. In the unit where she was assigned, she found the charge nurses started off the day without an assignment so that she/he could help the other nurses with discharges and admissions, and if need be, could take on a patient or two during the shift. Anna learned the value of teamwork.

Additionally, Anna found she could increase her hourly pay through ambition. Pay raises are attainable through yearly evaluations, gaining continued education certifications, and through continued college education degrees. A reimbursement program for continued education was available. Overtime bonuses and pay during "crisis" seasons when the hospital was overflowing was offered. The hospital gives back to their nurses through yearly bonuses, PTO, Nurse Appreciation Week, and recognition of achievements.

Anna asked her mentor, "Is everyone here this nice?" She also told one of her family, "It is really hard to get a job in this hospital, no one ever wants to leave and work someplace else."

This is true. When hospitals want to become great, administration must realize it is nurses who are the foundation of care, understand what it takes to move a nurse from a graduate nurse to a strong, experienced nurse, and what it takes to keep them.

Hospitals that succeed value those who can create a trusting relationship with patients; who have time to educate and provide quality care for them (decreasing readmission rates); and create positive outcomes -in many ways - even through death; and who have the power to define in action the value and mission of hope and healing many hospital's claim they have.

Nurses, let your voice be heard - stand up for what you believed in when you decided to become a nurse. Be the leader of change in your hospital, be the compassionate, caring, daring, brave nurse you know you are meant to be!

Share your comments here, and join the movement -

STAND YOUR GROUND!!! LET YOUR VOICE BE HEARD!!!

[target98765]

You know, I honestly feel everyone else in the hospital tries to figure out how to make your day as sh**y as possible. Docs, pharmacist, OT, PT, management, RT, are obstructionist in the highest form. They make my day h***. No one helps me and I spend about 1/2 of my shift trying to find things I need to care for my patients. Say what you will about CNAs, but if they don't want to do what you, as the RN, are assigning them to do, it is easier to do it yourself. I have been a nurse for 20 years and I just want out at this point. I am worn down and I am tired of assembly line initiatives being brought to hospitals by corporate America. We have no say, and treated like kindergarten students.

[target98765]

There is so much fear of retaliation in nursing..As much as I feel we need to ban together, I feel it will never happen, we are victims the situations we find ourselves in. We are given assigments that we have no say in, and when to show up for work, there is NO control over anything at work.

[JulieFerwerda]

Thanks for this article. i have experience nearly all 10 in a couple of the hospitals I have worked in (as a CNA)! I'm really hoping as a nearly new graduate nurse that I can find a hospital that values nurses and cares about quality care/patient safety.

[Nurse/Advocate]

As long as no one steps up and voices their concerns, nothing will change.

So true. And this is why we have articles like this......talking about things is the first step to change. We are trying to provide a place where the collective voices of nurses can be heard.

If you have suggestions of how to address these problems. post them here.

I would love for the media to do a story.....of a series of articles about what our members are saying in this article and the one that prompted this one. If anyone has connections with the media, contact them. We saw the media coverage that nurses got during the "Ebola Crisis" and the changes that the voice of nurses made.

[target98765]

"" I would love for the media to do a story.....of a series of articles about what our members are saying in this article and the one that prompted this one. If anyone has connections with the media, contact them. We saw the media coverage that nurses got during the "Ebola Crisis" and the changes that the voice of nurses made.""

I agree, but the difference is that Nina Pham and Amber Vicente were actual people those news stories centered on, and honestly, the media was beginning to spin that AGAINST those nurses until other nurses spoke up by reporting what was actually going on at that hospital. Amber Vincent's name was drug all through the mud regarding her trip after her exposure. If that was an MD, it would not have happened. If the media highlights this story, I certainly would not come forward or have my name associated with this story, frankly, I want to keep my job.

[target98765]

I feel the o ly way to address these issues is with a national or state Nurses Union. That nurses are automatically a part of, I look at teachers taking "sabbatical leave" for entire school years, taking 6-9 months off after having a baby and being protected by tenure after 5 years....how is it that we nurses get treated like c***? God forbid I am take a sick day 3 times; I get a verbal warning. I am not allowed 2 weeks off in the summer; over Christmas is "vacation blackout" so I will never have time off over the holidays. Is this any way to be making a living? Me thinks not!

[Tommy5677]

Just another of the many reasons why you could not pay me enough to go back into nursing. Yes, I'm bitter and negative and after 35 years I can say that nursing was the biggest mistake of my life. Oh to do it all over. I would have been a photographer.

[wanttonurse7]

i work in the same hospital as sue... i know exactly what you're going through.

[target98765]

I feel the same way....HUGE mistake for me too!!!

[brandy1017, ASN, RN]

While I think the hospital I work with is ok, things have worsened as they have raised staffing ratios and we are not staffed as well as in the past. Plus now we are expected to put orders in and be a HUC as well. But my biggest pet peeve is the lack of working equipment like dinamaps or dashes. We are a step down tele floor and so have many cardiac patients, procedures, drips, plus many isolation patients. My biggest wish is that all the rooms would have a working dash but the manager won't spend the money on this even when we had a million dollar remodel no extra equipment was bought and the manager refused to even put in a couple ceiling lifts for the many morbidly obese 300-500+ pound patients we are getting on a very regular basis! Since then I have discovered hover mats and order them when necessary, but I've actually had a couple patients refuse to let us use them! Crazy & Ridiculous! I don't think they should have the option to refuse since we shouldn't have to risk being injured to care for them when equipment is available to protect us!!! Hover mats work great!

I think it is really foolish not to provide dash's for every room. It would ensure we had working equipment plugged in and ready to go, would cut down on infection as each patient would have his own equipment and would save the time of running around constantly looking for equipment and it always being in short supply where we have to borrow from one patient for another! This is my biggest frustration that the manager is keeping the budget down to make sure of a bonus every year at our expense! I'm not even asking for a raise, just enough equipment. We also don't have any computers in the patients' room so have to drag the COWs around from room to room!

[NursesRmofun, ASN, RN]

I think the article pointed out a lot of what we all instinctively know. Treat people badly, they will go elsewhere (or stay and become very miserable people). For myself, I have never understood the "eating their young" aspect of nursing. Why chew on the new folk? They are the ones that will soon be taking call, etc. and easing the burden on me?

Why do they eat their young? Just a little devil's advocate on that thought. Some (a few?) new nurses believe they actually are better than experienced nurses because they are some combo of "fresher" and "less bitter". When a new nurse comes with that attitude AND/OR comes with an attitude of "knowing it all", it can be difficult to those orienting them or working with them...that second one makes me nervous. If a new nurse comes with a lot of energy and is willing to learn, I am one of the nicest old bats around! lol

[NursesRmofun, ASN, RN]

I have worked at great hospitals that still made me run raged because the acuity was not taken into account. I like the idea when hospitals use acuity to make assignments. That said, a hospital can still be better when they staff better, utilize CNAs that are held to a high standard along with the nurses, are clean, and are the best place in town to work! I just signed up with a great hospital! I think bad hospitals sort of run themselves down...and out of competition with the better hospitals. But if there is only ONE hospital in an area, unfortunately, there isn't much choice.

Add- good hospitals utilize UC's...I agree!