Nurses leaving in droves...

tntrn, ASN, RN · Nov 5, 2004

Last night at work I heard from at least 3 nurses, and personally know at at least 3 more, who are "looking" for something else to do. Add me to that and it's about 20% of our unit staff.

It's not about how nurses treat nurses. It's about how everytime we have a staff meeting, we get the newest, latest BS from administration about how we can do more, more, more, with less, less, less. Oh, and throw in all the idiotic stuff JCAHO invents every year which is not-so-cleverly disguised as a way to improve patient care, but in truth is simply justification for them to keep their miserable jobs.

One of my co-workers, who also works in another facility, says they are completely paperless, so an L & D nurse can no longer take the monitor strip and run out a 30 minute piece of it to get the idea of what it looks like over all. Computer charting is the beginning of the end as far as actually paying attention to one's patient. IMHO, of course.

Many of us are looking for the way out. I think I've found mine. As as soon as I can get it together, I'm so gone.

Oh, the vent feels good!

Jetman · Nov 6, 2004

I think corporate minded hospital administrators should admit that they have failed miserably as a profession and should go into another line of work...like managing amusement parks or running hotel chains. Maybe they can put their talents there and blossom. I say, give the hospitals back to the physicians and nurses. Our hospitals have lost their souls in this corporate mind set. Hospitals are not the place to provide three hots and a cot, to provide amusement as the indicator of successful treatment, or room service with a view. God help us, if things keep on going like they are, hospitals will soon have ferris wheels and cotton candy booths out in the parking lots and inground pools for "guests" with nurses at the beck and call to hand out towels. Sorry for the rant. Ignorant administrators and self serving "guests" who ARE NOT ill suck out our life blood. No wonder we burn out. If I wanted to work at Disneyland or the Hilton, I would have went there. Been a RN for 19 years. Plan to tough it out. End of rant.

I agree completely. If I hear about 5 STAR SPIRIT one more time, I going to puke. Administrators waste a ton of money on such piddly things. I work in an 11 bed ER that can get pretty busy at times and it was dedicded that what we needed was 42 inch plasma screen for the waiting room, nevermind that already have 2 tvs there now. How about increasing staff? Our numbers are getting to edge of what the current staff can handle.

shell911rn · Nov 7, 2004

I've only been working as a nurse for 4 months and I'm in the process of developing plans B and C. My preceptor asked me how much I was making and was shocked to find that I was only making 4 dollars an hour more than she made 15 years ago starting out in nursing in the same region! I thought I would graduate from school and be able to buy a house and a car, but the cost of living outpaced me. At 25, I'm still living at home and it's not ideal for me to start on another career path at my parent's expense. Now, I'm applying back to school to get my BSN/MSN after only four months on the job and I'm considering leaving California for other states with comparable pay and lower cost of living, so that may be I can enjoy what I earn. I come home so tired from work that I don't have the energy to do much else other than eat, sleep, and crawl in to bed. I consider myself lucky I'm not married with kids, because I can barely meet my own needs, let alone those of other family members, and commend those of you who are doing it. I'm lucky I get a break 6 hours in to my shift and am probably chronically dehydrated and hypoglycemic at work. I'm wondering how long before I become a patient myself. And the one thing that is most disturbing to me is the lack of appreciation from patient's and family. There's an expectation that patients have that is unrealistic. I garnered more thanks and appreciation as an EMT than I am getting as a nurse. As if our job wasn't difficult enough trying to coordinate care and make sure the patient's critical needs are met, we are finding ourselves in situations trying to explain why we couldn't get back in the room to give the patient a warm blanket or a glass of water or a bedpan right when they wanted it. Our priorities are obviously different from theirs and I have stressed that to several patients recently. I used to be an ER tech and CNA and it was my responsibility to meet those basic needs. Now I'm having to do the job of a nurse and a nurse's aide, while the acuity of the patient's are rising and the support is being taken away. How can we be expected to meet standards of care under these circumstances? Standards of care only seem to be setting us up for litigation. Nursing magazines/journals tout the newest ideas and innovations on pain management, therapeutic communication, etc. that would be ideal for implementing, but I feel I just don't need one more responsibility when I can barely meet what's on my plate as it is. I can't even stand to open up a nursing magazine/journal anymore to find out what I should be doing that I just can't. My friend was confronted by a patient's family member on a med/surg floor about why she hadn't gotten to the patient's pain medication. The family member told her that a family friend had been capable of taking care of 8 to 10 patients as a nurse, so why couldn't she do it with 6. With four patients complaining of pain, a new admission, and a fresh post-op patient, my friend was at her wits end and had already refused to take another admission, which garnered her animosity from the charge nurse and nursing supervisor, and this was only her first week on her own as a new graduate nurse. But now she found herself having to explain where her time was being spent, further wasting time she didn't have. I'm still giving nursing a chance, but I'm looking at other possibilities for full time work and may be I'll just do per diem or part time work as an RN. I know nursing is in dire straits and as a new grad, I don't want to be a part of the problem, but the solution. For those of you who have put in 5, 10, 20, 30, or any number of years, thank you!

Michelle

tweetysue · Nov 7, 2004

I got out of nursing after 10 years - burnt out from overwork, underpay, and worst of all - being lied to. I've been out of the field for 5 years, and I'm having to consider going back for financial reasons - the job doesn't pay great, but at least it does pay!! :rolleyes:

I was in my 40's when I had the opportunity to follow my childhood dream of becoming a nurse. Straight out of nursing school, I went to work for a "for profit" hospital where the emphasis was all on the 'bottom line' and I was promised (for months) that they would hire some nursing assistants to help with some of the workload. I worked 11p to 7a - supposedly. I rarely left before 9 am. I couldn't care for all the patients and chart, so I charted after the day shift came on. My supervisor kept fussing at me for the overtime... I told him to hire some help - he said he would - and then after months of this, I cornered him and asked point blank if he was going to get me some help. He finally admitted he was not. I quit the next day and moved on to my next mistake.:angryfire

That was working out of the 'pool' at another hospital (a non-profit this time!! better, but...). To make a long story short, I worked on every floor, in every department for 8 to 12 hour shifts. I loved working in the newborn nursery (where I was frequently)!! When there was a permanent position available - I was the first to apply for it. They didn't even interview me!! The message was sent that I was not qualified for the job. Interesting attitude!!! Not qualified for a permanent position, but qualified enough to work there when they were short staffed. Needless to say, that pissed me off. I quit the next day and moved on to my next mistake. :eek:

Home health nursing - short version = lousy management, horrendous paperwork, fair pay, and great patients! I moved on again. :rolleyes:

I really thought I had finally found my niche this time. Hospice Care is a wonderful experience! :) 5 years out of school, and I was case managing 25 to 30 Hospice patients living in nursing homes. After 3 years of increasing paperwork (the last straw was when we had to start reporting weekly to the insurace companys!!! :nono: ) and decreasing patient time, I gave up case management and started doing the equivilant of private duty (still with Hospice). After 2 years I just plain burnt out - every patient that died ( and I had 2 to 3 a week) seemed to take a bit more of me with them, and I just couldn't take it anymore. :crying2:

Hospice was the best experience I had over those 10 years. Now, I'm thinking about getting back to nursing, after reading these posts, I'll have to give it some more thought - I thought things were bad 5 years ago!! But bread-making, apologizing for non-mistakes, and McDonald's coupons are a bit much!! :confused:

Thanks for reading this!!

tweetysue · Nov 7, 2004

By the way... I have been doing office temp work for the last few years - off and on. Lousy pay (about $8/hr) but a lot less stress!!

tntrn, ASN, RN · Nov 7, 2004

Breadmaking; Five Star Treatment, Mcdonald's? Has anybody had to endure the FISH philosophy? We did, but it didn't stay for long (maybe because of the stench?) It's based on the enthusiasm of the fish market employees at Pike Place Market in Seattle, and I understand is/was quite popular for large corporations. Oh, give me a break! It was pretty stupid, and honestly the dayshift administrators (are there any other kind?) spent a LOT of time with the fish thing, stealing the units' fishes, sending ransom notes, etc., I guess they don't really have enough to do, whereas the rest of us... Well, you get the picture.

Jo Dirt · Nov 7, 2004

I got into nursing because I was a fool. I thought it was pretigious and noble to be a nurse. I think it used to be a noble profession but has been cheapened and watered down by greedy businessmen. I'm working on finishing a bachelor's in psychology so I can go to graduate school and become a licensed EMDR/IADC grief counselor. I don't have any delusions, I don't expect to get rich doing this but it would have to beat nursing.

I just don't take to getting treated like dirt very well. Nurses get spit on by not just doctors but patients and their families (yet we're never to spit back) then we get news stories written up about how incompetent and lazy we are. I'm sick and fed up with how nurses are looked down upon.

KaroSnowQueen, RN · Nov 8, 2004

Oh yes we have the customer service recovery thing. We are to "take ownership" of the pt's problem and "apologize for their inconvenience" and even if we "refer the problem to another department/person" we are to "follow up on pt satisifaction and resolution".

Every month our pt satisfaction scores are posted, and the unit getting the best one gets a big pink flamingo to sit on their desk and the unit getting the worst, well, the NM has to go before the hospital president and tell them WHY their unit sucks so bad and has to come back and hang up ten dozen MORE notes all over the unit about how we need to act like the help at the Ritz Carlton. IF we were the help at the Ritz, at least we'd get tips at the end of the pt's stay!!!!!

Now they're going to make our unit bigger by making four private rooms into semi privates. Well, now, that really helps the nurse patient ratio, doesn't it? Not!!!! But yee ha, get in that extra few hundred dollars a day so the CEOs can get their bonuses. Yippee.......

CCU NRS · Nov 8, 2004

I got into nursing because I was a fool. I thought it was pretigious and noble to be a nurse. I think it used to be a noble profession but has been cheapened and watered down by greedy businessmen. I'm working on finishing a bachelor's in psychology so I can go to graduate school and become a licensed EMDR/IADC grief counselor. I don't have any delusions, I don't expect to get rich doing this but it would have to beat nursing.
I just don't take to getting treated like dirt very well. Nurses get spit on by not just doctors but patients and their families (yet we're never to spit back) then we get news stories written up about how incompetent and lazy we are. I'm sick and fed up with how nurses are looked down upon.

I guess it is all a case of you get back what you give. I still feel Nursing is Nobel. I enjoy my job my co-workers the Pts and have very good report with the physicians. I am not treated poorly by anyone and I would not allow such treatment.

BeachNurse · Nov 8, 2004

I have no plans to leave nursing. I love my job! I will never be rich but I am lucky to be in a relatively low-stress job where I feel well-respected.

lifeisbeautiful · Nov 8, 2004

Do WHAAAAT?!? McDonald's gift certificates...now this is interesting. Sounds like the hospital wants repeat customers. I mean, think about the artery-clogging potential of fast food! No self-respecting healthcare professional would come up with this. Probably some bubblehead in the marketing dept. came up with this crap.

Ha!HA! :chuckle

The hospital provides the OR/PACU with a gigantic pile of donuts every morning during the week. How about a basket of fresh fruit every morning instead?

LadyBugRN · Nov 8, 2004

Seems to be a popular nursing news headliner for awhile...
Curious.
Are you a nurse planning to leave or has left the profession?
Where will/did you go?
New nurse, seasoned nurse?
Do you know many nurses who have left?
Specific reasons why you are leaving or have left?
I think about it frequently....but have made no moves towards a second career. Where are other nurses with this?:uhoh21:

I am a Registered Nurse and I find it difficult to complete all my tasks because of the things added to my tasks, that should be done by other dept. For example, phlebotomy, it is supposed to be done by CNAs who were trained during orientation. Many times they have no time to draw the blood. Some do not have enough experience, patients are stuck several times until they get the blood. Patients' are bruised so badly, nobody seems to care. So, many times I end up doing them. This takes me away from doing my patient care. In my unit there is a great turnover of nurses. Few weeks ago I started looking for another place to work. I am still looking. I was a Medical Technologist for 36 years and 2 years ago I started my career in Nursing. I will stay doing Nursing, when I see a change. I do foresee any change soon. Many nurses on my unit don't like doing phlebotomy but do not complain because they think it is part of their job. they will draw blood one, two three hours late. Again, NO one cares.