Nurses leaving in droves...

CseMgr1, ASN, RN · Nov 5, 2004

Not only are the nurses leaving in droves where I work...but so are our Managers. The Manager of our department submitted her resignation just last week..and is leaving tomorrow. She's the fourth Manager to leave in the four years I've been at this place, confiding to a co-worker of mine that she was tired of having her hands tied...yet being held accountable for everything.

Sound familiar?? :rolleyes:

vortex72 · Nov 5, 2004

Agree with everything said.

I dont know what I'd do if I was back as a regular "staff nurse"

I'm 32 now but in my mid twenties I put up with all kinds of crap in the ICU/ER setting and didnt think twice because I was new and didnt know any better. I was also terrified of the hospital politics and always trying to do all the bullcrap they piled on us so I'd "look good" to management and hopefully get my insignificant 3-5% raise.

I'm doing acute dialysis for a private company now and making 35-40/hour with full benefits(very high rate for TN) Even though I have a great job now, I'm still looking at other avenues. I'm learning about investing in stocks and I am considering getting a real-estate license.

The job I have wont be around forever and I want other options because I've found with more experience my tolerance for bullcrap is minimal. I'd advise everyone to educate yourself on budgeting/investing etc. In just 2 years I've accumulated enough money in savings and investments to give me a comfortable cushion. If an employer pisses me off, I'll tell them to shove it and wait till something better comes along because i'm not living paycheck to paycheck. Yes, even with nurses pay you can become financially independent and save enough to start side business. DONT LIMIT YOURSELF!

SmilingBluEyes · Nov 5, 2004

Tell me more about dialysis. I am considering a residency at some point......I want to broaden my horizons some.

vortex72 · Nov 5, 2004

you can PM me for details

LilyVictor · Nov 5, 2004

I left nursing in 1998 and went to work for an airline as a reservation agent. I had worked for 26 years in hospitals (18 of those years in ICU's). I had begun to "miss" nursing, and was considering a prn job in a step-down unit.

Oh, My God.....baking bread, apologizing and giving out McDonald's gift certificates...what in the world is nursing coming to and what on earth is on administration's mind!

Thanks for reminding me why I left.....too much work and stupid administrators who make much more money than they are worth!

LPN1974, LPN · Nov 5, 2004

I am 51 y/o, and in 3 1/2 years, will have in 28 years with the state I work in. YES, I will be leaving nursing at that time if I can figure out a way to supplement my retirement income without having to work as a nurse.

I'm tired, I'm wore out, I'm burned out, and I'm ready to get out.

I'm sorry, but that's just the way it is. I'm over worked and underpaid, I do all I can to the best of my ability, but it's still not enough. My nurse manager puts some really unrealistic demands on us, and it's impossible to do all she wants done and still give just good basic care. I do the best I can, but I'm looking foward to getting out as soon as possible. I can't wait. I'm counting down the days.

Midwest4me · Nov 5, 2004

"We have a new "customer service recovery initiative" that involves teaching us nurses to apologize, admit we are wrong, and hand out McDonald's gift certificates....".

I found your post to be very interesting. Excuse my lack of understanding (or "brain pause" as I like to term it),but what are the nurses apologizing for? What did they do so "wrong" that such tokens would have to be handed out? Are these "wrongs" as perceived by the patient/relative?

Midwest4me · Nov 5, 2004

Anyone been exposed to the "Fresh Baked Bread" therapy?
One assignment I took as an ICU traveler (the one where I worked everywhere in the hospital BUT ICU....another story...) had an ortho unit manager that read somewhere about this great therapy and instituted it. You would get your assignment and if it said BM after your name....you were also the breadmaker for the day. Yup, breadmachine on the unit. The aroma of fresh baking bread was supposed to give the patients a sense of well being and returned appetites hence quicker healing. If your name had an S after it, you guessed it...you were the server for the day. Bread and jam. Cute, huh. Ran my butt off on that unit. NPO patients went crazy wanting some, and the rest pestered you for more all day. Clever, huh. How the NURSES were assigned to this and accepted it, i'll never know.

I would think that would(kind of) border on "abuse" of the NPO patients!?? What a nasty thing to do to THOSE poor people! Imagine the salivating going on???? :uhoh3:

skicheryl · Nov 5, 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:

After 13 years in home and community based case management work for a Medicaid Waiver Program, I'm back in acute care. The other was nice but after 13 years, I was burned out, mostly because I was a supervisor and had 12 case managers with 50 clients each to oversee. Pay also sucked compared to acute care. Hours and benes were great though. I did 4 years acute care before that job, 2 as a travel nurse, left d/t burn out and wanted better hours while I raised my kids. Now they are raised, I don't care about having weekends and holidays off.

Day shift is nuts in acute care, very stressful. Thank goodness I took three 12 hr nights, it makes the job bearable, but just barely. Nurses are leaving d/t laziness noted in charge nurses on up the ladder, pts and family members too demanding, and too many high acuity pts. Fairness in assignments and lazy NA's also factor in. In the 2 months since I started, 2 full-time night shift nurses have left and 1 FT & 1 PT day shift nurses have also walked. I personally think the unit is not too bad, it's M/S Tele but some pts are very high acuity, days has 5-6 pts, nights has 6-7. There is usually a NA, but sometimes they are so useless you can't find them when you need them. Other NA's are very good. The worst thing for me on nights is admissions at change of shift makes everything start off behind schedule. Seems to happen every day. And some nights are just crazy of course while others may have an hour or two of down time. I committed to 18 months and at this time think I can do it, if it gets worse, I'll pay back the relocation and COBRA $$ and look for something else. I want recent acute care experience before I finish my MSN and the pay for me is pretty good with 17+ years experience. I probably won't stay in this job over 2 years but may decide to stay in acute care till my tens of thousands in student loans are paid off, then I'll look for something less stressful.

Cheryl

Midwest4me · Nov 5, 2004

New 40 yr. old nurse here (lvn). 5 months into skilled nursing home unit and am glad to know it is not just me. I hate it, worked 2-10 m-f to start. Then switched to sat & sun @ 16 hrs. per day just "to get it over with". 36 "residents" with 6 being "patients" and 30 of the most ungrateful people that I have ever met. At first I felt sorry for these people thinking They should not be in here, they should be at home with their families...how sad... Until a week into my new job did I realize that most of them are here because their families cannot stand them and rightly so. I'm so tired of hearing about the food / menus, activities, where is my ice, where is my aide, I need my phen. inj. for "acid reflux" ( she forgot the symptom she is suppost to have... ). All this while my double AKA - trach - g tube "pt." with stage IV decube needs meds, suctioning, dressing change, and fecal impaction removal AND Mr. So -n So fell (Unwitnessed) Neuro checks, AND FSBS of 425 AND FSBS of 62!!!!! So MY QUESTION TO YOU EXPERIENCED NURSES IS: What else can I do with my newly obtained LVN license????? It is not the work or the stress or my co-workers, It Is The People that I take care of. I am thinking about Home Health after a few more months experience maybe I could stand them if I only had to see them for 30 min to 1 hour per week. Serious replys please... the new Walmart is looking very tempting, I hear they are hiring. Sorry this is a long rant but I really do not know what else to do.

My heart sincerely goes out to you! Been there, done that. The stress is mind-boggling! Have you looked into nursing positions in group homes(medican and behavioral) i.e.,state-run or otherwise? I work in such an area; have 3-5 clients and 2-4 staff on to care for them. It is WONDERFUL(BEST job I've ever held); minimal # of meds/tx to do; great, caring staff(pt-staff ratios are superb as you can tell). Or may I suggest looking into working in a MD's office? One gets to do a variety of tasks there and time passes pretty quickly.

lifeisbeautiful · Nov 5, 2004

I would worry about my license practicing nursing off the clock. I am not sure your (or the hospital's) malpractice insurance will cover you if you do that. Not to mention the fact that requiring someone to work off the clock is illegal. Admin. needs to wake up to the fact that they can either have everyone out on time OR they can have everything done - but not both. If they want both, they have to do something about workloads. Yet, as long as people WILL clock out and go back to work, nothing will change.
I am pretty sure the labor board would have a few things to say about this situation if someone placed an anonymous call.

Put your foot down and DO NOT punch out and continue working. If they want you to stay over to work, do so on the clock. Yes, it is illegal for them to make you clock out and work and yes, if you are hurt in the facility and you have clocked out, you are not covered by Workman's Compensation/Disability.

This is my recommendation:

Keep a journal of all of the times that they ask you to work over, but force you to clock out and/or threaten you if you don't clock out.

Also, keep a VERY close watch on your time card. My hospital was having people stay OT (on the clock), but than altering the time of the cards through the computer so we didn't receive our OT pay!

lifeisbeautiful · Nov 5, 2004

Did you think that I meant making bread INSTEAD of wiping butt? Let me clarify......
Full assignment AND breadmaker. Sure....i'd take the 30/hr for breadmaking too!

Do you even get a break? How can you manage to do everything? If I were you , I would screw up the recipe for the bread so it never turns out and then they will quit asking you to make it. :chuckle The more I read these threads on how nurses are treated, the more it makes me hate nursing