Nurses leaving in droves...

allnurses Guide · Nov 5, 2004

Okay, here I go against the stream again........ :rolleyes:

I like my job. I get decent pay. My boss said thank you the other morning in front of her boss, for a very difficult night in the ED, took me aside privately and complemented the way I answered (or didn't answer) the day shift's remarks at turnover. My bennies are going up in price, but that's happening everywhere, and we hadn't had a price increase in health insurance in 7 years or so. Most of my docs care about nurses personally, the others at least work well with us. They will look after any of us or our kids who come in without making us get registered (unless we need something such as neb treatments or xrays), give scripts if needed. Our C.O.O. is a nurse with an MS degree, who for months has come through on the night shift to talk to people all over the hospital, one to one, knows people by name, and listens to complaints, I have never had, or heard of anything bad come back from it.

I am a union member (don't trust admin that far), single mom (widow), and going for my master's in nursing education. Been in the ED for 8+ years, nurse for 23 years. I am a GS leader, Asst. Scoutmaster, church member, grad student, homeschooling soccer mom, and a NURSE.

And if anyone ever told me my job was the bread machine, there would be a wooden clog in the motor before the day was out. :rotfl:

anichols · Nov 5, 2004

my mom's been a registered nurse for 30 years. i've been a lpn for one. when she moved to the same state i'm in she got a pay cut...and now makes *one dollar* more than i do. her only option is to drive 45+ minutes if she wants more money. if she did it would only bring her pay up by 5 dollars. rural areas stink when it comes to nursing jobs.

RN4NICU, LPN, LVN · Nov 5, 2004

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

Wild animals take better care of their own than nurses do - THAT is what makes me hate nursing.

shinyblue.rn · Nov 5, 2004

Been a nurse almost 20 years now and am seriosly considering going back to school to be a librarian--imagine all the peace and quiet, no medicare,medicaid, or insurance companies to deal with and if someone gets loud or uruly, you can sshhh themm and ask them to leave. I live in a rural are and after all these years in nursing am making only slightly more than $20 an hour--the sad part is, nurses with less experience make quite a bit less than that!

SmilingBluEyes · Nov 5, 2004

My sil changed majors to library science, (originally teaching) when she took a job at her local library. A few years later, she has done so well she runs the place....and is going for her MS in Library science! I sure do envy her some days. I love being around books......academia.....the solace is incredibly appealing.

boulergirl, CNA · 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.

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. :uhoh3:

boulergirl, CNA · 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.

Ohhhhhhhh my goodness. :nono: That's just wrong.

leslie :-D · Nov 5, 2004

for the first time in my nsg career, i am suddenly feeling pressured to leave.

i am the only nurse on a 50 bed unit with half of these people needing hospice care, yet all these heroic measures continue to be implemented.

i am overwhelmed, frustrated and have actually had arguements with a couple of the doctors already. some of the pts that i wanted on comfort care died needlessly horrible deaths.

i am afraid to leave as it is too frightening that this type of scenario is pervasive amongst other hospitals/healthcare facilities.

so yes, i do think about returning to school and switching majors at this point.

and as an aside, it is unconscionable that more emphasis is put on recruiting new nurses rather than retaining the experienced professionals. :angryfire

what a thorn on my side.

Zen.RN · Nov 5, 2004

Im new to Nursing and have found that the worst part of the job is the way Nurses treat other Nurses! Everyone has valid points reguarding the condition of our profession, however, we won't accomplish anything unless we can find a way to see each other as assets rather than the enemy!

dazzle256 · Nov 5, 2004

Im new to Nursing and have found that the worst part of the job is the way Nurses treat other Nurses! Everyone has valid points reguarding the condition of our profession, however, we won't accomplish anything unless we can find a way to see each other as assets rather than the enemy!

Couldn't have said it better.

hilley1323 · Nov 5, 2004

I have been a nurse for over four years now and I am not going anywhere. Mainly because I don't want to go back to school. However, when I meet people in nursing school or wanting to go into the nursing profession I want to tell them "RUN while you still can!!!" But I don't because we need all the help we can get! I love caring for patients (usually) but I can not stand the politics of the healthcare system. The hours, the pay, the short-staff, and the tremendous lack of appreciation just aren't worth it sometimes. If I had known then what I know now, I would have chosen another profession.

Tri4kids · Nov 5, 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.

Thunder:

I think this says it all... I love being a nurse!!! But administration keeps taking taking taking and leaves us no other choice except jump ship because we can't stand it anymore. Every decision is made based on $$$$$'s and even unit managers are being asked to cut back thier hours they must work one lest day a week and claim it as vacation and the assistant maneaers are now the Charge nurses and so on it goes. Do you think Donald Trumps business are run like this???? I think not, I think a great business takes care of it's employees. It makes sense, you treat your employees like gold and they will give back a fortune and we might even act like our Hospital is Disneyland, and then business would be so great because the nurses and physicians would have a say in hospital policy....

I'll keep dreaming.......or maybe I'll become a hospital administrator and try and change things, hmmmmm doubt if that would work they would fire me as soon as opened my mouth:rotfl: .