I have been reading thread after thread on this forum and I have come to one conclusion. We are all a pathetic bunch. We take abuse that most other human beings would not put up with. We are physically, mentally and emotionally abused by doctors, managers, patients, and families. We work ungodly hours, skip our much needed breaks without pay for months and years on end. And this goes on and on and on. The stories are endless. Then we are all shocked when a nurse who has had enough finally cracks and administers 32 vials of Dilantin and kills a patient. Is this so different than any other human being who finally after years and years of this abuse, just cannot take it anymore? I think not. When are we all going to stand up and demand decent pay, decent working conditions, and respect? Well, the answer is never because we are not a solid group. We have no autonomy or solidarity because we are a weak profession. We pit one against another. We ***** and backstab. We deserve all the abuse that is dealt to us. In nursing school, we are taught to make beds, empty bedpans and clean dentures. Instead we should get vast lessons in how to deal with some of the real issues that face us today. We are understaffed, overworked, pushed to the breaking point. But yet, the martyr instinct kicks in, we get up and go back and endure more of the same. When is enough, enough? When are we all going to come together and and start shouting about our working conditions and wages? We make less than a crew on road construction or a plumber. And look what we do. We are responsible for peoples lives. I went to work down the road as my current employer is union and I felt that maybe the non union hospital down the road would be a better place. Well, it is not, it is worse. 13 nurses have quit in the 6 weeks I have worked there. I won't renew my contract. It is just too unsafe. The hospital is all about profit at the expense of some great nurses. They even charge for an individual bandaid. It is ridiculous. I have decided that as soon as I can afford to, I'm getting out. I will no longer be a member of a profession that eats its young while at the same time, taking unwarrented abuse from unapreciative doctors that we bend over backwards for. Its not about making a living any more, it is about retaining some self respect, free of abuse by doctors, managers and other nurses who have nothing better to do than put a knife in your back the minute you turn around. At least at walmart I won't have to worry about making a life threatening mistake because I'm overwhelmed by what is required of me each day.
My God!You really need to sit and chill!Focus on what you want and deliver.We all have to put up with these things.In Blighty we too are used and abused but where else would you get such satisfaction from helping people?Give respect and get respect-let those that annoy you know and deal with them in a professional manner.As an individual you get out what you put in...Be Cool!
Dear Lorster,I am not here to tell you how to feel or to downgrade you for feeling as you do. You have probably said nothing that every nurse who is honest with her/himself hasn't said or thought at some time in their career. I'm not here to spit on you for feeling the way you do;you just spoke the truth. Most of our fellow nurses live in fear of facing a backlash from other nurses and the medical facilties. (We have been taught well that as a female we must accept whatever type of treatment we are dished out and keep a stiff upper lip; we've been pitted against each other and that is why we will never come together to solve the problems that ail our profession) they would rather eat fire than admit that this type of behavior indeed does exist in our profession. Please don't give up it sound like you just need a break, a moment to find yourself again;because in this business it is so easy to lose yourself.Everyone and everything comes first and you're made to feel guilty about wanting a little time for yourself. Without time for yourself you will be no good to anyone else.
Don't forget location. Sounds like you have a bad one, lorster. Move?
I'm a tech and a student nurse. I get 11 patients and about three nurses to care for and I usually end up helping with more. Often I am sent in different directions by different nurses while being asked by patients for various services. During this whirlwind, I also try to watch nurses to help with my SN studies...the whole reason I traded $50+/hr programming work for $10/hr tech work. I get to see and experience frustration and other results from occasionally ridiculous staffing limits.
It's all in the attitude. A nurse with a positive one can get through a day and still flash me a smile at the end of a shift. Without that positivity, I see frozen, stressed expressions, short snappy answers and poor customer service.
Nobody should have to work in the environment you describe. Nor should your life be poisoned with so much venom. Set up a day or a weekend to review your goals and your plans. Right now you are a lifeline to people whose lives are in turmoil and you yourself are unable to find the inner peace necessary to help them. Take some time to heal your own heart for their sake as well as yours!
I'm sorry you are having such a bad day! I LOVE nursing. It is the most aweful profession! Maybe it's the TYPE of nursing you are doing. But, PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE don't speak for me.
I have been reading thread after thread on this forum and I have come to one conclusion. We are all a pathetic bunch. We take abuse that most other human beings would not put up with. We are physically, mentally and emotionally abused by doctors, managers, patients, and families. We work ungodly hours, skip our much needed breaks without pay for months and years on end. And this goes on and on and on. The stories are endless. Then we are all shocked when a nurse who has had enough finally cracks and administers 32 vials of Dilantin and kills a patient. Is this so different than any other human being who finally after years and years of this abuse, just cannot take it anymore? I think not. When are we all going to stand up and demand decent pay, decent working conditions, and respect? Well, the answer is never because we are not a solid group. We have no autonomy or solidarity because we are a weak profession. We pit one against another. We ***** and backstab. We deserve all the abuse that is dealt to us. In nursing school, we are taught to make beds, empty bedpans and clean dentures. Instead we should get vast lessons in how to deal with some of the real issues that face us today. We are understaffed, overworked, pushed to the breaking point. But yet, the martyr instinct kicks in, we get up and go back and endure more of the same. When is enough, enough? When are we all going to come together and and start shouting about our working conditions and wages? We make less than a crew on road construction or a plumber. And look what we do. We are responsible for peoples lives. I went to work down the road as my current employer is union and I felt that maybe the non union hospital down the road would be a better place. Well, it is not, it is worse. 13 nurses have quit in the 6 weeks I have worked there. I won't renew my contract. It is just too unsafe. The hospital is all about profit at the expense of some great nurses. They even charge for an individual bandaid. It is ridiculous. I have decided that as soon as I can afford to, I'm getting out. I will no longer be a member of a profession that eats its young while at the same time, taking unwarrented abuse from unapreciative doctors that we bend over backwards for. Its not about making a living any more, it is about retaining some self respect, free of abuse by doctors, managers and other nurses who have nothing better to do than put a knife in your back the minute you turn around. At least at walmart I won't have to worry about making a life threatening mistake because I'm overwhelmed by what is required of me each day.
We are DEFINITELY not pathetic, but I SO understand what your point is, and agree.
Those are really sad numbers, it's bad that the degree is worked hard for tooth and nail to be just given up...
I have to wonder how many people enter nursing not knowing what to expect. One of my classmates who oriented on my unit had a good saying: "Remember when we thought nursing school was hard?" He was right. School was tough, but orientation was harder--except that we did get time off to sleep.
I come from a background of doing mostly jobs that were physically demanding. The physical strain of nursing--lifting, turning, etc. doesn't bother me. I like the mental challenge, too, but again, when I was a carpenter, problem-solving was a big part of the job. Of course, in nursing, problem-solving can happen in situations that are a lot more urgent, and the stress is correspondingly higher.
A lot of threads have mentioned that television shows like ER, etc., don't portray nursing realisticly. Usually, the complaint is that they show us as handmaidens and/or sex objects for the doctors. The other side of the coin is that they don't show us sweating. Nursing is a lot harder than carrying a clipboard around and handing out a few pills.
I think prospective nurses should be warned that this learned profession has a high incidence of back injuries.
Specializes in Peds,, Home Health, some geriatrics.
I became a nurse later in life and had some good jobs previously. I love nursing and I get burnt out too. But one cool thing about nursing is there are so many different things you can do if you find yourself burnt out. But I will say out of all the professions I've been in I do find it a weak profession. We don't support each other enough, stand behind each other and defend each other compared to other professions. We don't demand respect either. It's very sad it's come down to money even in just the last 5-10 yrs. It's gotten so much worse. It's not about the patient anymore and we work harder trying to make it be about the patient while corporate america takes advantage of it.
Nursing is wonderful and rewarding and can be good money, but don't be Pollyanna's either. We do need to stand up for ourselves and our profession friends and co-workers. And maybe confront some of the burnt out nurses that make it hard on other nurses professionally and give nurses bad names.
Do you know how many non-medical people have told me nurses are one of the sickist emotionally groups of people. Codependent, doormats etc. Their not saying it to be mean it's just that you can get off balance always being there for everyone else. I'm not saying this to get a bad reaction from this blog but to say, we need to take care of ourselves and each other, because corporate won't and patients aren't suppose too. We have to do it. So lets stand by each other.
Specializes in Peds,, Home Health, some geriatrics.
I became a nurse later in life and had some good jobs previously. I love nursing and I get burnt out too. But one cool thing about nursing is there are so many different things you can do if you find yourself burnt out. But I will say out of all the professions I've been in I do find it a weak profession. We don't support each other enough, stand behind each other and defend each other compared to other professions. We don't demand respect either. It's very sad it's come down to money even in just the last 5-10 yrs. It's gotten so much worse. It's not about the patient anymore and we work harder trying to make it be about the patient while corporate america takes advantage of it.
Nursing is wonderful and rewarding and can be good money, but don't be Pollyanna's either. We do need to stand up for ourselves and our profession friends and co-workers. And maybe confront some of the burnt out nurses that make it hard on other nurses professionally and give nurses bad names.
Do you know how many non-medical people have told me nurses are one of the sickist emotionally groups of people. Codependent, doormats etc. Their not saying it to be mean it's just that you can get off balance always being there for everyone else. I'm not saying this to get a bad reaction from this blog but to say, we need to take care of ourselves and each other, because corporate won't and patients aren't suppose too. We have to do it. So lets stand by each other.
I'm sorry you are having such a bad day! I LOVE nursing. It is the most aweful profession! Maybe it's the TYPE of nursing you are doing. But, PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE don't speak for me.
Thank you!
Sharon :balloons:
I, think you misunderstood what you read. I was not speaking for you i was talking to another nurse who was feeling downhearted. I was attempting to show some understanding and compassion for her feeling.I am not having a bad day, I don't know how if you had read my post; could come up with that idea.
Specializes in Long term care, alzheimers, wounds.
I agree. I have been taking this sort of abuse for 25 years and am still doing it...however, a nurse is what I am. I do love my job and I realize that this sort of thing goes on. The key to all of this is HOW WE DEAL WITH IT. Sure, we can let it bother us, we can flip out and take it all home with us at the end of the work day, but we can also choose NOT TO. I have learned, somewhat, how to do this over the years. It is not easy, believe me, as you well know.
Whenever I start feeling so burned out from my job, I leave it and go and do something entirely different...like waitressing, delivering pizza, retail, anything other than nursing...of course not everyone can do this because none of these types of jobs pays the bills we've made for ourselves over the years.
I can understand your frustration...nursing school does NOTHING to prepare you for this.
Things have changed drastically over the years in nursing.
Hang in there and remember, when you are at your job and you make just one person smile, it is all worth it.
I'm not sure if you just had a bad day and just venting, or if you hate all nurses, including yourself. I do not see the actual point in this thread. You talk about banding together but then say that you cannot wait to get out.
Come on now...it makes sense. This person has obviously been just as dedicated as anyone, but most nurses will admit that there are changes that should be made, and would be made if we'd stick together. Nurses as a whole should stick together, and nurses on our individual units and floors. We can make changes happen...I've seen a floor get appropriate staffing just by threatening to walk out. Actually, they did walk out...or refused to clock in. But there are those few nurses who forget that management and "the system" need us more than we need them in most cases. They forget that they are valuable and continue to live in the rut of putting up with all the BS. Because of the nature of our job and old traditions, it is that martyr instinct that makes us believe we should just "take one for the team." I can't speak for any other hospital...but at mine in Savannah, GA, we are understaffed because the hospital administrators make us run that way. They wave the big "nursing shortage" flag and shrug their shoulders, but it's all budget related. They make money off the "shortage." I'm not saying there's not one, but on my floor the shortage isn't a big factor. And it is pathetic when you think about it. But to the person who wrote this: It sounds like you need a change...there are better places to go. I'll do my time in MedSurg..but then it's off to that cushy Pre-Admission unit for me. And some doctor's are pricks to everybody...it just comes with the territory.
Sabby_NC
983 Posts
Lorster I think you need to change your own attitude. I just pray you do not work or speak in the manner that your post was typed.
You sound so angry. Yes we can have rotten days but they do go away.
I have the feeling more has happened to you than you have enlightened us with.
I wish you well in what ever you choose but I don't think nursing is for you.
You seem to have lost your caring heart.