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.
Please don't attempt to speak for all nurses by using the 'we' statements.
I can only say I don't take any crap from anyone including MD's. If I'm wrong call me to the side and correct me. Chew me out in front of people and I chew back period. I just don't play that big me little you $%$#. Thank you very much.
there is some relevancy in some of things you posted, but I think you are BURNED OUT in the worse way. i don't think nursing is the best career out there, but it definitely isn't the worse. I am far from pathetic. I enjoy what I do for now and when the time comes that I feel like you, i will definitely have to think of other options. We all have our bad days, I know I do, but all in all I don't regret being a nurse. Good Luck with your future
I am a new nurse, I just hope I will not end up feeling like how you feel right now. I refused to be called "pathetic" though. If I don't like nursing, I should have kept my stripper job......( Joking!:rotfl: )
Specializes in Adult Care- Neuro ICU, Ortho, IRU, Pedi.
I wrote this email and sent out to all my nurse friends that would most likely understand. I was and still am new to ped's but I have recently very much considered quitting my job to attend school full time. I would have to take out massive loans to get it done but with the work situation and as well as the hostility that I have recently felt between nurses and physicians I have had as much as I can take with out having a serious meltdown. I would love anyone's opinion. And FYI: I am an LVN with 10+years of hospital adult care setting so I know it's not all peaches and cream but it is definately time for change to come the this wonderful profession.
unfortunately, there are too many martyrs in our field who ruin our chances for organizing and getting what we deserve. the way i've handled it individually, is i quit my last job (in which i lost almost 20 lbs from not eating and stress), and switched to a new unit with better treatment. i may not be organzing a union or anything, but i spoke loudly when i left and my old unit lost money to replace me. that's a simple thing that anyone can do.
you're really a better nurse - and a better person - if you take care of yourself first. the positive treatment you demand for yourself then trickles down to your patients.
oh yes, the martyrs . right now, i am trying desperately to get the nurses in our sattelite office paid time for charting at home on our own time. typically, nurses have always charted on their own time.
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[color=#483d8b]it's a very uphill battle because for many years nurses in the main branch continue to donate their own time. i won't do it. i simply refuse and it makes me look like the complainer, the "bad" one. sigh.
well, i don't do it simply because it pays well or at least better than most -but by that same token, i'm not "called" to it, either. i like being an rn, but there was no religious experience that called me to it anymore than i had a calling to ride motorcycles -well, maybe i did as far as bikes are concerned :) but seriously, if i weren't getting paid to do my job, i certainly wouldn't be doing it. i'm no mother theresa -and i'm not a male florence nightingale, either.
missionaries are "called". i was hired.
amen!!! ok, yea i like my career most of the time but i was not "called" to it (what the heck does that mean anyway?). i thought about a career choice an i went for it. oh yes, i do want and need my pay also. i wouldn't be volunteering to do this job, sorry.
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[color=#483d8b]i understand the op's frustration. nursing for the most part is not that cohesive. we could have a lot more if it were. better pay, better benefits, more respect.
[color=#483d8b]now we have more nurses leaving bedside and from reading these boards it seems we have a lot of frazzled newbies.
[color=#483d8b]but is it always like this? is this just a cycle that repeats itself? and are there any real solutions?
I have to admit I've had days where I've felt that way- fortunately I work w/a great bunch of nurses & we vent to each other & talk things out when there are issues. I have thought many times of leaving the profession, especially on a day when you have done your best for a patient & they don't appreciate anything. Doctors, overall I've come to realize can be a moody bunch- but for the most part we all get along. I do believe there is a certain amount of dysfunction in our profession- a helping profession. The bottom line is I love what I do. There will always be THOSE days when it feels like a thankless job!! You sound like you need a hug and a vacation!! Learn to nurture & take care of yourself first. I wish you the best!!
Part of the solution lies with us as individuals. We get as much crap as we are willing to take. Sometimes we get as much crap as we give.
I've had a relatively good career, decent pay, doctors treating me well, not too much backstabbing, etc. I've had my days for sure, but not ready to judge the entire profession and leave it. In fact I'm in school now to educate the next generation.
I watched a doctor chew out a poor new grad the other morning in front of the entire shift change. I guess he does this frequently. Why do we put up with this? Why do we not band together and put a stop to this crap? He chewed her out because the blood glucose was not on the computer yet as the glucometer had not been docked. This is part of what is wrong. This is one small example. This is what I hate. We all stood around and allowed him to carry on and reduce her to tears. And I am as guilty as the rest but I am the traveler and had to be silent.
I hate that kind of stuff too. Why did you have to be silent just because your a traveler.
However, sometimes we do have to let others battle their own battles and choose our own. You should perhaps talk her and help to not take that in the future. Is it an isolated incident or do all the doctors treat all of the nurses this way?
Specializes in OB, ortho/neuro, home care, office.
WoW I am not here for a few days and the proverbial S@!T hits the fan.
I can honestly say I felt like Lorster about 9 months out of school. Literally just like Lorster. By 1 year I was working for about the same pay as a secretary at most places because I quit the hospital and took an office job. Needless to say, office pay just doesn't pay the bills (but the stress is less - at least is was for me). BUT look at me now. I have a job where I take care of 3 little old ladies in my hometown (HIPAA doesn't apply there) I could walk to work (mind you I live at least 1 hour from the largest city - where I burned some pretty big bridges). Last week, this job said "you can work no more than 5 hours a week - that's what the board says" Okay, so guess what. Now I'm looking at traveling getting back into the very same atmosphere that drove me out of the hospital in the first place. For what you ask? Money. I love taking care of people, I love being a nurse. I'm proud to call myself RN, and am in the process of trying to get my BSN and hopefully in the end my FNP. Why would I put myself through all this schooling for the crap you put up with? Because in the end, when I can sign FNP behind my name I will be the one that the nurses answer to. I sit here now, stating I will know what it is like being a hospital nurse, and I WILL treat you with the same respect that you treat me and your patients.
When I left the hospital I was still a 'new' grad - I practically eliminated all options of working in that particular 1 hospital town where all the doctors work through the hospital or their rival. But the conditions I was working in sucked. I was a nervous wreak. Every single day before I had to go to work I was violently ill. Not to mention the entire (yes literally) ENTIRE time I was working in the hospital I was sick. I HAD to work sick, because if I was to take off because I was sick well, I may as well not have been working. My stress level was so high and out of control that I would break down in tears getting report knowing I'd have to go out on the floor and take care of patients who deserved more than I could give because my workload was so heavy. Cry because I am exhausted giving my all and it never being enough, and cry because of back stabbing nurses who are stupid enough to outright lie about me and say I didn't do something for a patient (which lead to a reprimand on false pretenses) and because of that incident I quit right then, right there. Whoever told that lie was likely working that night and had to take on my load because I left. Period.
So Lorster, I know how you feel. I also feel that when I work as a nurse, my life revolves around that patient for the few minutes that I get to see them. They are my focus. But here I sit, looking for another job. *so much for standing up for myself* sure I got out of those conditions, but look what it has gotten me. I can honestly say though that since I haven't had a decent paying job I have hit a serious depression. One I can't seem to break free of. I don't know what else to say. I don't even know if this made sense. I hope some nurses out there have it better, and some day I hope to have it better too.
. right now, i am trying desperately to get the nurses in our sattelite office paid time for charting at home on our own time. typically, nurses have always charted on their own time.
ok, yea i like my career most of the time but i was not "called" to it (what the heck does that mean anyway?). i thought about a career choice an i went for it. oh yes, i do want and need my pay also. i wouldn't be volunteering to do this job, sorry.
Larry in Florida
78 Posts