This a quick thread and was wondering if I can get an international perspective on nurses on strike.
In class we were learning about management and the lecturer (who wasn't an RN but worked as HR in a hospital) told us "Nurses are the most employed healthprofessionals in the country...you outnumber all other healthprofessionals...you want a pay rise..will you go on strike?"
Majority of the class said it would be impossible for 100% nurses to leave the ward (Union and non union).
The lecturer asks why that is?
Simply because no one would care for the patient.
The lecturer was amazed by this answer then she said so if I was in government and I didn't give you a pay rise even though more people were getting sick you still wouldn't strike.
Yes, we answered.
She was shockingly amazed with our answer. Not only were nurses powerful in numbers but we were also very vunerable to exploitation.
Is it possible to have 100% nursing strike? We had junior doctors go on strike..what a joke that was because no one really noticed however the media played out that the hospitals would fall apart..which it didnt because every other healthprofessional (nurses, consultants, healthcare assistance etc) all worked together. There's not much junior doctors anyways to make any difference.
I don't want to strike but if I have to strike I would make sure that my patient gets the care they need urgently and maintained by the family and other healthprofessionals rather than ditching patients like the jnr doctors.
We as nurses here in the USA could be the most powerful lobbying organization EVER--bigger and stronger than the NRA, drug company lobbyists, etc.... if only we could get our act together. Imagine what we could do to improve work conditions, improve staffing ratios, make our workplaces safer, better education and funding for education, increase salaries for RN professors, increase respect of the profession, reduce uneeded paperwork. Heck, we hardly have a say in all the potential changes to our healthcare system. Do you ever hear about Obama or other big politicians say "let's hear what nurses think since they ARE the backbone of our healthcare system"?
Two million plus........ man ..... imagine what we could do!!!!! Not even have to go on a strike!
It is time to wake up as a profession! Instead we keep on stabbing each other in the back all the time.
No Im from New Zealand and our lecturer was genuinely surprised with our response! I could still see her face it was like we hit her with a mountain because she wasn't expecting such an answer!
Doctors can go on strike for better pay and conditions and they get what they want for example at our local public hospital doctors get free parking and free lunches! All they do is swipe their i.d. badges and they get what they want! Whereas nurses, no, they don't even get a top up of bread or coffee in the small dinner rooms (some wards are even lucky to have a closet as a dinner room).
It is great to hear your stories!
Keep them coming please I would like to tell my fellow students of what other countries in the world are doing!
hahaha the nursing boys were asked what will happen if nurses went on a year strike...my mate answered "then there will be murses!" lol med students and nurses combined together.
ps. AMEN to that post that wanted to hear an AMEN!!!
Specializes in M/S, MICU, CVICU, SICU, ER, Trauma, NICU.
This is simple for me; nurses strike, surgeries get cancelled, no money coming into hospitals.
....
I am in a different position as must of "my" patients wouldn't become mine unless they were recovering from anesthesia....so yes,....I would strike. USA here.
This is simple for me; nurses strike, surgeries get cancelled, no money coming into hospitals.
....
I am in a different position as must of "my" patients wouldn't become mine unless they were recovering from anesthesia....so yes,....I would strike. USA here.
You see that's the difference, Canada and NZ have universal healthcare. Our hospitals don't exist to make money.
You see that's the difference, Canada and NZ have universal healthcare. Our hospitals don't exist to make money.
Amen sister!
Unless your private but then not everyone is lucky to get private healthcare.
Argh! I just want better work conditions!
In the USA you have magnet hospitals? sorry if I got that wrong its just that our lecturer commented on magnet hospitals...its kinda like some accreditation hospitals get that appeals to employees?? is that right? someone correct me please. In NZ we only have one magnet hospital and the criteria for magnet hospitals are GREAT!! what are people's views on magnet hospitals. And if you are working in a magnet hospital are there any differences to hospitals that are not magnet? What are the criteria for magnet hospitals?
From what I gathered it was like someone looking for the best hotel...you look at how many star ratings the hotel is would give you a fair idea of what service is expected from it...
Unless your private but then not everyone is lucky to get private healthcare.
Argh! I just want better work conditions!
In the USA you have magnet hospitals? sorry if I got that wrong its just that our lecturer commented on magnet hospitals...its kinda like some accreditation hospitals get that appeals to employees?? is that right? someone correct me please. In NZ we only have one magnet hospital and the criteria for magnet hospitals are GREAT!! what are people's views on magnet hospitals. And if you are working in a magnet hospital are there any differences to hospitals that are not magnet? What are the criteria for magnet hospitals?
From what I gathered it was like someone looking for the best hotel...you look at how many star ratings the hotel is would give you a fair idea of what service is expected from it...
In Australia we have universal health care as well, yet we still go on strike. It doesn't matter if the hospital gets no money because nurses going on strike can cause problems for the politicians. Political parties want to be able to prove that the elective waiting lists are low. See, if surgeries get cancelled because the nurses are on strike this makes the politicians look bad because surgeries get delayed.
AMEN! Patrice. I agree. We have over 2 million nurses in the US and I read that only 4% of us belong to any nursing organization. We are a sleeping giant and we need to wake up! We have strength in numbers to change the health care system in America. When was the last time you saw nurses marching in Washington? Our staffing ratios have gone to the dangerous level and we are losing great nurses because you get burned out from caring so much for your patients and trying to take care of them with both hands tied around your back. Let's make a change!
Specializes in M/S, MICU, CVICU, SICU, ER, Trauma, NICU.
Let me add,
I'd Strike in a HEARTBEAT if I needed to prove something to the upper echelon. I am not intimidated or them, nor would I just "take" whatever it is they say to heart.
I would love to say I would do it... I am totally for it and I envy the ones that have done it!! I am just one of those nurses that would feel bad for the pts... I know that we have to take care of ourselves before we can care for our pts but I guess that is something that I havent quite figured out how to do yet... I would also be worried about not getting paid :/
hopefully if it ever came down to it I would be able to but... right now I dont know that I could...
care4you
51 Posts
AMEN !!!!!!!!!!!