One Hour National Walk-out

Rustyhammer · Jun 18, 2002

Although I DO agree that the nursing profession has perhaps a bit more of it's share of problems, I can't bear the consequences of walking off of the job. I believe there are other ways to resolve these issues.

We can all start by talking kindly about our profession and treating OURSELVES with kindness.

We can encourage others by setting our personal and professional goals high and by setting an example that others would like to follow.

We can write! Write to your congresspeople, to the editor of your local newspaper and to your fellow brothers and sisters in this profession (this forum is a good place to start).

We can act out of caring, love and respect...for our patients, for our friends and for ourselves.

-Russell

" All we need is love" -JL

SharonH, RN · Jun 19, 2002

Originally posted by Rustyhammer
Although I DO agree that the nursing profession has perhaps a bit more of it's share of problems, I can't bear the consequences of walking off of the job. I believe there are other ways to resolve these issues.
We can all start by talking kindly about our profession and treating OURSELVES with kindness.
We can encourage others by setting our personal and professional goals high and by setting an example that others would like to follow.
We can write! Write to your congresspeople, to the editor of your local newspaper and to your fellow brothers and sisters in this profession (this forum is a good place to start).
We can act out of caring, love and respect...for our patients, for our friends and for ourselves.
-Russell

" All we need is love" -JL

Rusty, you make me feel like such a cynic. I honestly do not think that writing would amount to a hill of beans. We can call attention to our problem but it is a cry for help and it makes us dependent on others for a solution. I think nurses need to be more proactive than that, and take control of the situation rather than wait for the public to give a darn(which they don't) or for Congress to do something(the last people I would count on for anything). Is a national walkout the answer? I don't know although if it's only for an hour I don't think it could do that much harm especially if it calls to attention the desperation that many nurses are feeling right now. I wish I had some ideas but I don't.

TELEpathicRN · Jun 19, 2002

I think that "walking out" is just plain abandonment!! The only way we nurses are going to get the respect that we deserve is to stay in the "trenches" and keep taking care of your patients, dress professionally, act like a professional, etc.... I think strikes and walk outs do no good.... Just my 2 cents worth

shay · Jun 19, 2002

I kind of agree w/Sharon. As someone who's done the letter-writing, the meeting with the CEO/COO/DON's, the meeting with the managers, the banding the unit together to try to enact change.....

and seeing it all fail, I must agree I am cynical. A walkout does smack of abandonment to me, yes. But if not that, then WHAT? Something drastic has to happen to make change....

fedupnurse · Jun 19, 2002

I initially answered this on the General Discussion area. You must not walk away from your patients. It IS patient abandonmoent and getting fired is the least of your worries, you can also kiss your nursing license goodbye.

I have done what Shay has done. That is how I got burned out a couple of years ago. I am all for trying to rally the troups and have a rally in front of the hospital but I just don't see it happening. If by some miracle it does, those in the hospital with their patients must stay there!!

Shay I prefer to think we are realistic, not cynical. I have done the staffing committee stuff, set up meetings with the suits and staff, written letters, circulated petitions, fill out short staffing forms to the point that we could wallpaper from NJ to California and back again. I've called the State DOH and the Local Newspapers. It has gotten me nowhere but frustrated. The suits buy everyones loyalty with hard cold cash and with appointments of suits to boards. It is sickening. When a suit or politician gets admitted, they get the red carpet treatment. They would never know there was a shortage of anything in a hospital because someone is always there at their beck and call. They cover up when something horrible happens and patients are injured or die.

Shay, we need to go to Allnurses Hospital! STAT!

nightingale, RN · Jun 19, 2002

Eather people should not be taken seriously....

Look at how many posts this person has.....

B.

nakitamoon · Jun 19, 2002

,,,,,,,,,,,,,, agree with you,,Rusty,,,,,,,,,,,,

Changes do need to be made,,,,,, and maybe,,, this won't solve problem,,,,,,,,but it is the best place to start and if we all treated each other with respect and love,,,,,, we would be united in way that no ,,,,,suits,,,,,corporations,,,, law makers,,,, could touch,,,,,, This is the first step,,,,,,,,, in very long walk!!!!!!!!!

shay · Jun 19, 2002

Originally posted by fedupnurse
When a suit or politician gets admitted, they get the red carpet treatment. They would never know there was a shortage of anything in a hospital because someone is always there at their beck and call. They cover up when something horrible happens and patients are injured or die.
Shay, we need to go to Allnurses Hospital! STAT!

AMEN!!! I SECOND THAT!!

Jenny P · Jun 20, 2002

You know, when I first read this post on the General Nursing Forum, I had to check the profile to see if it was Wildtime!

A one hour walkout WOULD be considered patient abandonment and we would lose our jobs and our licenses, no "ifs ands or buts" about it. I was on a CE panel in Feburary concerning mandatory overtime and did research the US boards of nursing sites-- it is totally illegal throughout this country to walk out once you have accepted an assignment (the definition of pt. abandonment).

If you are banging your heads against the wall by trying to be proactive in your facility, (and believe me; I have been there!) go outside your facility and be involved in another area of the profession: your state association or your specialty association. I belong to MNA (where I will begin serving on the Board of Directors {again} for my district association) and have been on many committees at both the district and state levels, and I have been a delegate to my state and national levels of MNA and ANA. I am also a member of AACN and am a CCRN. I have been involved in the local chapter of AACN in the distant past- I found I couldn't do both to the extent I tried to. But my membership $$$ are being spent to push my agendas in these organisations!

I have learned how to write letters to my legislators tht they respond to, and have lobbied for nursing issues in my state.

I do feel that I AM making a difference in nursing in the activities that I am involved in. Maybe I haven't moved a mountain yet, but I've moved one heck of a lot of molehills in the direction that I've wanted them to move in nursing!

-jt · Jun 20, 2002

a job action like a walk out - even for an hour - would be illegal for many and since youve already taken report & assumed the care of your pts, it would also be abandonment. The consequences to your jobs & licenses would have to be considered.

That said however, when the then-new CEO at our hospital fired our DON for refusing to cut our bare-bones nursing staff even further & had security escort her out of the hospital, the 250 Rns working that day took their 15 minute morning break SIMULTANEOUSLY at noon - except for the OR RNs who were in the middle of cases & 1 RN on each floor who was left to avoid the charge of abandonment of pts. It was just 15 minutes but we had made calls all over the community starting at 9am when the incident happened and we had the local leaders, newspapers, radio reporters & community activists out there to greet us. We had been fighting with this CEO in a labor battle for months already over his eliminating the nursing dept and firing the DON for advocating for pts safety & nurses was the straw that broke the camels back. What we did was a spontaneous, spur of the moment reaction to the CEOs heavy hand - not planned at all until that morning when we saw security take our DON out of the hospital. The Rns response got a tremendous amount of attention. It was legal & no one could be disciplined because there was nothing anywhere that said we couldnt take our breaks together. It was amazing & invigorating to see all these nurses streaming down the stairs, past security who didnt have a clue, and out the front doors to applause on the street for standing up for their pts. The attendings were running all over the place yelling "THE NURSES ARE LEAVING???!!" The visitors in the lobby cheered when they were told why. The board of directors flipped out over the very public media-covered protest and that was a turning point in our labor battle. Soon after this, the board put the brakes on this CEO, he was "allowed to resign" & the nursing dept was built back up starting with almost 50 RN positions being re-opened & recruited for.

Imagine what kind of press something like that on a national scale would get. But it cant be a walk-out & leave us facing abandonment charges. Is there any written policy in anyones facility that says the RNs cant take their lunch hour together, as long as one RN stays on the floor? If not, make a date for lunch - simultaneously across the country..... market it as Nurses National Lunch Break For Patient Safety ...... then comes the hard part - getting all the nurses to go along with it.

SharonH, RN · Jun 21, 2002

Imagine what kind of press something like that on a national scale would get. But it cant be a walk-out & leave us facing abandonment charges. Is there any written policy in anyones facility that says the RNs cant take their lunch hour together, as long as one RN stays on the floor? If not, make a date for lunch - simultaneously across the country..... market it as Nurses National Lunch Break For Patient Safety ...... then comes the hard part - getting all the nurses to go along with it.

I agree wholeheartedly. But as you said in your last sentence, you will not be able to get all the nurses to go along with it.