One would think, in these times of severe nursing shortages, that administrative people would try not to piss off their existing, experienced staff. Makes sense to me, but then, I am not in administration. I work in a small, level 2 trauma er in a big metropolitan poor neighborhood. We have 10 beds. We have, in the past, had 2 rns, 24 hrs a day, with a middle rn working 11a to 11p, and a secretary from 12p - 8p. New CEO has chopped the middle shift to 12p-8p. The person that they put into this new position does not have a us rn license. (They found this out after she had been working as an rn inthe er for about 2 months, go figure:confused: . She is now basically working as as intern, until she gets her license in jan. 02. She has already failed the exam once. To make a long whine short, we are getting killed. We get so busy in the late evenings, that we have to close to EMS traffic. We are supposed to triage within a cetain time period when a patient enters the door. We have had people leave after 2-3 hours who have not been triaged, because there is no one to do it. Last week, I was the only person (besides the doc) in the er, because the other rn had to accompany a vent. OD pt. to CT. What, if anything, can we do? We complain, but at a meeting yesterday, our mgr. said we should remember why we got into nursing in the first place. Well, it wasn't to run my a** off while trying to do everything myself (and keep my license). Any suggestions? Are other er's staffed this way? Why do nurses allow themselves to be worked to death? This can't go on much longer.
I have recently started a job at a "unionized" hospital (about 4 months ago). I was worried at first about the union and the sometimes negative tune that word has but now I am absolutely in favor of unions. The staff at my hospital talks of the better pay, better nurse/pt ratios, and the ability of the charge nurse to say no to an admission because the floor is drowning as GOOD things that came from the union. And best yet, everything is written in the contract and not even management came break the contract!
I worked at a non-profit hospital in nursing school, then graduated and moved home. Here I work at a corporate hospital, and there is such a HUGE difference! Dumped on and treated like crap are the two phrases which come to mind about my new hospital. Staffing is dangerous, middle-management is over-worked and over-bit*@y, and staff nurses are miserable. Our physicians are leaving in droves thanks to our rediculous malpractice insurance problems. I personally feel like God called me into the field of nursing, but I am having difficulty understanding why the field is as screwed up as it is. I'm just trying to make a difference one patient at a time until the magic solution appears.
I truly feel that unionizing and learning to come together for the mutual good is what the magic solution will be for our nursing profession. We need strong leadership and some state associations are finally beginning to provide that---hope it spreads like wildfire!:)
Staff nurses today are struggling to hang on in intolerable conditions--manipulated, and used like slave laborers or indentured servants----but hospitals will continue to make their profits off our backs as long as we stand for it, IMO.
I trained in a union environment then moved to Texas due to my hubby's job. My pay is better here, but conditions worse in many ways. My union hospital provided nurses with a voice and a way of airing grievances without being penalized...every negative incident with management (understaffing, lack of supplies, bad conditions, etc) was filed in triplicate; the hospital was much more careful with us, believe me! LOL!
Unions will not automatically solve ALL our problems but IMHO they are a great start.....we need NURSING unions though, not service worker union types, in order to truly make professional gains. :)
MoghraRN
12 Posts
I have recently started a job at a "unionized" hospital (about 4 months ago). I was worried at first about the union and the sometimes negative tune that word has but now I am absolutely in favor of unions. The staff at my hospital talks of the better pay, better nurse/pt ratios, and the ability of the charge nurse to say no to an admission because the floor is drowning as GOOD things that came from the union. And best yet, everything is written in the contract and not even management came break the contract!