Nursing is pathetic...

PPL, BSN, RN · Jul 27, 2000

Yeah man! I gotta take all posters seriously the first few times; it's the psych nurse in me......no story too weird! Oramar, that facility you mentioned sounds like a duck. Does it look like a duck? Could it be a duck? I wanna believe!! I WANT TO BELIEVE!! Now, it's 0440, so I'm going to bed. Good night to all my funny nursing friends out there

oramar · Jul 27, 2000

Originally posted by PPL:
Yeah man! I gotta take all posters seriously the first few times; it's the psych nurse in me......no story too weird! Oramar, that facility you mentioned sounds like a duck. Does it look like a duck? Could it be a duck? I wanna believe!! I WANT TO BELIEVE!! Now, it's 0440, so I'm going to bed. Good night to all my funny nursing friends out there

I am laughing about that duck but I am not quite sure what it is. If you wonder why I never went to work with my brother it was cause he was in LTC and I was a hospital nurse. Some other reasons I never got a job at my Bro's LTC facility were 1. Everyone works steady shifts, my bro has been steady 3-11 for ten years, the steady daylight people have been there a million years and he cannot get daylight until one retires 2. The schedules come down from on high, there is no request period...you can't request your own funeral, you do not get a holiday unless it falls on your day off, you can have a extra day off if you work a holiday but managment assigns it. My brother did manage to get someone to switch with him for my son's upcomming wedding but finding someone to do that can be like pulling teeth, mostly he just misses special events. Ten years ago when my bro took the job the wages were lower than other LTCs, however for the past couple of years other facilitys have had there wages frozen or cut He continued to get the same yearly wage increases that all the other county workers got so now he is sitting pretty. So you tell me, does his job sound like a duck to you?

lita1857 · Jul 27, 2000

Miss Saigon I am not at the bedside any more and yes I did leave for money and opportunity, not proud of what I do....here goes...it's managed care/triage etc at a call center. My friends are in the trenches and tell me how short they work, about mandatory OT etc. It sounds brutal...I've been gone 1 year aug 1st...do I miss it? EVERY DAY while I sit in the cube...more about that later.

PPL, BSN, RN · Jul 27, 2000

Yes, Oramar, it may just BE a duck! What are their nurse/patient ratios like? For some reason, I'm obsessed with this place, as I believe this type of facility could exist, just like some doctors, who stay private, instead of joining up with every Tom, Dick and Harry H.M.O.; they're far and few between. I am looking into a job that's university based, research/lab oriented, much less pay, but will allow me to still nurse on a PRN basis, on the occasional weekend and/or holiday. Sound good to you?

MQ Edna · Aug 9, 2000

Originally posted by amystudent:
To NurseDude:
We need more positive people like you on these boards!!! NOT! It's pathetic that we have people like you in the profession. Your poor patients. You shouldn't even get close to sick people with your attitude. Go get some counseling. Obviously you picked the wrong career. Sounds like you should have become a plumber/electrician/truck driver...etc. if they are such better careers. Maybe you should have done more research BEFORE you became a nurse. You are too sad.

Would I recomend nursing as a career? Absolutely not! Am I burnt out? Yes. Am I seeking to get out? Yes. Please tell me amystudent, how much "research" did you do before entering nursing school???? I entered nursing school at my parents(neither if them nurses) eager insistance and fairytale notion that nursing is such a rewarding and fulfilling career. Going underpaid, underappreciated,and no recognition is rewarding?? Working screwy hours, weekends, and holidays, exposure to HIV, hepatits ABCDE, TB, crap, piss, puke, and snot and God knows what else fulfiling?? Please! I want to vomit everytime some holier than thou-goodie two shoes flips their collar around backwards(speaking for all nurses) by saying that were not here for the money, but were here for the patients. What the hell does that mean????? Here for the patients? When exactely are we here for the patients? How much undivided uninterrupted attention can you give your patients? 10 min? 15min? Pathetic! Am I in it for the money? Well speaking strictly for myself,(until I can get out) yes! Its the reason I go to work, not some stupid maryter ideal! GROW UP! I learned along time ago that I'm mearly a replacable number.I have no loyalties to my hospital or even to the nursing "profession" I'm so sick of the whiny, backbiting/stabbing bitchiness of it all. I'll work agency, travel, and yes I'd even work a strike and gladly except my paycheck. And guess what? I am a good nurse, I just keep my opinions to myself while doing patient care!! Would I want to do anything else? Well Duh! What do you think?? I'm outta here!

mamy · Aug 9, 2000

All I can do is speak for myself. Yes I did do a lot of research before entering the field. I did see what a difference nurses could make.And how they have affected many people in my life who have had to spend their dying days in a hospital room. NO ONE pushed me to become a nurse I did it on my own. I could sit back and work for the family business and have an easy career but I wanted to go out and do something. All I can say is that if you were pushed into this profession and you are unhappy, get out. There are a lot of jobs out there, since everyone is willing to do anything but nursing. Go and do it!

lita1857 · Aug 10, 2000

All Right neonnurse!! thank you for saying it like it is..I can't swallow any more crap being shoved down my throat.Because of this pathetic attitude, here we are and the patients too. If we valued ourselves/the profession it self/ and THE PATIENTS we would not be in this mess. Do you see MD's in the problem we are in? and do you see what unity& AMA does for them? well I can't fix what's broke so self preservation seems a reasonable course of action. I'm OUT!

MQ Edna · Aug 10, 2000

Originally posted by mamy:
All I can do is speak for myself. Yes I did do a lot of research before entering the field. I did see what a difference nurses could make.And how they have affected many people in my life who have had to spend their dying days in a hospital room. NO ONE pushed me to become a nurse I did it on my own. I could sit back and work for the family business and have an easy career but I wanted to go out and do something. All I can say is that if you were pushed into this profession and you are unhappy, get out. There are a lot of jobs out there, since everyone is willing to do anything but nursing. Go and do it!

Dear Mamy,

I'm glad you chose nursing school all by yourself. I'm glad no one "pushed you" into it. I must correct myself by saying that my parents "eagerly encouraged" me to go to nursing school(if you don't like my backpeddling-tough)At the time it seemed like a great career choice. Respect and security. Believe it or not I was quite the cheerleader in nursing school, attending every student fuction possible. So I'm not surprised at your typical reply to my scathing comments. I too wanted "to make a difference". I too wanted "to do something". The reality hit. When I was in nursing school I(arrogantly)said that if I ever got to the point that I was unhappy I'd get out. Now get off my back and get back to your nursing studies!

normarae · Aug 12, 2000

WOW all the response to "would you recommend"indicates the MAJOR STRESS nurses are under because of the conflict of their desire to protect and provide even acceptable care to their patients AND the determination of hospitals and their management people with their head chopping orders to cut staffing-believe any back stabbing self serving individual instead of intervening to help the patients. Of course the managers want to keep their "power positions" thinking the administration really likes them ==haha-For me - Im hanging in with agency and travel contracts because loyalty and dedication to patient care in no longer a priority to most hospitals and corporations. I am sad about what has happened to the nurse who cares about patients.

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normarae · Aug 12, 2000

WOW all the response to "would you recommend"indicates the MAJOR STRESS nurses are under because of the conflict of their desire to protect and provide even acceptable care to their patients AND the determination of hospitals and their management people with their head chopping orders to cut staffing-believe any back stabbing self serving individual instead of intervening to help the patients. Of course the managers want to keep their "power positions" thinking the administration really likes them ==haha-For me - Im hanging in with agency and travel contracts because loyalty and dedication to patient care in no longer a priority to most hospitals and corporations. I am sad about what has happened to the nurse who cares about patients.

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bunky, BSN, RN · Aug 17, 2000

Neonnurse, I am applauding you right now! You can't see or hear me but take a bow! I am SICK to DEATH of hearing this juvenile "I'll take on the whole wide world and make a difference" bulls**t coming from people who have yet to actually work as a nurse on the floor, and especially from those who work in management or other such jobs not directly involved with caring for a full patient load day in and day out. Do this as your full time job, and then feel free to come back to this area and tell us all how great it is, and how the majority of us on this board are nothing but "negative whiners". It's not even ABOUT the shitty pay! It's the horrendous conditions we are working under, and unless you are under these types of conditions, you have no idea what is going on, therefore no real basis to come online and spout off with your idealistic nonsense! What we are saying is TRUE! I am sorry if this bursts a bubble or two, but it is quite true. I do my best for my patients, but when they load me down with too many and I can't even do the basics, it gets to be incredibly stressful. I think that the point that so many are not seeing is that this admission of loathing our jobs does NOT affect how we treat our patients. I know that many would like to throw that line up at me, but you are dead wrong! I don't walk into a patients room and say "Gee I am far too busy to give a damn, Sir". So many of us feel this way because we DO care about our patients and are sick of not being able to do more! To hear "you bunch of whiner burnouts ought to quit" is like a slap in the face!

nursedude · Aug 21, 2000

Hi all, it's NURSEDUDE aka NURSERUDE...HA HA HA...LOL Earl58- You go girl!

JNC1991, Um...Hmmmm...So you want to move to Erie Pa? and get a job as a LPN....I live 2 hours south of Erie- about 15 minutes outside of Pittsburgh PA and my best advice to you would be to stay out of Western Pa!

Move to Rochester NY where Lita1857 lives...Western Pa - Home of Allegheny County- that happens to now have the highest per capita of elderly also happens to have the worst climate in healthcare! I've posted this before...

Look up:

www.upmc.edu

UPMC is the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center... UPMC also happens to be an HMO- You got it- It's an HMO and a group of hospitals. Guess what insurance plan the nurses get to pick as employees there? -HA! They are stuck with their employers HMO- go figure, your employer is also your insurer - When you go see your PCP he happens to be employed by your employer - Whose best interest does he have in mind?

Western Pa is in a major managed care battle right now between UPMC and Highmark BlueCross/Sheild (www.highmark.com). Currently Highmark is a "not for profit status" business, UPMC is "for profit". Guess what-? Highmark will be eligible soon to go "for profit". And then watch what happens - Hospitals will be closing left and right here...

http://www.post-gazette.com/businessnews/20000815stfrancis4.asp

The above link points to an interesting story...Saint Francis Health system here in Western Pa Had to close one of it's Hospitals and in order to keep their head above water financially, they had to allow UPMC the ability to manage one of their other hospitals- See:

http://www.sfhs.edu/pressrm/sfupmc.html

Here is a juicy quote from the first article:

"Dynamis Healthcare Advisors, a Cleveland consulting firm, issued a report yesterday saying there have been 20 hospital closings nationwide so far this year -- with institutions citing payment curbs, too many hospital beds and low occupancy rates among the chief reasons."

Beware Florence Nightingale...

Oh, and JNC, here is another quote from that article:

"Health-care analysts have been saying for years that the Pittsburgh market is on of the nation's most over-bedded, with perhaps 50 percent more hospital beds than it needs."

I'm not trying to be cruel - just honest...Erie is only 2 hours away from Pittsburgh - DON"T COME HERE FOR A NURSING JOB...