Nursing is pathetic...

SpecFuz · Nov 3, 2002

why would any young person want to work under these conditions?

I would like to take a stab at answering this question, at least in my own personal reasons...

I am 28-yr-old married, worked in NYC as an executive assistant over the past 8 years. I made more $$$$ than I will probably ever see as a nurse, but I was on-call 24hr/7wk/365yr. An executive needs something on Saturday afternoon, or Thursday night at 11:30 p.m., and that's how it is. It's not 12-hour shifts 3 days per week, it's 15 hour days, 5 days a week. Vacation? You still have to check in and handle situations. There is no flexibility whatsoever in hours. Can't work nights, weekends for extra money. Having kids is not possible unless they are dropped off at 6 am everything morning and are not picked up until 7:30 or 8 pm at night. And I was lucky! I had a fantastic boss, the best!

Personally, for myself, I want to have an exciting job that will require me to always be thinking and learning, and every now and then, might help someone.

All of this, of course, is very naive I'm sure, but that excites me because I would rather put up with the worst of the worst in a hospital where my help might actually make a difference once in a while, then put up with the worst in a corporation making the filthy rich CEO's even richer.

l.rae · Nov 4, 2002

Originally posted by FranRN
To all:
All of us need to evaluate why we are in nursing. We need to pull together and be supportive of our fellow nursing, but most importantly to our PROFESSION.

Then you need to take your own advice.....how about being supportive of fellow nurses who are sick to death of putting their license and their patients lives on the line?.......We all do our best, but unfortuantly corporate management has created an atmosphere where our best is not good enough anymore......and BTW...all jobs are about money...and we should be paid fairly.....LR

izzys00756 · Nov 22, 2002

Hello All, Yes, nurses do bust their butts and get little respect, little pay, lousey benefits and no retirement. I am saddened and angered by the treatment of nurses in our health care system. I have been an RN for almost 23 years. I am sad to say that I WOULD do it again. I am a sucker for my patients. I have no arguement with anything that anyone has said on this forum. It is all so sad and true. We really do need to unionize. I have been against unions for a long time, feeling that they were not right for our profession. However, it is going to be our only hope of ever being compensated what we are worth.

mirn · Dec 16, 2002

It has been a couple of years since my last post to this thread. I read my previous posts, and many of the others. Now that I have been working as a Registered Nurse for 5 years, I would like to answer the original question again.

"Would you recommend nursing as a career?"

No.

I still love my job. I still am fortunate enough to work in an enviroment where we are respected by co-workers and physicians (if not administration). I am still earning an above-median annual salary for the area I live in.

BUT...to recommend nursing as a career? Not now. For the work we do, the education we have, the risks we take, and the hours we work, the pay and benefits are not commensurate. My hospital's health insurance plan is horrible. I am currently in contract negotiations for our RN union, and they want to take away our pension! Apparently, someone forgot to tell administration about the shortage. Health care itself is a nightmare these days, and the trickle-down effect of the Medicare cuts have left nursing in a mess. The reward for giving care is just not there for most nurses because they are on a dead run from room to room putting out fires. So if the reward of helping the sick is gone, the benefits are gone, the hours are long and unhealthy, and the risk is high, what, at this time, is there to recommend about it? Until there is a massive restructuring of the health care system as a whole, nursing is not a career I could recommend. Thanks for letting me vent.....peace to all, and GOOD LUCK!

NancyRN · Dec 16, 2002

I had a lifelong dream of being a nurse and "helping people." I was in my 40's when I started school. I brought with me valuable life experience ( raised four children, survived cancer, chemo, and many surgeries) that I wanted to share. I spent $20K getting thru school; after just three years I'm so fried I'm not working and not sure I'll ever go back.

What I didn't know about nursing is this:

Everyone hates nurses!!

Doctors ream nurses out, consider us stupid bimbos. Patients roll their eyes when I come with meds or treatments. "What are you doing to me NOW," they whine, as if they're doing me a big favor to take their pills. Familes stand guard, questioning every move the nurse makes. They've all watched those news shows with the advice about keeping an eye on your loved one in the hospital . None of them would dream of brushing mom's teeth or changing dad's Depends; just bark at the nurse about it. That'll help with our nursing shortage.

As far as sharing information about staying well: 1. I don't have time. 2. Nobody wants to hear it anyway.

gonnabeanurse2 · Dec 17, 2002

I am just a student nurse but I have worked in the health care field for many years as a cna--try that nurse dude-talk about overworked and underpaid, and as a certified medical assistant--again overworked and underpaid. As far as the pay scale for RNs goes, like I said earlier--work as a cna for awhile, or better yet go to school for 4 years, get another degree and end up working in a factory for $6 an hour because your chosen field has no job openings. In response to your comment about the nursing shortage nursedude, the main reason the shortage exists is the lack of available slots in nursing programs....some schools have waiting lists that extend for years. The program I am in accepted 42 students this year--double the usual number, with many more turned down.

I know you are thinking that I am in for a rude awakening when I actually get done with school and "out there" but remember I have spent many years in the field.....I am not going into this blind. It takes someone special to be a nurse...it is not for everyone.

LasVegasRN · Dec 17, 2002

Originally posted by gonnabeanurse2
....It takes someone special to be a nurse...it is not for everyone.

This needed to be repeated. :cool:

EmeraldNYL, BSN, RN · Dec 17, 2002

Every profession has its downfalls!! Nursing has the POTENTIAL to be a great profession, but right now it's experiencing some major problems-- hopefully this will be an impetus toward change. My fiance is in med school and if I had a dollar for every person who told him not to become a Dr. I would be rich. Drs. are dealing with all the malpractice crap and high insurance premiums right now, especially in PA. Healthcare as a whole is in very, very bad shape right now!

NancyRN · Dec 18, 2002

Emerald, you're right. I feel sorry for doctors too. I see them in the hospital until late at night, we call them on the phone at 2 am, and they're back at work at 5 am. I've seen doctors' frustration when FAMILY MEMBERS tell them how to practice medicine. After all, these family members read Prevention Magazine!

I'd never want my child to become a doctor these days. Good luck to both of you.

EmeraldNYL, BSN, RN · Dec 18, 2002

Thanks, NancyRN. I'm still excited to become a nurse despite nursing's problems and my fiance is excited to become a physician as well. I'm willing to do my part to help enact change and realize you have to take the bad along with the good.

nursedude · Dec 23, 2002

From the Cal nurses organization:

..."Today's hospital nursing shortage is the direct result of a decade of failed policies of market-driven medical care, characterized by reckless restructuring, downsizing, displacement of RNs by unlicensed staff, and for many RNs a loss of trust in their employers.

Numerous studies, including a report by the General Accounting Office to Congress last summer, document that dissatisfaction over unsafe staffing and other poor conditions is the main cause of the shortage.

Hospitals have tried a variety of gimmicks to attract nurses such as huge signing bonuses. These are band-aid approaches. RN turnover rates, the highest in decades, demonstrate nurses will not remain in unsafe hospitals.

The problem is not just the aging of the workforce. One third of nurses under 30 said they plan to leave their job in the coming year due to poor conditions, according to a National Institutes of Health-funded study last May.

Overall, the total number of RNs continues to grow, but fewer than ever work in hospitals. The total number of licensed RNs in the U.S. continues to rise - by 5.4% from 1996 to 2000. However, the percentage who work in hospitals is steadily falling, from 68% in 1988 to 59% in 2000. .."

http://www.calnurse.org/cna/12202/4rs12802.html

Nursing Wages:

Real wages (excluding sign-on bonuses or other one-time incentives) for RNs have actually dropped despite the need to hire more nurses. The median weekly wage had dropped from $792 in 1993 to $750 in 1999. (U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics).

http://www.aft.org/press/2000/060200.html

nursedude · Dec 23, 2002

SPECIAL!!!

"Analysis of census data shows that between 1994 and 1997, RN wages across all employment settings dropped by an average of 1.5 percent per year (in constant 1997 dollars). Between 1993 and 1997, the average wage of an RN employed in a hospital dropped by roughly a dollar an hour (in real terms). RN employment in the hospital sector reversed to the negative, dropping most precipitously in areas of the county that experience high managed care saturation. Many providers eliminated positions for nursing middle managers and executive level staff. Hospital employment for nurses aides, however, increased by an average of 4.5 percent a year between 1994 and 1997."

"...A recent survey of ANA members revealed that nearly 55 percent of the nurses surveyed would not recommend the nursing profession as a career for their children or friends. In fact, 23 percent of the respondents indicated that they would actively discourage someone close to them from entering the nursing profession."

http://www.nursingworld.org/gova/federal/legis/testimon/2001/nacn.htm