Nursing is slavery Period!!!

[sonia211]

I am probably going to offend some of you and I apologize in advance for that.

However I really need a safe place to vent my frustrations about nursing and

this is the place.

A little background:

I have a Bachelors in Business. I worked in that field for just under 8 years. I liked it but it was starting to get boring and I felt I needed a challenge. I got my BSN and started working as a nurse for a big hospital. I didn't expect it to be all roses however I have to say what I have found in this profession has quickly turned me negative. I have been in this profession for over 2 years now and while I know that isn't long I have to be HONEST and say that I don't feel that I can honestly make it in this job.

Here is what I have noticed about the roles a nurse plays:

to administration: cogs (yet they don't want to pay the price required to keep us

so they keep increasing our task list, Responsibilites, documentation requirements,

etc while not increasing our pay)

to Dr: waitress/slave

to families: waitress/slave

Every job I have done went by satisfactory meaning I have never been written up or even had a verbal warning given. In this job people get written up for stupid stuff and no one thinks to give verbal warnings. The amount of demoralization that takes place on new grads is profound and now I understand why the smiles on new grad faces quickly turn sour. Every Dr I have s/w told me the same thing which is "get out of nursing or go higher fast . . . but do not stay in it"

Thus the message is clear that this profession needs a Major rehaul. Policies change on a daily basis (No Joke) and there is no effective means of getting the information across to all employees such that NO ONE has any idea what is the proper way of doing anything anymore. Everyone I've asked has a different idea and the new policy is not always on the intranet. The more nurses I talk to the more I realize they are not leaving this profession only because they do not have another option. The ones that do take it QUICK!

I keep hearing people tell me that nurses make such great money at the bedside but I have to say Nurses earn every single $ they make NO JOKE. We are expected to work tirelessly without taking bathroom breaks, lunches, etc. There is no regard for our healthy while all focus is given to patient safety. Now I know why nurses burn out at the rate that they do.

And after all is said and done the amount of responsibility and liability that a nurse carries is starting to increase. We live in such an age of Entitlement where people want the best care and they do NOT understand the stressors that are forged upon nurses such that if you don't bring them their cup of tea on time they get upset with you. I thought about pursuing my MSN in the clinical arena however after much deliberation I realized despite the fact that my desire to help people is strong I don't want the amount of liability that comes with it. I am working on getting out of it. Although I do feel like a failure because I will always remember that I wasn't able to make it in nursing.

I have spoken to other new grads about this and they feel the same way in fact a lot of them didn't even finish 1 year bedside nursing before they turned around and enrolled themselves in NP programs to get out of this dreary profession.

Please feel free to comment on this post. . .

[endorn1]

Dave-I am looking to switch jobs. I have signed up for MSN-Nursing Informatics...

I don't know much about it but would love to get your opinion as you were in IT previously. the good the bad the ugly...thanks.

[Horseshoe, BSN, RN]

Yeah and cost of living is also higher in those areas.....

Yep. MUCH higher, in fact.

[Horseshoe, BSN, RN]

Every site can't be Twitter.

Call me optimistic, but I'm thinking there just may be a happy medium between writing a dissertation and Twitter.

[nurseprnRN, BSN, RN]

at the risk of being labeled an old bat again, let me throw this out: if you had a better education, you'd have better job prospects. like it or not, an associate's degree is not going to get you a lot farther than you are right now. it'll be better than nothing, but if you really want to look ahead ten or twenty years (how long do you figure you'll have to work?) you need to bring more to the table.

afer college (bsn, first degree) i loved my first eight or ten years as a bedside and occasional relief charge rn in pacu and icu. i had a brief burnout in the icu, took a week off, took on some more interesting challenges in the icu, and recharged.

i took a job as day charge in a mixed icu/ccu/stepdown and loved that, then quit to go to grad school and have babies. i loved my work as a critical care float supplemented by being clinical faculty working with students (note: couldn't have done that without the mn). subsequent jobs as a clin spec in critical care-- great job, loved it.

later moves and new jobs in case mgmt, in hospital and for insurance carriers, loved 'em, and the bsn/mn continued to open a lot of interesting doors for me. steady employment, increasing levels of responsibility, and steady increasing levels of interesting practice. and steadily less stress on my back and knees as i aged.

now i work for myself as a nursing consultant. my education got me here; i keep learning all the time.

notice how there was not one instance of "i couldn't find a job that interested me so i had to take a night shift at a snf" in the above. it is unreasonable to expect prospective employers to see what a special snowflake you are if you haven't demonstrated it in some way, e.g., (which means, "for example") by academic achievement.

"education is a companion which no misfortune can depress, no crime can destroy, no enemy can alienate,no despotism can enslave. at home, a friend, abroad, an introduction, in solitude a solace, and in society an ornament." ~~ addison

[Stephalump]

WHile I agree...I will say, if you're going to be politically correct and say something about the misuse of slavery...please..it's Native American.

I dunno...I know some people who come from indigenous tribes who think the term Native American is politically incorrect. Since they were hear before the continent was even called America. Complicated matters.

[Been there,done that, ASN, RN]

Sigh... sorry you are getting so much grief over your use of the word "slavery".

The simple fact of the matter is...

We work like dogs! No breaks, more and more thrown on our backs.. and the "bones" are getting smaller too.

Don't forget to wag your tail when the masters expect more from you every day.

Perhaps a better title to your post would have been.. "Nurses are beasts of burden"?

I agree with you 100%. The system is whipping us into submission.

[geminigirlee]

Ok, first of all, no one said nursing was going to be easy. It is a calling, plain and simple. Clearly you don't enjoy the compassionate side of nursing either. Yes, it's hard work, but didn't you realize that in nursing school???? Did you ever stop to think maybe your thought process (negativity) is what shapes your view?

Sorry, but it sounds like you went into nursing for all the wrong reasons to begin with.

[Been there,done that, ASN, RN]

Ok, first of all, no one said nursing was going to be easy. It is a calling, plain and simple. Clearly you don't enjoy the compassionate side of nursing either. Yes, it's hard work, but didn't you realize that in nursing school???? Did you ever stop to think maybe your thought process (negativity) is what shapes your view?

Sorry, but it sounds like you went into nursing for all the wrong reasons to begin with.

I will bet the rent you are not a nurse yet.

"Don't enjoy the compassionate side"?

Try the real world for a couple of years... you will soon realize that the MOST COMPASSIONATE ,, that heard the HIGHEST calling... soon gets that..

We are slaves!

[nursel56]

Ok, first of all, no one said nursing was going to be easy. It is a calling, plain and simple.

I don't think it really is that simple. I never had a calling. I went to nursing school for purely practical reasons. Had there been a huge demand for graphic artists or window display specialists back in 1976, I would've done that in a hot second. I hope nobody thinks less of me because of that. I'll say that I had an aptitude for science and always felt a special affinity for taking care of my elderly relatives when I was a teenager, but it did not rise to the level of a calling.

Sorry, but it sounds like you went into nursing for all the wrong reasons to begin with.

If you are a good nurse it's nobody's business what your reasons were to begin with.

[Stephalump]

If you are a good nurse it's nobody's business what your reasons were to begin with.

Maybe not, but I'd say say it's a valid topic of discussion when you compose a novel about how much you hate the profession you chose for yourself.

[nursel56]

Maybe not, but I'd say say it's a valid topic of discussion when you compose a novel about how much you hate the profession you chose for yourself.

So if you find yourself in an environment where you are overworked to the point you can't get to the bathroom, treated like a waitress and working in a chaotic environment as far as policies and procedures what would the right reasons for getting into nursing have been?

Anyway, she said the reason was she was bored after 8 years in the business world and wanted a challenge. Sounds fine to me!

[sarahgolen]

As much as bedside nursing sucks at times it seems that someone who would write this has no passion for truly helping people. Yes, families, docs, patients and bosses can all be demanding and downright cruel at times but the reward that you feel when you know you've helped save another's life makes it all worth it. We have to remember that we are with our patients at the worst moments in their lives so if the families and patients are on edge it would be expected. The people that we help will remember us for a lifetime, they will remember that warm tea you brought them after being up all night worried if their husband will survive to see his children again. They will remember your hug or touch when they found out thier cancer has spread. They will remember the extra time you spent making sure their mom was comfortable at her last breath. They remember everything you do for them so if waiting a little longer to eat your lunch or take a bathroom break seems like the end of the world you have your priorites all wrong. People that find only the negative in nursing are not truly nurses and they should find a different career path because I sure as hell would rather have a nurse that puts all my priorities ahead of their own in my time of desperation. That's what a real nurse does and they don't think twice about complaining about it. We dont do this job for recognition or money we do it because it is what we were put on this earth to do.