Old nurse won't retire

[Emergent]

I have a work friend, we'll call her Barbara, at my side job. She's over 70 and works part time in the ER of a tiny hospital. Since I've worked there she's given several deadlines of when she's going to retire, the latest of which was this October. She made a beaded necklace with the amount of beads of days left, taking one bead off at a time, sharing with everyone, even the DNS, who took her off on the Oct schedule.

I talked to her yesterday and she let me know that she's changed her mind again. She says that with the cold days approaching, this isn't the right season to retire, she'll just be sitting in her house. She said that she only has to give 3 weeks notice, and hasn't done that yet, and was upset that she was off the October schedule.

Barbara is a very likable woman, but frankly, she needs to retire. She is not very fit, and limps with a bad leg. She calls in frequently, which has a bigger impact on a small hospital. She never had kids and her husband died years ago. She doesn't seem to have hobbies.

I'm afraid that management will start writing her up for her attendance to get rid of her. Even though I love her, she doesn't pull her weight anymore. I don't want to sign up for shifts with her and have to do 3/4 of the work. It'd be a shame to see her be forced out.

One time she told me to let her know when she is starting to slip. Well, that's been going on for a while, but people are being patient since she's been sharing with all about her impending retirement. She needs to retire with dignity as planned .

[CharleeFoxtrot, BSN, RN]

But until then...the older I get the better I was!!

I see what you did there (raises a glass of Miralax in tribute from one oldster to another)

[AngelKissed857, BSN, RN]

I think that the economic impact may be huge. I dunt know what part of the country this nurse lives in, but maybe she suddenly realized she's about to returire to $300 a month heating bills. It sounds as though she's been there a long time, and maybe some job shifting is in order. Would she be an excellent mentor/ preceptor? Family liason? Is there a way to utilize the skills she's spent a lifetime growing to further benefit patients and staff in a new way that maybe even saves the hospital money by utilizing staff appropriately. All above the OP's paygrade obviously, but just thoughts on utilizing older nurses who have given their entire lives to nursing.

[Aunt Slappy]

older nurses who have given their entire lives to nursing.

No one should give their entire life to a job.

[VioletKaliLPN, LPN]

Is there any possibility of utilizing her strengths? IDK how this would work in acute care, but in LTC I have a 75 year old coworker that performs wound care and works on admissions. She said she could not handle the med cart anymore, but she is a WHIZ at dressing changes and the admission stuff.

[roofrn]

The saying might go, "Old nurses don't retire..... they just expire!" Nurses are a tribe, and nobody wants to voluntarily leave the tribe unless they have to. That said, it may be time for some nurses to start doing a different type of nursing.

There are all sorts of nursing jobs out there, in less stressful situations than emergency nursing. There are wonderful homecare situations, where caring for a disabled child or adult with a trach and a vent in a one-on-one situation, is possible; or doing a flu clinic or health fair with a group of nurses. There are resident camp nursing jobs, school nursing jobs, telephone nursing, all kinds of different applications of the nursing skill set. The ED may not be the ideal situation for a nurse who is no longer totally fit, but it doesn't mean she has to retire.

I am an older RN, but I got my license late in life and can still run a 5k. When I can no longer finish a 12-hr shift with all my faculties still in high gear, then I will look for a less stressful environment. I have met many nurses who are in their 70s or even nearing 80, who work part-time in a sub-acute situation that fits with their retirement and are happy with that.

Your friend in the ED may need some job counseling if she is afraid of retiring completely, and some help to find another job. And she will need to hear that others are having a hard time taking up the slack, but they are also there for her, and support her in the change to something less stressful.

[Aunt Slappy]

The saying might go, "Old nurses don't retire..... they just expire!" Nurses are a tribe, and nobody wants to voluntarily leave the tribe unless they have to.

I must be the weirdest nurse ever, because if my family could afford it, I'd quit working tomorrow.

[Nunya, BSN]

I don't, which is why I qualified my statement.

As to your statement about no one choosing to be old and alone, that's patently ridiculous. The fact that some people don't like how their choices turn out in no way invalidates the fact that they made them.

You're absolutely right. I CHOSE not to get married because the man I fell in love with turned out not to love me forever. I CHOSE not to have children because I didn't think I could do it alone. Of course, I AM choosing to be old...

[CCUNURSE1]

We have a nurse that is nearing retirement age in my unit. She has started slipping in her duties and forgetting essential tests/info/procedures. In the past, she has made new nurses (and new to the unit nurses) miserable with endless questions, chart checking, and belittling comments, to say the least...the lack of compassion towards her is well earned. While I have some compassion for her, she needs to retire...I constantly have to come in early for my shift to get a decent charge nurse report and anyone that takes over her pts is guaranteed to have a laundry list of things to do that didn't get done overnight! She constantly has to stay over to "finish charting", no matter how low census is, causing productivity to go down and costing the rest of us raises because she makes so much! Her OT salary probably equals a week of my regular salary....and you can tell when she has a trip planned. She stays much later (and later and later) in the upcoming weeks to her vacations!

[Horseshoe, BSN, RN]

We have a nurse that is nearing retirement age in my unit. She has started slipping in her duties and forgetting essential tests/info/procedures. In the past, she has made new nurses (and new to the unit nurses) miserable with endless questions, chart checking, and belittling comments, to say the least...the lack of compassion towards her is well earned. While I have some compassion for her, she needs to retire...I constantly have to come in early for my shift to get a decent charge nurse report and anyone that takes over her pts is guaranteed to have a laundry list of things to do that didn't get done overnight! She constantly has to stay over to "finish charting", no matter how low census is, causing productivity to go down and costing the rest of us raises because she makes so much! Her OT salary probably equals a week of my regular salary....and you can tell when she has a trip planned. She stays much later (and later and later) in the upcoming weeks to her vacations!

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Sounds like there are also some management issues here as well. The unit manager should be on that-OT was always looked at very carefully in my experience. Of course it sometimes proved necessary, but OT like you have described would have been nipped for sure, no matter how long the nurse in question had worked there.

[Wuzzie]

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Sounds like there are also some management issues here as well. The unit manager should be on that-OT was always looked at very carefully in my experience. Of course it sometimes proved necessary, but OT like you have described would have been nipped for sure, no matter how long the nurse in question had worked there.

Yep. We have to fill out a slip explaining ourselves if it's more than 1/2 hour over. Unless there was a code or something like that.

[cubby777]

I agree with cleback - it's very sad that older nurses aren't appreciated more for

what they have to give with their experience. Many older nurses are just as healthyand physically capable of handling the work load as their younger counterparts...

sad that there is such a lack of empathy and compassion with younger nurses.

[cubby777]

I find this thread just very sad. Wish everyone could be seen as fully productive until they are emotionally ready to retire.

I also find it very sad. Older nurses are often just as physically capable of handling the workload as their younger counterparts...plus, they have a lot of experience to offer...which is something that doesn't come with a new license but only thru years of nursing. Sad that in today's world, there seems to be such a lack of compassion and warmth in peoples' hearts...including those of nurses.

Look at the President - he's 72 and going like gangbusters! He works all of the time! So do many of those in Congress and they are up in years as well! Their jobs are as demanding as that of nurses, only in different ways. So many older people keep working and no one seems to mind unless they are nurses. Why is it suddenly shocking that an older nurse is still on the job?

Actually, it's pretty admirable!