Over worked Nurses

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I have heard a lot of nurses say they are overworked. Do you think that is always true in all years or just worse now due to the recession and the economy. If you have been a nurse for while, have you always been overworked or have you noticed that it is worse now?

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Specializes in RN, BSN, CHDN.

Always true!

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Specializes in Primary Care Nursing.

Always and forever. It's the nature of the beast.

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always true

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Has always been true and will only get worse

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Why is it only going to get worse?

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Specializes in Pediatric/Adolescent, Med-Surg.

I find it to be especially true right now. My facility is always short nurses so the rest of us end up with the maximum load allowed per nurse. We are also short nursing assistant's and secretaries, so it's not uncommon to have the max (5 pts) and be doing all the CNA and secretary work as well.

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Always true but getting worse. Getting worse because hospitals are not hiring - at least in my area - and are expecting the existing work force to pick up the slack. Taking more patients, working longer hours, having more call time - these are all part of nursing in my area these days.

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Specializes in CCU, SICU, CVSICU, Precepting & Teaching.

always true, but the reasons are different as is the manner of the overwork.

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Why is it only going to get worse?

It is a trend not only in health care but in most industries. I have friends who are doing 60 hour work weeks (salaried) because they are so scared they will lose their jobs. With 10% unemployment those of us who are employed are going "the extra mile" to keep a roof over our heads.

Worker productivity keeps going up, businesses have posted their biggest profits ever, yet the average American is doing pretty poorly.

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It's always been true, will continue to be true (unfortunately) and getting worse by the day due to budget. In my unit, we downsize based on number of patients. While we take account the acuity, we don't take into account the less acute "busy" patients, bedside procedures and needy families. The nurses shoulder the increased demands and hope/pray we don't make a mistake we'll be written up & fired over. It's a strain on patient care and a danger to our license & career.

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I think the number one factor that is pushing people over the edge is all of the never ending amount of documentation that is required. Taking care of people is labor intensive what we need is more people to take care of them. The mountains of paperwork do not = better patient care.

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