Sisyphus

Go RoseAnn!

Sensibility: You are one very scary, misinformed person. You refuse to recognize the years of evidence regarding the high infant mortality rate in the U.S. and decide on your own that it must be attributed to abortions?

Defamation Laws - Slander and Libel Laws

I usually lurk but this post caused my BP to rise. I'm actually flummoxed that someone is still a NANDA true believer. That and "synergy." My head is still shaking.

http://www.thenewstribune.com/2010/10/22/1392123/nurses-sue-multicare-over-breaks.html http://www.komonews.com/news/archive/4066701.html

"with the pipeline of new nurses entering the workforce the scales are going to change.....and the entitlement attitude that i see is going to fade away...." that statement just took my breath away. omg, nurses everywhere are struggling desperately to take lunch breaks. nurse to patient ratios are overwhelming and unsafe in many, many facilities. working conditions are often atrocious and he describes nurses as having "entitlement attitudes(s)." i think this male nursing student will find a comfy home in hospital management. he certainly exudes the generalized contempt for nurses that is routinely expressed by management in my hospital.

Hello Everyone: I found a certificate for case management available online through the University of Southern Indiana for a reasonable price. Looking at the local job market, it appears that requirements stress Home Health experience at a minimum (I have been an RN since 1995 but I only have med/surg, telemetry, and ambulatory surgery experience). I don't see any openings that offer training. In that market, then, would a certificate in case management be useful to get a foot in the door? Also, has anyone had experience with this certificate or does anyone have any kind of evaluation they would like to give regarding this certificate program? Thank you in advance for your help!

this is my point exactly.... there is this commonwealth of "that's just the way it is" that keeps the system mired in a predictable state of benign comprehension. i'm in agreement with you, airbrushguy, and i feel despair every day at the way we are treated on our unit. the favoritism here is beyond the pale. retaliation is inevitable with speaking up or speaking out. sycophants are rewarded. but i have to ask you, airbrushguy, what do you mean by a "predictable state of benign comprehension"? you have me puzzled with that statement.

Again, don't do it! I became an RN in my mid 40's and it was the worst mistake of my life. If only I knew then what I know now. Become a volunteer. You will make a difference. Volunteers can be the shining light in the day of a patient and in the day of the nurse on a unit. Good luck with what you choose but think very carefully, and then think again, about becoming a nurse.

I became an RN at the age of 43. Fourteen years later I think of it as the single biggest mistake of my life. A sentinel event. People are different. However, not a day passes that I don't regret that late life decision and wish that I could go back and change the path that I took. I'm too old now to try a new career. I just wish that I had known then what I know now. I won't bore anyone with details but I advise EVERYONE that expresses an interest in nursing to turn quickly and run the other direction. I have so much to say but I need to rein in my emotions and leave it at that. kathy732

I actively discourage people from considering nursing as a career. I became a nurse in my middle forties and consider it to be the worst mistake of my life. I was determined not to be a quitter and the joke ended up being on me. I have made it to a hospital outpatient pre- and post-op setting so it could be considered one of the nicer places to work in hospital nursing - we do get our legally entitled breaks unlike the acute care nurses on the inpatient floors. Still, if I had known in advance of the medieval culture I would encounter I would never(!!!) have gone into nursing. I won't rant but if you have a progressive mindset the nursing world will be like stepping off into an olden Southern plantation in terms of degree of culture shock (medieval, plantation, it's essence is feudal). Nursing might sound romantic, rewarding, inspiring, a way to give, and so on, but it will strip you of your self-esteem. And yes, I know the Florence Nightingales reading this are deeply offended. However, I ask my husband how common is it in other job settings for the employees to be driven to tears with stress? How does an educated workforce allow themselves to be denied legal breaks on a routine basis?

Wow! This one paragraph reveals so much about you. Do you realize how your statements are only a breath away from being fascist in definition? You don't approve of someone's behavior - in order for them to receive care that is subsidized by public money, they should abide by your standards? I dislike many people and disapprove strongly of some of their behaviors but I know that they are a part of society and as such, they are members of the USA community. They are supported with public monies as are the rest of the members of our community/country. Our social contract isn't limited to those of whom we approve.

This sounds like the Studer Group in action. Quint Studer is a hospital consultant who makes millions preaching this crap to hospital administrators who buy his book "Hardwiring Excellence" like it's the new "One Minute Manager." His group advises the use of these robotic messages. He goes to hospitals willing to throw their money at him (and there are plenty that seem to want to be a part of this) and gives them advice on moving from "good to excellent". He does not address staffing issues but seems to think that personal thank you notes and a bit of paint here and a toaster there will make nurses happy. His biggest fraud is to insist repeatedly in his book - I kid you not - that nurses leave their jobs because of problems with their managers. Google his name and read about him. His group has already started their "I have the time" message on a couple of the floors. From what I hear it is being ignored for now.

Hi Everyone: I'm an RN with 12 years of experience in med/surg, telemetry, and ambulatory surgery pre- and post-op. I'm interested in shifting my career to monitoring clinical trials. I have begun the first module of the online CRA course by Clinfosource. My question is this - will my age of almost 55 absolutely prevent me from being considered by potential employers? Yes, I know that employers would prefer to see a younger person applying. Yet in hospital nursing people are still hired to train in different specialty areas almost regardless of age. Is that the case for hiring and training for monitoring clinical trials? Or not? Also, is Clinfosource respected in the field as an educator of monitors/coordinators? Any information anyone can provide will be greatly appreciated. Thank you. Kathy732

I was completely aware that I would start a "pile on" with my caustic message. I showed my message to my husband, laughing to him that I knew I would disturb the nurses who were writing warm and fuzzies to encourage the woman to attend nursing school. Still, however you feel about what I said (or about me for saying it), I hate to see anyone misled about this job. Hospital nursing is not to be believed until it's experienced and I think that far too many nurses are in denial about the abuse they receive. I think of them as being similar to battered wives and that is so terribly sad. I will never encourage another person to enter nursing until staffing needs are met routinely. I thought reading Suzanne Gordon's article that I pasted below might puncture some of the rosy fuzz that you are presenting as reality to that woman. By the way, I have been a nurse for 11 years and before that I was a CNA for 4 years while in nursing school. I am the unit representative for our new hospital computer charting system, I am the author of the new post-op flow sheet in our unit, I was just asked to be one of two nurses in our unit to be given hospital paid membership in AORN, I am the unit union delegate and I am consistently praised as excellent in our Patient Satisfaction Surveys. Not an iota of that matters to you (some of it matters to me), but you should know that as much as I despise how I am treated as a nurse, I work hard for my unit and and for my patients. And I still feel that nurses are enablers in so many ways. And yes, I still consider my job hell. A Nurses' Week that really honors nurses By Suzanne Gordon May 4, 2006 Every year, hospitals around the country observe "Nurses' Week," a national celebration from May 6-12 that coincides with the birthdate of Florence Nightingale, who was born May 12, 1820. Many registered nurses find themselves at catered lunches, listening to flowery speeches by hospital CEOs who suddenly appear among them like Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld on a visit to Baghdad's Green Zone. While the reality of deteriorating conditions awaits them back in the war zone of their hospital wards, overworked nurses can briefly enjoy free manicures and massages, plus collect heart-shaped key chains, coffee mugs (with their employer's name on it) or teddy bears dressed as -- you guessed it -- nurses. What's rarely addressed during Nurses' Week, however, are the workplace issues that are driving RNs away from the hospital bedside in huge numbers: of under-staffing, forced overtime and job dissatisfaction. Some studies report that as many as 50 percent of all new hires leave bedside nursing within two years. Despite increased funding for nursing education, expensive ad campaigns and generous hospital signing bonuses to aid RN recruitment, many younger people are reluctant to go into hospital nursing. As a result, there is a serious nursing shortage. Instead of showering nurses with happy talk and trinkets, hospitals should try a different approach. They should provide their nurses with seven days' worth of optimal working conditions. What would this kind of Nurses' Week look like? First, no nurse would be struggling to care for as many as seven to 10 sick people at the same time. On a medical surgical floor, they would be assigned to no more than four patients (based on legislated staffing ratios implemented in the Australian state of Victoria in 2000) or, closer to home, five patients (the maximum patient load permitted California). All Intensive Care Unit (ICU) nurses would be able to provide one-on-one care instead of juggling as many as three seriously ill patients. Nurses with fewer patients are better able to provide quality care and less apt to quit because they are frustrated that they can't do their jobs properly. Nurses' Week should also offer a respite from heavy lifting. As the average nurse gets older and patients get heavier, nursing has become the new definition of back-breaking labor. Nurses at the bedside are often asked to lift loads unsafe for even a blue-collar worker. That's why nurses now suffer a higher rate of more musculoskeletal injuries than dock workers, baggage handlers and building tradesmen. For Nurses' Week, at least, hospitals everywhere should provide the same kind of equipment to lift and turn patients that has been used for the past six years in the Australian state of Victoria. More than a year ago, the California legislature passed legislation that would have required the state's hospitals to bring in modern lift equipment. But Gov. Schwarzenegger apparently figured nurses should all become body builders too. And so, at the behest of the hospital industry, he vetoed the legislation. One full week without mandatory overtime or "on call" duty would be another way of properly thanking nurses. Many hospitals have been dealing with recent staffing shortages by forcing already exhausted RNs to work an extra shift -- after their regular 12-hour one -- with no prior warning. In some hospitals, lunches, coffee breaks and even trips to the bathroom are being sacrificed so RNs can handle larger numbers of more acutely ill patients. But for Nurses' Week, these relief periods should be guaranteed. Studies show that improving working conditions would help save lives, reduce complications -- such as falls, bedsores and urinary tract infections, to name only a few -- and increase nurse satisfaction. These practices would also save hospitals money -- particularly because they would lead to less nurse turnover. We need to insist on safe staffing ratios, no lift policies, a ban on mandatory overtime and other nurse-friendly, patient-friendly measures. We can do this legislatively, or via union contract. When we do, then nurses -- and their patients -- will really have something to celebrate when May rolls around. Suzanne Gordon is a journalist and author of several books, including her most recent, "Nursing Against the Odds: How Hospital Cost-Cutting, Media Stereotypes, and Medical Hubris Undermine Nurses and Patient Care" (Cornell University Press, 2005). She can be reached at [email protected].