Cookielea RN

Wow,I have been in nursing 28 years. You summed it up very well. I have been saying for a long time that Nurses are the only profession that has allowed itself to be denied any of the benefits enjoyed by many other service professions. Nurses should be able to retire after a set number of years, have a quality pension, as well as access to quality health care. I count myself among the many in Nursing who am proud to call myself an RN, and have given my all as a compassionate and dedicated care-giver. I am also among the many "older" Nurses who now have major back and knee issues, as well as NIDDM, HTN etc. In my years I have seen the evolution of increasing stress because we all work in a system that is not only broken, but is still being carried on the backs of the nursing profession!! Sadly I would not recommend Nursing at this point, until the profession gets off its collective tushy, and focuses more on the nuts and bolts of Nursing, and less on the number of alphabet soup letters it can bestow and collect. I will now leave my soap box for the evening!!

I certainly wish you the best in your struggles. I also think that part of the problem is what I call the new "alphabet soup game" in Nursing. I think it is a great disservice to the profession that more emphasis is placed on the letters after the name, than the experience. I know that my nursing school was one that crammed 4 years of nursing skills into 2. Many of my classmates, including me, already had 4 to 6 years of college. The point I am trying to make is that I see a frightening pattern here where, even if nurses organize, they will have traded a historical trend of "at the hospital admins' mercy, for now being at the mercy of "graduate level" nurses who may or may not have much real world nursing experience. I am not trying to discredit the efforts of those who seek higher levels of education. I have just learned that much of nursing is learned in the field; just as is police work, fighting fires,etc. I, unfortunately, believe that we are still many miles from "taking care of our own". I would love to hear others views on this.

Thanks so much for the support!:heartbeat I am struggling every day just to walk. I am actually more than a little scared that I am just disabled enough to not be able to continue nursing, but not disabled enough to get all the SS $$ back that I have paid into the system all these years. Recently I have begun to wish that Nursing as a profession had all the support systems that teachers, firefighters, and policeman have, as they age and develop work limitations! I do truly love working with the geriatric patients that we serve!

So glad to find this thread today! Got official dx of NIDDM in Dec 08, but probably had symptoms for a few years. Also have pretty severe osteoarthritis/necrosis in both knees. I now have work as a "Director" in an AL facility with many ICF level residents. I have been working several hours over, every week and on my feet a lot of the time. This past winter I was also diagnosed with neuropathy in my legs and feet. I am working in a lot of pain. When I do get a day off, all I want to do is sleep. Anyone out there with diabetes who can tell me if what I am experiencing is "normal" with this disease? I also have bouts of profuse sweating, not related to low BS in most instances. I know I need a good physical and am waiting for insurance to kick in in about 2 weeks. I am starting to wonder if I am going to be able to work in this capacity anymore. I am 55 years old, and been in healthcare for 28 years.:idea:I would really appreciate any thoughts or suggestions.