tiliimnrn

I'm not an LPN, I'm a concerned RN. They have started phasing the LPN's out, not a maybe. I'm concerned because these are good nurses that they're basically throwing away...

I agree with what Kerry said, make the lawyer's accountable. If they bring forth a frivolous lawsuit, make them pay a fine big enough so that they stop doing that..other then that, you know who's making the money, it's the CEO's and the companies they like to call HOSPITALS. We've been told for year's the reason they couldn't afford this or that is because money is sooooo tight. Well, I had a patient whose brother was a CPA for my hospitals company and she said he quit because he couldn't stand what was going on...he told her that they have sooo much money and they keep telling everyone that they don't have any money. Well, of course I believed her because just a few weeks after that they had an article in the paper about our companies over spending on things for the CEO's, benefits for CEO's, etc. This world has gotten so lopsided, and the rich get richer.

I just want to find out if other hospitals are basically dumping their LPN's, or is Allina the only one.....We have LPN's who have worked in the hospital more then 35 years who have been told that if they don't get their RN within two years they might as well find another job,thank you very much!!!!! Now these women have worked day and night, lots of overtime hours, and they get a gut punch like this...you know half of them can't retire because our retirement benefits are:rotfl: laughable. The next thing they're moving for is for the AD's to become BS's. I can't stomach what's going on in nursing right now.....I know one thing it's not about what's best for the patient....

Again I say, the reason all of these people are coming up with all of this junk,the 6mo. unnurse, as I like to call it, is because they say there is a shortage out there. THERE IS NO SHORTAGE. It's the hospitals finding cheaper ways to get their literal blood money. If they treated staff nurses the way they should, there would be more then enough nurses coming out of the woodwork to go back into staff nursing. BUT, and this is a big BUT,they don't treat us the way they should, and now they're trying to make a cheaper us. Don't that beat all. Well, how long are we going to take this before we all unite and do something about this?????????????

Yeah, nurses listen, there is not a nursing shortage, the only reason there are fewer nurses in the field is because we are treated so poorly... If we were treated better you would have an over abundance of nurses. It's really disgusting at my hospital, they rant and rave about how they need us to work overtime, etc. because they don't have enough staff, and then they literally make our LPN's into CNA's. They were working out of their scope of practice they told us.....well now they are working beneath their scope of practice, plus we now have less staff then we did. Not only that, but they (hospital) then told the LPN's that they would no longer be needed in two years if they didn't get their RN....Well, the nursing schools are booked solid so these LPN's who were employed by my hospital for more then 30 years are now basically being thrown out of their jobs. I'm so sick of hearing that there is a nursing shortage when I KNOW there isn't. How could they do that to the LPN's if there was a shortage? Is this happening anywhere else? Tiliimnrn

You did a great job...Isn't it great to hear about it from your peers though :balloons: :balloons: :balloons: :balloons:

Kudos from patients does make me feel good, and it makes me feel like they do appreciate the little things that I do for them, but that's not what I'm talking about. When I think about how much money the CEO's and higher-ups are getting I don't feel too bad about talking about our pay, or shall I say lack thereof. If they gave us what we were worth, we would probably make more then the CEO's, but I digress. We need to be concerned about our retirement, about our co-pays, about our pay....We have all kinds of nurses at our hospital who are working their way into the grave because they can't retire...they have too many medications that they and their spouses have to take to retire. They wouldn't make enough money in retirement to pay for half of their medications....What does that tell you... These poor women can barely walk. I'm sorry if I sound bitter, but I am....I've tried to get something done about this, but everyone is either too scared, or too complacent.

Brownmn46- I just want to tell you that I sat here and sobbed as I read everything that you posted.....I have been trying to get a rise out of some other nurses to do something. I feel so vindicated by what you wrote. I've felt that my CHOSEN career of nursing is going down the tubes soooooo fast that I can hardly hang on for the ride down. I'm not an emotional person, but what you've been writing has come directly from my mind, I swear... I don't know what to do, or say to help get other nurses involved too, and I don't know where to start. I've been looking all over the internet trying to find somewhere I can go to get a start on fighting this disease running rampent through our profession. I don't want to be the only one out there screaming, talking, warning about what is going on in the medical field....Money has definitely gotten to be more important to these institutions then patient care...I don't even call them hospitals anymore, because they aren't, they're money grubbing institutions. Thank you again for your postings, you did my heart good. Now on to the papers with this info.

Rah, Rah, Cheer, yahoo........I would love for ALL of us, as nurses to do something for ourselves, for our future, and for our patients.....Either go to Washington D.C. and march, or march to your own cities capitol on Nurses Day in 2005. I've wanted to get something going on this for a while, but I've met with nothing but, it's been tried before......SO WHAT!!!!!!!! Let's try again until someone listens.....

Fergus51, I can see where that would make an impression on the staff, but don't you think a raise or a bonus would make more of an impression then "candy"? I work at a place where they always try to come up with "non-monetary" ways of making us "happy". The other day in a staff meeting I asked, "Why does it always have to be non-monetary?" All of the staff in the meeting started yelling and grumbling (I thought I was in trouble), but they were ALL agreeing with me. Nursing is a very intensive job, I don't care what floor, or what area you work in, we deserve more then we're getting. I know that my NM got a bonus when she screwed us with the staffing matrix. Yeah, they get bonuses when they ---- us over. She also won a trip when our floor stuck to the rule that you are to use no outside pool. We suffered, she won a trip

All the paperwork is done for one reason and one reason only...to cover their a$$e$ and assets. I don't think that writing something down more than once is necessary. How about you? I think our jobs, as far as charting goes, have gotten past redundancy and into excessive. :angryfire

Dramaluvr, Did you complain to the Nurse Manager on that floor about your ordeal? I believe that if you don't compain about the care, the fact that your nurse probably didn't have any orientation to peds, I don't think anything will be done to take care of the problem. I tell any patient that complains about something to tell them when they do their, "after care" calls. Tell them the room was too cold, my nurse was soooooo busy that she couldn't come in my room right away when I needed my pain med, etc.... That's the only way anything will get done. I also tell them to complain about the male pt on the floor.

I don't care how many assistants you have, that's freekin nuts:uhoh3: Get out of there as fast as your legs can carry you, cuz you'll be the one taking the fall.

I agree with watersnake, I got into the field because I could stand the sight of blood and I could deal with many different personality's. I used to love nursing, but it's gotten to the point where I look for excuses not to go to work... I don't love the corporate feeling of the hospital. I just want to make one point... and that is, "can we all just get along".

Seriously, on Nurses Day, maybe not this year, but by next year.... We should all get together and march on Washington and show them that we are concerned about our patients care....is anyone interested?