ASSEDO

There are many reasons nurses are have anger. Years of suppression, abuse by management, low wages and poor benefits. Nurses have been and are currently treated like slaves in some jobs they serve. Not all nurses have a glorious position. Most nurses realize the expectations we had when we first entered the nursing field, to make the difference we so desired, is a cruel joke. The time and energy we put into the job does not help our circumstances in some cases we harm ourselves. The more we work, the more we do, the more that's expected of us. There is no glory at the end of the road, there is not retirement plan unless it is self paid, and there is nothing there for us at the end of our long hard journey except a tired frail body. Issues like this was not discussed or taught in the nursing school when I attended.
After all the hard work of studying, passing school, the money involved in paying for tuition, (some of us did not have benefit of tuition assistance, but paid full everything) there is still a big fat nothing. Our bodies and brain wears out from frustration and defeat. We burn out, and no one cares. Our nursing associations have been another cruel a joke. They support the hospital based issues, not the poor tired working nurse person.
We compare ourselves to other professions, and realize just how screwed we have been. (my drop out of high school child (later - ged) makes more money, gets faster promotions, and has more benefits than I do, and she doesn't work hard at all. Our local garbage man (bless his heart) makes more money at $32.00 per hr., compared to my $24.09 per hour after my 35+ years. He will have benefits upon his 20 years when he retires. He works hard, don't get me wrong, but so do I with additional responsibility (life and death). He has the support of a union to back him up. I have the ana and my dog. I trust my dog more.
After all the anger and abuse, nurses stay because we know we are the best for the job. We know if we leave, no one else on the face of this earth can just step up and do our job. No one can replace our knowledge and skill base because they do not have the experience we do. Leaving is not an option after all the time, energy and money that we have invested to get the job right.
Will nursing change in the near future? No. Sadly, it will never change unless we have a super support system. It won't happen in my life time.
We write to all nurses, because we need to support each other. We need to know we are not the only person on the face of this earth that feels defeated by the nursing profession. We need to know we do not suffer alone.