insightful

I agree that there are good union stories and bad union stories. I also am not sure I want be in a union. What I do want is improvements in nursing work conditions, benefits, respect, and wages. The real problem that I see is nurses are not willing to join together to fight for better work conditions, benefits, and wages within their facility, city, state,etc. Nurses complain a lot but back away when it comes time for confrontation. I think our nursing culture fosters this inability for nurses to band together for a cause. Look back through the history of nursing and what you see is a common theme of subservience and sacrifice. Our profession's culture has not kept up with the changing American society as a whole. Nursing is no longer about subservience and sacrifice -- we need to be fighting for empowerment and respect. I worked in upper management in the healthcare industry for many years. The hospital management did not respect nurses. The common thought was tell the nurses how its going to be and don't worry ---they never fight back. That attitude from senior management is not well known among nurses. Remember, senior management is largely made up of MBAs. They don't have a clue as to what its like to work as a nurse. To the nurse that was proud that she was such a good nurse that she could stand up for herself....Yes you may get some concessions from management by speaking up. But does this change things for the better for all nurses? Also, I can guarentee you that when you try to buck the system by yourself on a major issue, you will find yourself looking for a new job. You may be good as a nurse but you do not have the power that you think you do.

Remember the reusable needles? We had to check the needle for burrs (splinters from the needle) before using. The medication room had a basin of some type of disinfectant that you dropped the needle in after using.... Patients were Up Ad Lib Taping the side of the IV bottle and marking the hours to check if the drip was correct. Male orderlies anchored all foleys on male patients. They also did any prep or any care of the male pt that required a nurse getting up close to the genital area. These male orderlies floated throughout the hospital.

Anyone who thinks they can represent themselves is naive. I have been in the business too long and have seen many nurses attempt to stand up to management --- these nurses were soon looking for a new job. There is strength in numbers. Unfortunately nurses are not good at grouping together to change things. A union can form a cohesive group that has real muscle behind them. I would recommend anyone who is wary of unions do some research on all that the nurse union in California changed. Unfortunately, hospitals are not employee friendly. Nurses are extremely important to the success of any hospital and yet we are treat poorly.

I am the ICU nurse who wrote about being mandetory off and required to be at the beck and call to the hospital during the entire 12 hour shift. Plus the hospital was making me take PTO time for the mandetory time off. I have read the responses. I am not going to take it any longer. I have started looking for another position. I left management and a salaried position because I wanted to be paid for the time I work. I want to clock in - do my job - and then go home. The hospital does not own me. Thanks guys for your imput.

I was working evenings on a med-surg floor. A youngish woman with small children was transferred to our unit from ICU to die. She had a major anyuerism so this was a sudden and tragic death. She died and her body was sent to the morgue at shift change. During the evening I needed a pillow so I walked into the room to get one. Something stopped me like I hit a brick wall. I could not go any further into the room and had trouble breathing. Anger resonated throughout the room. You can imagine how quickly I left the room. I had 5 other people go into the room and all of them had the very same reaction. It was amazing. The next evening everything was normal again.

I have been in nursing for over 35 years. Nursing has certainly had some changes since I first started. I think is would be fun for us to compare stories of what nursing "use to be like". I graduated in 1973. Then a nurse: -had to stand up and offer her chair to a doctor. -we actually were allowed to smoke at the nurses station! -Nurse uniforms included a white dress, white support pantyhose (thatvrefused to stay up), white nursing shoes and oh yes that nursing cap. Since the mini skirt was in style, the dresses were as short as we could get by with (maybe a couple of inches above the knee). Believe me, many a patient saw more than enough nursing underwear when we leaned over. -I worked for a hospital in North Carolina that still had segregated floors. I helped to desegregate the floors of that hospital. Even then a white person would never share a room with a person of color. And believe it or not even the units of blood were segregated. The first time I went to the blood bank I had to ask what the "W" and "C" meant on the blood bags. I was floored to find out that it meant "white" and "colored". A neuro-surgeon and I nearly started a riot in the hospital management when we had a white male admitted from a MVA with massive bleeding. We went through all the "W" blood in the patient's type. In desparation the doctor and I had to go to the bloodbank and steal units of blood marked "C". The patient survived because of this. However, I don't think anyone had the nerve back then to let him know that he had some "C" blood in him. -That same hospital did not have air conditioning and so in the very hot summer nurses opened windows to get air moving through the unit. I believe many a patient died just from the extreme heat. Nurses even had fly swatters on their med carts to kill the flies..........:

I work in ICU. Management can "mandatory" nurses off for low census. They only do this in 4 hour increments and can call you in at anytime. In other words, you really cannot do anything but hang on to your cell phone or sit at home waiting to see if they call you in. Even better the time that you are mandetory off is taken out of your PTO time......so not only am I a prisoner of the hospital during the time I was scheduled to work but I also have to use my PTO time to do it. I checked with the Wage & Hour law and the hospital can legally require this of a nurse. Anyone have suggestions on how to stop this practice?

Does anyone seriously consider the ANA as the union representative for nurses? I know that the ANA touts that they represent nurses. However, over the years I have not seen anything the ANA has done to improve nurses work conditions, benefits or pay. My perspective of the ANA is that it is more academically inclined rather than dealing with the day-to-day issues facing nurses.

Check out the California Nurses Union. This union, not only helped nurses unite on a solid front (safety in numbers) but it managed to successfully take on the California State Government about staffing ratios. Now California has state-mandated staffing ratios. That is only one of the many positive changes that this union has made for nurses. The California Nursing Union is now working to become a national union. My attitude is, I have worked unionized hospitals and nonunion hospitals. I found the working conditions in the unionized hospital better. Plus you were not alone and afraid to speak up about problems for fear of management reprecussions.

I agree that nursing does have a lot of different types of careers. I am a nurse with 35 years of experience and have had several different careers in nursing from a school nurse to a hospital director. My problem with the nursing profession is still the lack of respect for the profession by non-nurses. I have a Master's degree and often have doctors ask me why I was "just a nurse".....does that sound like respect for the profession? By the way, my response to this is that a nurse can never be too educated - a good nurse is an intelligent nurse. So again, I still say that I would advise my daughter against the nursing profession. Nursing is very hard work, poor hours, poor working conditions, poor pay, and little respect.

Never!!! When I studied to be a nurse (back in the dark ages) women had very limited choices for careers. Yes, I "settled" for nursing because back then it was an acceptable career choice for a woman. The work is hard and nurses do not command the respect we deserve because nursing is still viewed as a "woman's job". We are largely overworked, unappreciated, and underpayed. Now the world is open with so many interesting careers to choose from for women.

We could string the Ativan into necklaces. Gum them when we need to. Does Ativan go with the Margaritas I plan to have served to me every afternoon? I hope the server is 21 years old, on steroids, and named Sven....and the uniform is a Speedo.....okay I plan to be a dirty old lady.

Actually, why don't we just put some ativan in the air vents and keep us all calm.

I was a school nurse for 3 years. Loved it. Unfortunately, my school system decided that they no longer needed full-time nurses and cut the hours to 4 hours a day. Nurses are now covering several schools. The secretaries and teachers are handling all health problems and injuries -- interesting since I was the only person at the school I worked who was BLS certified!

Thanks everyone for you responses. Its good to know that I'm not alone. Great ideas. I especially like the nursing home for old nurses. However, I want Margaritas instead of tea.

I am 56 years old and have been a nurse for 34 years. My body is wearing out from all the wear and tear over the years of nursing. So my question what is there for us old nurses? How do we figure out something else to do where the money is decent? Any suggestions? Thanks