BeenThere2012

Never heard of this. You didn't cause any harm.

There are so many factors that contribute to burnout. Dissatisfaction with the role, poor work conditions such as understaffing, lack of supplies, hostile coworkers, to name a few. For me, it had to do with the frustrations with nearly impossible expectations from management, and physical and emotional exhaustion. Having said that, I've had horrible experiences with coworkers, managers etc., as well as wonderful experiences. I absolutely loved being a nurse for many reasons already mentioned by others. The rewards of truly making a difference in patients and families lives, and of course the practical things such as job security and nearly unlimited opportunities for growth and advancement were priorities for me. My last position was the best environment I ever had. I retired about a year ago. Mostly because of physical exhaustion and back issues. However, I will say, being great at caring for people is only one of many skills required to thrive as a nurse. Ability to stay calm in urgent/emergent situations, ability to critically think, act and make decisions quickly, multi task and adjust to the dynamic environment and demands. Having compassion for patients AND coworkers goes without saying. If you choose to make the leap, I wish you well. It is a tough job and not for the faint of heart. ?????

OMG! I agree with ALL your points and have had the same experiences over the years and most recently. You said it all!

Yep! Same for me. If someone has the time to look at my orders and specifically asks, "Would it help you if I gave Rm. Blank, their 1600 meds?” That is perfect.

Same here about getting there "early", which is not that early but works for me. And yes, the NICU is different. But I do prefer when someone asked me if they can do such and such. I can say or no depending on the situation. I often just felt when I was overwhelmed, it was because I lost track of things…(not All things ). And had situations where what I asked for help with, was refused. Oh, I'm not comfortable with that. Or, sorry I don't have the time for that. whatever...we all just do the best we can.

Or bought off by lobbyists! Sad situation when 2% of the population holds the majority of the wealth. (Don't know the statistics of the latter) Sad to say but those with the most money, have the most power.

In my recent situations asking for help was more difficult as all the other nurses were just as "overwhelmed " as I was, including our supervisor, who BTW, was also taking assignments. Time management can be an issue for some. However, urgent situations that come up with a patient, bad timing for admissions, and time sensitive tasks don't know what "time it is". I also agree that a unit that is not well organized adds an extra burden to one's ability to work efficiently, such as supplies not evenly distributed or stocked, other departments such as pharmacy for example, don't answer the phone and you end up having to call multiple times, results from the lab aren't entered in a timely manner, and so on. Short staffing in multiple departments have a ripple effect on everyone, and there are times when other department's needs force you into a corner when your butt is already backed in as far as it will go. Not their fault, but when ER's or PACUs are backed up and demanding you take their admission/transfer before you are ready, add to the chaos. Therefore, when a nurse has criticism in writing on his/her record for "time management" issues and the manager knows full well there are not enough staff, I think that's not fair, and frustrating as hell for the nurse. That sort of thing has made me loose respect for that manager as you want to say, "How about you take a few shifts and then tell me about time management?”

I need to add another aspect of the failing system. As Americans we surely are accustomed to better healthcare than many other nations that struggle to have even facilities and supplies, let alone advanced, up to date care. However, I am worried that the services we do have are going to decline even further. I have a friend who went to an ER (large medical center), via 911. Excruciating HA, blurred vision, dizziness and vomiting, 4 days following a complex TMJ surgery. She waited in that ER for approximately 30 hours with very minimal monitoring or ongoing assessment. It was discovered she had a stroke WHILE IN THE ER. Had blood clots r/t her surgery, on a heparin drip with the same sub par monitoring or intervention. She waited 2 more days waiting for a bed to open up in-patient. She survived with permanent hearing loss and chronic HA's. I've heard several stories of people dying while in the ER. It didn't used to be this way, and I know there are multiple factors that can play into this. However, the fact that insurances companies, pharma, corporate owned systems who are profit driven have everything to do with the decline for patient outcomes and services. I'd really like to know why this has been allowed to happen? Have no clue how to go about fixing it. Obviously, staffing shortages in several disciplines are a key factor in the lack of services and care that is available. I don't believe Baby boomers retiring is the main cause.

I haven't read through all the comments yet, but from my perspective as a nurse and as a patient, I have felt our system collapsing for several years as well. I recently retired from an outpt pediatric clinic after working in PICU/trauma centers and a variety of other Pediatric focused positions with a bit of adult med-surg, totaling 40 plus years. I thought the outpatient clinic would be a nice way of easing into retirement while enjoying caring for mostly healthy children and their families. Guess what? It was one of the most stressful positions I'd ever had. Wonderful providers and staff and yet we worked 4-5 nursing staff positions short. Full staff would have been 8 nurses, we had 4. Our manager and supervisor worked everyday on the floor and could not keep up with their own work. I averaged 50-60 hours a week and was pressured NOT to work OT. THAT only added insult to injury and a whole other discussion. Everyone in the practice, including providers, were heavily overworked and several have left the practice. I'm sure all of you reading this have story after story of examples like mine and worse. The CEO of our medical system earned over $11 million dollars last year, but they wouldn't pay a decent wage for staff and most felt it wasn't worth the stress.

Yes! We're all told these things and yet it's impossible to do with the demands on us. What should we choose? The safety of our patients or ourselves? How do we protect our licenses from all the impossible standards thrust upon us without taking shortcuts? No one wants to shortcut care but are pressured to meet expectations, that once again are unreasonable, including redundant charting, checklists galore and backing up other disciplines such as pharmacy, doctors orders and yes, even dietary. We are obligated to know what is appropriate and safe with their orders and make sure they have carried out them out correctly. Nurses are dumped on at every turn. It's so wrong.

A bit off topic, but Yes, yes, yes, "intentional understaffing" and "poor conditions" are chronically occurring these days especially since Covid struck. I'm very grateful that I recently retired. Poor conditions and staffing issues have been a problem for years now. After 40 plus years of nursing it appears to me that these issues became more common since corporate organizations took over ownership of hospitals and have become progressively worse.

A beautiful, positive and encouraging post. Thank you!

I can hardly believe your charge was that inept? How in the world was she given that role with her obviously incompetent knowledge and horrible attitude. What a nightmare. She is actually dangerous if she can’t even acknowledge what was going on with that patient, not to mention the support you needed and HER responsibility to make sure your other patient was covered. As charge in a PICU, I always jumped in to help with unstable patients and could have seen at a glance what needed to be done, not to mention at least do what what asked of me in the moment when a bedside nurse had all the details. THIS, is horrible! I don’t know how you can even stand to work with her again. Very sad ?

Ditto! Happened to me as well. Be very, very careful and move on as soon as you can.

Bait and Switch happened to me and several others hired at the same time. The position was for PICU, but we all worked Peds Med-Surg about 90% of the time. As is the case with most hospital nursing positions, we knew we were expected to float on occasion when needed, but this situation obviously was that they actually didn’t need much coverage for PICU, and wanted nurses who COULD work PICU, but intended us to actually cover med-surg. In addition, their union went on strike a few months later. We were used!