Thirteen years of bedside care has taught me a lot. Yes, my clinical skills have been honed, my resume is stellar and I can approach clinical situations with confidence. I am a good nurse. My skills are a testament to my experience, as is my realization that modern day nursing is a farce. In this post I would like to pose that the nursing profession has become a perverse exploitation of manpower in the current age.
In the landscape of modern day healthcare the profession of nursing has been marginalized. Merriam-Webster defines marginalization as " to relegate to an unimportant or powerless position within a society or group". This definition should ring true to any nurse who is currently working at the bedside of a healthcare organization. Powerlessness should be in the descriptive of any bedside nurse job description. Powerless over unsafe staffing, administrative dictates, abusive patients and family members, dysfunctional hierarchies and the right to a work environment supportive of basic human needs and free from harassment.
The hospital business model has changed with many institutions operating as for-profit. Healthcare dollars are becoming increasingly tighter while those in the c-suite; CEO, CFO, etc. still want their great big piece of the pie. Consulting organizations are the best friend of the profit driven CEO with little or no insight as to what transpires at the bedside. Regulatory commissions justify their existence with endless mandates that become workplace priority (although some of these interventions do protect the patient I suspect this outcome is secondary to the money that is saved by the organization for compliance). Hospitals have become big business. Unfortunately for us, nursing's outdated model only serves to make us work harder to achieve benefits we never realize.
There is no place in the new business model of healthcare for compassionate care. An org cannot be reimbursed for compassion. Still we as nurses are manipulated by our desire to fulfill this outdated model of compassionate care giver. We are the scapegoats of organizations commitment to making someone accountable. Don't make waves, your job is dependent on it. We have all heard this message loud and clear.
I say no more!! The modern day role of a nurse is a joke. The landscape changes and we are required to carry on - business as usual. I cant stuff 14 hours of work into a 12 hour workday and I wont. I will take my breaks. I won't take abuse from patients and/or family members. Our rights as employees in the US mandate we are entitled to an abuse-free workplace. Amen. If administrators want to run their hospitals like a hotel let them employ consierge service around the clock. I didn't go into the hospitality business, I am a nurse. For every hair-brained scheme for manipulating the public the buck seems to stop with nursing. I refuse to pilot your business initiatives and be held accountable.
I am tired of being vulnerable to nursing administration that would rather align itself with hospital administration than represent nursing. You may be well compensated for your turncoat behavior but know you are a disgrace to your profession. It's time we reclaim these important roles and have a voice!!
According to the Bureau of Labor and Statistics 2010-2011 there are 2.6 million nursing jobs - 60% of those in hospitals. We outnumber hospital admin and nursing exec's by a very large margin. Why don't we have voice? Let's get it together and stage a nursing revolt. Nothing will change until we learn we can stand up for ourselves, our profession and as a result our patients. Grab hold of a copy of the Code of Ethics for Nurses. You will see this is our right and more importantly our duty.
I'm ****** and I'm not going to take this anymore. The first step to change is a unified voice. I'm not advocating unions - I don't know enough about them. All I know is change has to happen if we are to survive. Are you with me?
I like the article, but I disagree with the idea that nursing has become the epitome of powerlessness.....I'm thinking of when the nurses were required to give up their chair for the MD's, when they were required to wash the windows, shovel and deliver the coal to the furnaces...When they were looked upon as nothing more than handmaidens for the doctors, etc....It seems as if the nursing role has become a lot more autonomous, respected, and licensed than in the past.
But that's just my thoughts on it....
Thirteen years of bedside care has taught me a lot. Yes, my clinical skills have been honed, my resume is stellar and I can approach clinical situations with confidence. I am a good nurse. My skills are a testament to my experience, as is my realization that modern day nursing is a farce. In this post I would like to pose that the nursing profession has become a perverse exploitation of manpower in the current age.
In the landscape of modern day healthcare the profession of nursing has been marginalized. Merriam-Webster defines marginalization as " to relegate to an unimportant or powerless position within a society or group". This definition should ring true to any nurse who is currently working at the bedside of a healthcare organization. Powerlessness should be in the descriptive of any bedside nurse job description. Powerless over unsafe staffing, administrative dictates, abusive patients and family members, dysfunctional hierarchies and the right to a work environment supportive of basic human needs and free from harassment.
The hospital business model has changed with many institutions operating as for-profit. Healthcare dollars are becoming increasingly tighter while those in the c-suite; CEO, CFO, etc. still want their great big piece of the pie. Consulting organizations are the best friend of the profit driven CEO with little or no insight as to what transpires at the bedside. Regulatory commissions justify their existence with endless mandates that become workplace priority (although some of these interventions do protect the patient I suspect this outcome is secondary to the money that is saved by the organization for compliance). Hospitals have become big business. Unfortunately for us, nursing's outdated model only serves to make us work harder to achieve benefits we never realize.
There is no place in the new business model of healthcare for compassionate care. An org cannot be reimbursed for compassion. Still we as nurses are manipulated by our desire to fulfill this outdated model of compassionate care giver. We are the scapegoats of organizations commitment to making someone accountable. Don't make waves, your job is dependent on it. We have all heard this message loud and clear.
I say no more!! The modern day role of a nurse is a joke. The landscape changes and we are required to carry on - business as usual. I cant stuff 14 hours of work into a 12 hour workday and I wont. I will take my breaks. I won't take abuse from patients and/or family members. Our rights as employees in the US mandate we are entitled to an abuse-free workplace. Amen. If administrators want to run their hospitals like a hotel let them employ consierge service around the clock. I didn't go into the hospitality business, I am a nurse. For every hair-brained scheme for manipulating the public the buck seems to stop with nursing. I refuse to pilot your business initiatives and be held accountable.
I am tired of being vulnerable to nursing administration that would rather align itself with hospital administration than represent nursing. You may be well compensated for your turncoat behavior but know you are a disgrace to your profession. It's time we reclaim these important roles and have a voice!!
According to the Bureau of Labor and Statistics 2010-2011 there are 2.6 million nursing jobs - 60% of those in hospitals. We outnumber hospital admin and nursing exec's by a very large margin. Why don't we have voice? Let's get it together and stage a nursing revolt. Nothing will change until we learn we can stand up for ourselves, our profession and as a result our patients. Grab hold of a copy of the Code of Ethics for Nurses. You will see this is our right and more importantly our duty.
I'm ****** and I'm not going to take this anymore. The first step to change is a unified voice. I'm not advocating unions - I don't know enough about them. All I know is change has to happen if we are to survive. Are you with me?
Specializes in Critical Care, ED, Cath lab, CTPAC,Trauma.
Thirteen years of bedside care has taught me a lot. Yes, my clinical skills have been honed, my resume is stellar and I can approach clinical situations with confidence. I am a good nurse. My skills are a testament to my experience, as is my realization that modern day nursing is a farce. In this post I would like to pose that the nursing profession has become a perverse exploitation of manpower in the current age.
In the landscape of modern day healthcare the profession of nursing has been marginalized. Merriam-Webster defines marginalization as " to relegate to an unimportant or powerless position within a society or group". This definition should ring true to any nurse who is currently working at the bedside of a healthcare organization. Powerlessness should be in the descriptive of any bedside nurse job description. Powerless over unsafe staffing, administrative dictates, abusive patients and family members, dysfunctional hierarchies and the right to a work environment supportive of basic human needs and free from harassment.
The hospital business model has changed with many institutions operating as for-profit. Healthcare dollars are becoming increasingly tighter while those in the c-suite; CEO, CFO, etc. still want their great big piece of the pie. Consulting organizations are the best friend of the profit driven CEO with little or no insight as to what transpires at the bedside. Regulatory commissions justify their existence with endless mandates that become workplace priority (although some of these interventions do protect the patient I suspect this outcome is secondary to the money that is saved by the organization for compliance). Hospitals have become big business. Unfortunately for us, nursing's outdated model only serves to make us work harder to achieve benefits we never realize.
There is no place in the new business model of healthcare for compassionate care. An org cannot be reimbursed for compassion. Still we as nurses are manipulated by our desire to fulfill this outdated model of compassionate care giver. We are the scapegoats of organizations commitment to making someone accountable. Don't make waves, your job is dependent on it. We have all heard this message loud and clear.
I say no more!! The modern day role of a nurse is a joke. The landscape changes and we are required to carry on - business as usual. I cant stuff 14 hours of work into a 12 hour workday and I wont. I will take my breaks. I won't take abuse from patients and/or family members. Our rights as employees in the US mandate we are entitled to an abuse-free workplace. Amen. If administrators want to run their hospitals like a hotel let them employ consierge service around the clock. I didn't go into the hospitality business, I am a nurse. For every hair-brained scheme for manipulating the public the buck seems to stop with nursing. I refuse to pilot your business initiatives and be held accountable.
I am tired of being vulnerable to nursing administration that would rather align itself with hospital administration than represent nursing. You may be well compensated for your turncoat behavior but know you are a disgrace to your profession. It's time we reclaim these important roles and have a voice!!
According to the Bureau of Labor and Statistics 2010-2011 there are 2.6 million nursing jobs - 60% of those in hospitals. We outnumber hospital admin and nursing exec's by a very large margin. Why don't we have voice? Let's get it together and stage a nursing revolt. Nothing will change until we learn we can stand up for ourselves, our profession and as a result our patients. Grab hold of a copy of the Code of Ethics for Nurses. You will see this is our right and more importantly our duty.
I'm ****** and I'm not going to take this anymore. The first step to change is a unified voice. I'm not advocating unions - I don't know enough about them. All I know is change has to happen if we are to survive. Are you with me?
Well said but those big hospitals have a lot of money and power to crush the little guy.
Unions, and good strong ones.. write congress and stay aware of what they are trying to pass, stand up for yourself and your profession. Thats how things will change, but complacency is a worm in the barrel.
Just to be clear...My opinion does not negate the OP's entire take on this issue. I'm all for unification, encouraging the banding together of nurses, etc....
I believe nurses just had it a lot harder in the past in regards to respect, duties, etc. That is by no means an excuse to sit back and avoid striving for better....
I am with the OP on this issue. I disagree that nurses are more autonomous , respected and licensed in many cases. In our city, many
patients left a doctors practice because she was always out of the office
tending to golf tournaments and her other business sidelines. The patient I know refused to see the NPs as they stated they viewed them as a
bait and switch substitute for the doctor....the doctors absence was
very frequent. The patient did not see the NP as a respected
autonomous practitioner...
I support the OP in her quest to make nursing a unified voice, with the focus and issues driven by
practicing nurses, not national organizations who make educational requirement policy
based on making money for schools and providing nurses who have advanced educational
prep to hospital administration with salaries that do not reflect their education or experience in nursing.
Nurses need to take back the direction of their nursing practice,
I like the article, but I disagree with the idea that nursing has become the epitome of powerlessness.....I'm thinking of when the nurses were required to give up their chair for the MD's, when they were required to wash the windows, shovel and deliver the coal to the furnaces...When they were looked upon as nothing more than handmaidens for the doctors, etc....It seems as if the nursing role has become a lot more autonomous, respected, and licensed than in the past.
But that's just my thoughts on it....
and ladies&gentlemen we are back to square one.....
Specializes in Med nurse in med-surg., float, HH, and PDN.
I'm beginning to think there is no such thing as a consensus in this field. (maybe I still have one-half of a star still left in my eyes? lol.) And well, YEAH the field of nursing has come a long way, but who among us has had to shovel coal on the job recently? No, don't tell me 'cause I'm sure there is at least ONE out there! This is going to have to be a "grass-roots" movement, I guess; if people can form a book-club, why not a meeting of individuals? Because nurses hate meetings and everyone's on different schedules. THAT'S square one!
I am with you....I am with us all.... So what are we all going to do.. we have this huge forum with thousands of nurses from all over the country. Let's not say we are going to do it...Let's do it.
AgentBeast, MSN, RN
1,974 Posts