readers digest? nursing shortage!!!

NancyRN · Oct 9, 2003

I've read the articles and they really are good. I have noticed a general trend of family members watching the nurses like a hawk, questioning every move I make.

I personally feel insulted by all the second guessing. I give the best care I can give, whether the patient has a family member in the room or not. I don't have to be reminded to do my job.

mednurse · Oct 9, 2003

I have had a few patients write down everything I do.

ainz · Oct 9, 2003

Good points made so far in this thread. Even more reason to aggressively attack the core issues driving nurses out of nursing. Many nurses already feel and behave like downtrodden victims and we (collctively speaking) are being set up like the lamb lead to the slaughter. If a bad patient outcome occurs the fingers will point to the perceived weakest link in the chain--guess who that will be?!?!

Make sure your professional liability policies are up to date guys!! All of our complaining and whning will backfire. All of the short-term thinking and energy directed toward quick fixes like unions, staffing ratios, etc., and all of the noise we are making about it trying to get someone to rescue us very well may make it worse for us. No one is going to rescue us and fix it for us. We must do it ourselves!!

I advocate spending our energy on things that will bring real, deep, and lasting change to nursing. This will require new law, new radical thinking about how nurses work and how nurses are paid.

mattsmom81 · Oct 9, 2003

We are already working in situations where the finger is pointed at us with almost every bad outcome. Hospitals and docs have it set up that way. Just one example: How many policies aren't followed and aren't even made known to the staff? We dont follow policy, the hospital denies liability for what we do....

I didn't make this crazy system but I have to work in it. I also refuseto blame myself for it.

I DO the best I can. I carry my malpractice. I keep up with my BON's actions and changes to my practice act. I peruse the policy books. I communicate with administration. I work in an area where I am competent and I stay current and certified. I try to stay on good terms with all people.

My latest plan? A move to area that restricts visitors...because in today's hospital environment the increasingly demanding visitors have become the bane of my existence; and I am feeling more and more troubled by this 'practice under a microscope', with unlimited interruptions of my already busy day..

And sorry Ainz, but I totally disagree about the futility of unions. I've worked in both areas and MUCH prefer union areas. JMHO.

SmilingBluEyes · Oct 9, 2003

Oh were it all that simple, ainz.

I admire your positive outlook, but in OB where customer is QUEEN and all her family , friends, even distant aquaintances "royalty", this is so hard to hear. They are all over , in the way, in your face because OB is the biggest spectator sport in nursing. NO ONE HAS THE GUTS TO tell these invasive types to leave or at least GET OUT OF HARM's way..... When we do, they complain and *MANAGEMENT*, not the nurses, tells us to "deal with it" as we are there to be "family-oriented".......so what to do...this, one of the most, if NOT THE MOST ligitious areas of nursing.....hmmm......

I am with mattsmom...sometimes you have to know when to fold 'em and move on.

You are partly right, complaint is not the be-all, end-all answer. It rarely works without some form of action. But when you TRY to take action, and present plausible reasons why things need to change, it gets really discouraging to have the door slammed in your face and to be told to "deal with it!" And, being all positive, rosey-happy does not work, either. It just makes management/administration believe the 'worker bee's are happy" and therefore, nothing need change....... I don't buy that.

YOU have been in our shoes. You are now an adminstrator. What would YOU do? :confused:

mattsmom81 · Oct 11, 2003

Originally posted by SmilingBluEyes
Oh were it all that simple, ainz.

I admire your positive outlook, but in OB where customer is QUEEN and all her family , friends, even distant aquaintances "royalty", this is so hard to hear. They are all over , in the way, in your face because OB is the biggest spectator sport in nursing. NO ONE HAS THE GUTS TO tell these invasive types to leave or at least GET OUT OF HARM's way..... When we do, they complain and *MANAGEMENT*, not the nurses, tells us to "deal with it" as we are there to be "family-oriented".......so what to do...this, one of the most, if NOT THE MOST ligitious areas of nursing.....hmmm......

B]

Deb, your OB unit resembles my ICU only WORSE. My liability is high...yours is off the wall for what...21 years now? Good grief....I am surprised OB nurses stick with it anymore.....

My manager just rolls her eyes and tells us to 'get with the times' when we try to restrict the swarms of demanding visitors while we perform interventions, procedures, try to run codes, etc...(((gnashing teeth here)))

I've had doctors snarl "Get those people OUTTA here...this is an ICU NOT 'Reality TV' ". But...administration in my hospital WANTS our unit to be a family oriented, 'Reality TV' setup all the way...

SharonH, RN · Oct 11, 2003

In the most recent article, the nurse did a really great job (I thought) pointing out how obnoxious, demanding, and unreasonable the families can be. I truly hope some of the general public saw themselves in that article but I doubt that. I have decided to leave the bedside after 12 years for good, not just to take a break and with each day, each article about the shortage I am saddened and relieved.

TennNurse · Oct 11, 2003

I thought that last article was really good, very well written. When I showed it to my mother, she looked at me with something akin to horror and said, "Have you had days like this??"

I like these articles in that they are extremely enlightening for the general public- they need to realize what we are being forced to work with. People hear nurses complaining all the time about "working conditions" and I have been amazed to discover that the average person in a "normal" job perceives this as unclean/ unattractive facilities to work in. They need to know that the conditions we complain about are those that too often set us up for failure- that when we don't have enough staff and can't even take a few minutes to pee without further burdening someone else, and possibly risking death for a patient, this has the obvious result of nurses leaving the profession. It's a horribly self-perpetuating problem, and as long as we're the only ones who really understand that, it's probably not going to get fixed anytime soon.

But I guess the inevitable downfall of increased public awareness is an even more intense microscope to work under. And that, as we all know, can worsen our work conditions even further.

Sigh. Just my 0.02.

HazeK · Oct 11, 2003

I read the article about the day of the ICU nurse...and knew exactly how she felt! I've copied the article, shared it with friends, family, and fellow nurses as the author documented very accurately how my typical day in L&D goes!

The public really has no clue as to the reality of nursing!

I hope many folks read this article and begin to get a glimpse of our lives on the job!

Haze

live4today, RN · Oct 12, 2003

Originally posted by HazeK
.................The public really has no clue as to the reality of nursing! I hope many folks read this article and begin to get a glimpse of our lives on the job!

Haze

I second that, Haze! If the public only knew the reality of nursing and the hoops we are forced to jump through to satisy our patients and their family members as if their loved one were the ONLY patient we were assigned to care for each shift we worked they would puke! I hope more and more articles come out like the one in Reader's Digest because the public definitely needs to be told the truth as it is and not as they are fooled into believing.

RNSue · Oct 12, 2003

I've read the two Readers Digest articles, the "Crisis in White" in the 8/29/03 issue of USA Weekend, and "America's Nursing Crisis" in the10/7/03 issue of Woman's Day. For the most part all the articles are very good. Did anyone else see the "advice" offered in the Woman's Day article? In a box on top of page 46 it says... Have family members on hand in the room to make sure nurses are aware of your needs. DON'T HESITATE TO PESTER YOUR NURSE" [capitals mine]. "That ultimately helps the nurse, says Mary O'Neil Mundinger, Dr.P.H., R.N., of Columbia University School of Nursing. "If your needs aren't being met, your nurse can pass that on to ask for more resources." Does anyone know this person's e-mail address? Is she an instructor in a nursing program? Is she for real?!! As if we can "ask for more resources"!! I'm sure that just a little more "pestering" will help us!! It makes me want to SCREAM that some people(GP) reading this article will actually DO this. Pestering the nurses will, I'm sure push just a few more of us OUT OF NURSING. And as for "asking for more resources", we have been asking for years!! This highly educated RN needs to learn a few things!!!!!