RN's are getting burnt out why?

lolalolacherrycola · Mar 23, 2009

You are so right....nurses deserve much better pay and benefits. The only "profession" that I know of where we are held to such high standards and treated like we work at McDonalds...sad...time for a change. I am only hoping with more men getting into nursing that things will change.

diane227, LPN, RN · Mar 23, 2009

You know, it all depends on where you work. In every hospital where I have worked in my 31 year career I have always received good pay and benefits. I guess I have just been lucky.

CABG patch kid, BSN, RN · Mar 23, 2009

I guess the only thing I don't understand is that you don't get paid for taking one of those 12 days off? So no paid time off or paid sick days? That's just poor business.... Not sure what area you're in but that wouldn't be tolerated where I live.

LilyBlue · Mar 23, 2009

I have the same hope...with more men coming into the field, I think benefits will start getting better.

We also "get called off when not busy" (read: when there would be "only" 5 or so patients a nurse with every nurse there) and we have to take our vacation time to cover. So basically, we finance their whims. It sucks.

azhiker96, BSN, RN · Mar 23, 2009

Wow, that's pretty bad. I have good benefits where I work. I accrue 8 hours of PTO every 2 weeks. I work 3 twelves and then have 4 days off each week. The days I work vary from week to week but sometimes I can arrange 5 days off in a row without burning any PTO. Sometimes I may have to call in for a day or two if I get sick but for prolonged illness/injury I qualify for short term disability. I can tell you, the time off is much better than when I was an engineer working in the semiconductor industry.

RN1982 · Mar 23, 2009

Oh there's many reasons why we are getting burnt out

1. Under-staffing

2. Not enough ancillary staff

3. No time for breaks

4. Tedious amounts of paperwork

5. Unsupportive management with unrealistic expectations

6. Demanding families with unrealistic expectations

7. Toxic work environments

loricatus · Mar 23, 2009

Oh there's many reasons why we are getting burnt out
1. Under-staffing
2. Not enough ancillary staff
3. No time for breaks
4. Tedious amounts of paperwork
5. Unsupportive management with unrealistic expectations
6. Demanding families with unrealistic expectations
7. Toxic work environments

8. Customer service prioritized over effective patient care/Press Gainey

TheCommuter, BSN, RN · Mar 23, 2009

Nursing is one of the only professions where other people (family members, patients, physicians, physical therapists, dietitians, vendors, managers, visitors, administrators, etc.) can stroll into your workplace and openly disrespect the nurse while getting away with it. I wouldn't dare to come to someone's place of employment and start mistreating him/her, but many people never think twice about doing it to nurses.

Disrespect equals crispy burnout.

RN1982 · Mar 23, 2009

People are a hot mess.

~Mi Vida Loca~RN, ASN, RN · Mar 23, 2009

i have 12 days a year vacation time allowed to me, this includes my sick time, sick child days in fact days off for any reason you can give.
12 whole days and i only earn these 12 days if i work 36 hours a week every week of the year. so if i am sick or have a day off i dont earn 12 days.
so can anybody tell me why we get burnt out, we cant be sick unless it is on our days off. we work week in and week out with heavy workloads petrified in case we catch something because then we wont have any hours left. god forbid you get cancelled or you family has a crisis because you wont get paid for being off if you use those 12 days which again you can only have if you have worked 36 hours every week of the year.
so now tell me why nurses get burnt out, maybe we should rally for better working conditions, which include good quality time off not vacation and sick clumped together.

wow, here i was always told that other free countries have much better vacation benefits than america. apparently that isn't always the case. my mom is an ma and she gets more than that when she started out. now she has been doing it for 11 years and has 4 weeks in vaca and than sick days and stuff. i know from looking at different hospital websites it varies a lot around here, my local hospital seems to have excellent benefits. at least it seems so to me, not sure how it compares across the country but just from reading these boards they seem to have much lower nurse to patient ratios.

here is the pto they have, their is a lot of other things they offer but just talking about the pto itself. again, i am not sure if this is good across the board but it seemed good to me.

[color=#669966]paid time off benefits

to help maintain work/life balance and financial security, pvhs provides a flexible paid time off (pto) program. full and part-time employees earn pto each pay period throughout the year. you can use your accrued pto for vacations, holidays, and sick time. in addition, if you leave employment at pvhs, you can cash out any unused pto.

the amount of pto you earn is based on your length of service and hours worked. the annual pto accruals for a full-time employee working 80 hours per two week pay period are listed below. pto accruals for employees working less than 80 hours per pay period are prorated based on actual hours worked.

years of employment

maximum pto hours

earned per year

equivalent maximum

based on 8-hour days

year 1

184 hours

23 days

years 2-4

200 hours

25 days

years 5-10

232 hours

29 days

years 11 or more

272 hours

34 days

miko014 · Mar 23, 2009

wow, that's pretty bad. i have good benefits where i work. i accrue 8 hours of pto every 2 weeks.

wow, can i work with you??? i only get half that for four 8's and a 4 (36 hours/week). i thought it was a little low, but now that i'm reading this thread, i'm getting jealous!!!!!

year 1 184 hours/23 days
years 2-4 200 hours/25 days
years 5-10 232 hours/29 days
years 11 or more 272 hours/34 days

that is awesome! i've always hated that my aprrox. 12 pto days per year have to be for sick time and vacation time! i've been with the company for 7 years and that's all i get? i want what you have - i'd be able to earn up to 29 days - that's more than double what i get now!!!!! :nurse: