RN's are getting burnt out why?

madwife2002, BSN, RN · Mar 23, 2009

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

i work in the usa not uk

miko014 · Mar 23, 2009

So I take it that it is good? When I become an RN I am going to be very persistent until I get into that hospital. It seems like all around everything they offer is good and I know when I was a patient there I was treated really well and they seemed to have a very good system. They seemed to have a really good system to prevent med errors as well that the other hospital in the next city over didn't have. My neighbors are RN's Husband and Wife and work there and say it's really good as well. When I get a job there if I say they referred me they also will get a 1000 dollar bonus I think it was. Half after 30 days and half after my year. They didn't even know about it until I told them from reading their website. They just opened another branch that is geared towards Heart, Trauma, Birthing Center and ICU about 15 mins from me and are said to be opening an Oncology Branch so I am hoping between all their facilities and stuff if I don't give up I will get in. From what I have been reading on these boards, it seems good in comparrison to a lot of others.

I'm not sure I understand the question. I get 12 days off TOTAL now. It comes out to about 3.7 hours per pay. That's sick leave, vacation, etc. We get 6 paid holidays. That's it. It's terrible!!!! I had no idea how bad it was until other people started talking about how much time off they get.

In addition, our health insurance stinks - it's just about the worst system I have ever heard of. I'm not anti-union - I think they could do us some good. They approached my hospital awhile back but people shot them down, unfortunately.

I think the real reason for my burnout days is not benefits, though they could be a heck of a ot better. It's high acuity and bad ratios and unreasonable expectations on the pt's/families part and also on the part of the management. I mean most of the time we can't even get our meds passed without them being "late" and we get an hour before and an hour after the due time to get them done. There's something wrong there. In addition they want us to go above and beyond, which I would love to do, but I just don't have the time. And then you get the surveys back that give us ones and say, "they wouldn't give me any peanut butter" when they are on a clear liquid diet!

I hope all that makes sense!!!!!

Multicollinearity, BSN, RN · Mar 23, 2009

Coming from self-employment and commission-only employment for the last ten plus years, I confess I'm grateful for any paid time off and benefits.

I had none. No paid days off. Maybe it really is all relative.

madwife2002, BSN, RN · Mar 23, 2009

My point is with better vacation time and appropriate sick leave time, we would be less burn't out because you would have something to look forward to like a 2 week vacation. In which time you can recharge your batteries and be ready for the next onslaught.

lolalolacherrycola · Mar 23, 2009

I just wanted to add as an example that my husband works for a major telephone company. He did not go to college. He is a high school graduate. He learned on the job and has been with the company for 10 years. However my husband not only has fully paid medical and dental; his base pay is $33.00/hour. I feel blessed that he has this job but...where is the equality?? If his job is worth $33/hr and full benefits; ours is worth $66/hour...

I have been a R.N. for 20 years. My hourly wage is LESS than his and our hospitals benefits are mediocre at best and we have to contribute to them. :down: He makes MORE per hour and has better benefits!! Why?? He is in a union and it is a male dominated field...that is my opinion anyway...

I feel that all R.N.'s are sadly underpaid and underperked in the benefits department unless they are fortunate to work for the VA (government) where the benefits and pay are a bit better.

However, overall I feel we are very much overworked, underappreciated and underpaid which makes me very angry! I am certain that there have to be other seasoned nurses out there that agree with me. :nurse:

lolalolacherrycola · Mar 23, 2009

Seems like we need a union or an ANA that has some teeth. I never did like the idea of unions until I'd been a nurse and been taken advantage of for a couple of years. I'd rather an ANA that had teeth.
However, seems too many nurses are anti union or have the "When I was a young nurse the Dr's used to beat us with metal bedpans and we used to scrub the floors too!" kinda mentality.
BTW, when I lived in "other countries" (UK) I got 5 weeks paid leave, also unlimited sick pay so long as there was a medical reason as well as all national holidays. This was the norm, pretty standard vacation leave.
Where I work now in the USA I get about 8 hours PTO per paycheck but that is for all holidays, sick leave and vacation.

I so wish more nurses thought like you; you have said it so well...ty ty ty!!

Multicollinearity, BSN, RN · Mar 23, 2009

My point is with better vacation time and appropriate sick leave time, we would be less burn't out because you would have something to look forward to like a 2 week vacation. In which time you can recharge your batteries and be ready for the next onslaught.

I agree, Kay. This is another area where I think the Europeans have their priorities better than Americans. The Europeans have more vacation time and time away from work. They seem to have a better quality of life and health. I just offered my own experience because I think it's helpful to remember that millions of Americans have zero paid time off from their jobs.

Natkat, BSN, MSN, RN · Mar 23, 2009

We burn out over crap like this.....

http://www.nurstoon.com/comic54.html

madwife2002, BSN, RN · Mar 23, 2009

I agree, Kay. This is another area where I think the Europeans have their priorities better than Americans. The Europeans have more vacation time and time away from work. They seem to have a better quality of life and health. I just offered my own experience because I think it's helpful to remember that millions of Americans have zero paid time off from their jobs.

I know and it's unreal, I cannot believe in this day and age we dont for quality rather than quantity-it is almost like keep burning up our work force they are expendable, there is always somebody else to take their place. we are almost like disposable income surley this outdate way of looking at the workforce should have gone out of fashion with the Victorians.

In the UK we didnt get what we wanted by not doing anything we had to take action and in the late 80's early 90's the unions in the Uk were a force to be reckoned with and nurses working hours, pay and time off were definatly improved.

This is not going to happen here because we have nobody to turn to to help our plight and the employers are happy with this arrangement because they can almost do with us what they want.

Every other post we read on allnurses is about injustice, terrible working conditions, poor hours and pay, insufferable management teams. New grads are hit even worse because on top of all these problems we have nurses with little to no experience struggling to swim, and getting little if any support from fellow c0-workers because we are all tired.

sin11899 · 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.

I am new to telemetry(6:1 ratio). Been a nurse for 2years on a sub-acute unit prior to this. Now I have this tele job and i'm scared to death, I don't think I can do it and I'm rethinking my whole career. I'm so scared to go to work, anxiety is sky high. Paranoid about making a wrong decision that may cost me my license. What can I do? Does it get better? Is this normal and will it pass?

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

I work in the USA not UK

I apologize, just saw the flag next to your info and assumed it was current. Guess that is what I get for assuming. Well knowing you work here in the US than I am not surprised at all. This is the country that feels new moms only deserve 6 weeks off but that is a whole other debate lol

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

I'm not sure I understand the question. I get 12 days off TOTAL now. It comes out to about 3.7 hours per pay. That's sick leave, vacation, etc. We get 6 paid holidays. That's it. It's terrible!!!! I had no idea how bad it was until other people started talking about how much time off they get.
In addition, our health insurance stinks - it's just about the worst system I have ever heard of. I'm not anti-union - I think they could do us some good. They approached my hospital awhile back but people shot them down, unfortunately.
I think the real reason for my burnout days is not benefits, though they could be a heck of a ot better. It's high acuity and bad ratios and unreasonable expectations on the pt's/families part and also on the part of the management. I mean most of the time we can't even get our meds passed without them being "late" and we get an hour before and an hour after the due time to get them done. There's something wrong there. In addition they want us to go above and beyond, which I would love to do, but I just don't have the time. And then you get the surveys back that give us ones and say, "they wouldn't give me any peanut butter" when they are on a clear liquid diet!
I hope all that makes sense!!!!!

It makes sense, I was verifying that the hospital I hope to work out is good as far as the PTO in comparison. I mean it seemed good to me comparing it to other jobs I have had. My husband is self employed so he makes up is own vacations but they aren't paid LOL Anyway I only have non nursing jobs to compare it too so I wasn't sure if that is good compared to other nursing jobs in the USA but it seems like it is from reading some of these other posts. Come work here it's a great city