Here is where you can be heard. ANA has all the emails set up and you just fill out the form and it gets sent to your representatives. It's a start.
You can edit your message. I added that nurses need to be protected from administration for expressing concerns about patient safety. I think that is very important. Nurses also need to be protected if they feel it is unsafe.
I agree and if we would in mass start refusing unsafe assignments and unsafe floats and inform our managers that we will not tolerate it then they would change. We need to get our profession to realize that we truly hold all the cards, unionized or not. They need us as much or more than we need them.
i will never understand it. i don't want to be associated with it. i have decided to move on to another field. it isn't about doing a good job or being a nurse, it's about clicks and being evil and dishonest. hospitals don't give a hoot about what is going on and why there is a shortage. they are every bit to blame for the problem and they allow inappropriate behavior to add to dissatisfaction on the job. many units entrust the running of the unit to the most unprofessional and miserable people available. if those people don't like your hair, you will be harassed. these same nurses complain about being short staffed or overworking but tend to be the same people that run off other nurses. let them work overtime and be short staffed. you can't please them. (quote)
read the literature on horizontal violence.
seems to be very prevalent in oppressed groups, and nursing is truly an oppressed group.
I don't even remember now if I signed it or not (If I posted that I did sign it, then I did).
But - I think most of us feel we vote with our FEET - if we still put up with garbage, that's a vote. If we refuse certain assignments, that's a vote. If we don't WORK THERE ANYMORE, hello, CEO's, that's a vote!
Also, the ANA and its membership is what is working on making the changes, through legislation. I don't even see on that petition site what is being done w/ that petition - or it could already have had several signatures, been forwarded, and this is petition number 2 or 3 or more. Who knows?
Once again the ANA is leading a charge....unarmed.
Safe staffing is an illusion. Set ratios are the way to go.
I've spoke up at staff meetings in the past. I've asked, begged, reasoned, etc for more help. Not only did we not get help, our load increased and I was confronted by management regarding "my poor attitude"!
Guess what, I was injured on the job! NOW everyone is concerned...where was the help before I got hurt?
I went to the site and happily filled out form. I may be down, but I'm not out!
Just got my annual eval. I was dinged for complaining about staffing when I didn't really have the number of patients I said I had. (Apparently I'm not supposed to be living in reality?) I was also told not to put complaints in writing anymore, because it makes ME look bad. You bet your bippy I'm looking into this link! Thanks!
You've got to be kidding! You must write up your complaints about staffing issues. That way there is a written record of your concerns, just case something happens. Your employer has "plausible denial" if you don't write up your complaints. In other words your employer can't say, "Gee, we didn't know there was a problem" if you put everything down in writing.
You've got to be kidding! You must write up your complaints about staffing issues. That way there is a written record of your concerns, just case something happens. Your employer has "plausible denial" if you don't write up your complaints. In other words your employer can't say, "Gee, we didn't know there was a problem" if you put everything down in writing.
MJ
Unfortunately, nurses that speak up or write up get harassed, bad evals, fired - you name it.
It does seem like a waste of energy, but I am not giving up. I am giving up on nursing though. Every time I work, I see patients that have suffered in some way from the unsafe staffing levels. That cannot be ignored any more. That is not what I went into this business for! I can't continue to pretend none of this is going on and be a part of the problem. My DAYS are numbered in this field! I am heading back to some other things I have done in the past. I will continue to follow this because I know it is WRONG.
Unfortunately, nurses that speak up or write up get harassed, bad evals, fired - you name it.
It does seem like a waste of energy, but I am not giving up. I am giving up on nursing though. Every time I work, I see patients that have suffered in some way from the unsafe staffing levels. That cannot be ignored any more. That is not what I went into this business for! I can't continue to pretend none of this is going on and be a part of the problem. My DAYS are numbered in this field! I am heading back to some other things I have done in the past. I will continue to follow this because I know it is WRONG.
I understand your leaving and I am sure the decision was difficult for you. Please write your congressman and senator and let them know why your leaving a profession that you chose. Also make sure that the hospital you are working at is aware that you are not only leaving their facility but your profession and that they are one of the biggest reasons for the shortage. Just because you will no longer be at bedside doesn't limit your ability to advocate for those of usthat have stayed and the patients who are looking to us to provide safe and effective care. Good luck
Once again the ANA is leading a charge....unarmed.
Safe staffing is an illusion. Set ratios are the way to go.
You are correct. We can no longer ask and expect for the administrations of our hospitals to do what is right. That is where the ANA falls short they leave the oversight and managment of the "safe staffing" plan to be administered by the hospital. When something says nurse run you and I both know who will pick those nurses and who will really have the decision making authority. Managment will always be the puppet master unless the law says otherwise and sets stiff penalties and oversight. They will as they always do, manipulate and break the rules to fit their agenda, PROFIT. We need to remove that from their control and legislate mandatory ratios.
I am sorry if they will be forced to send patients accross town so that they can recieve the care they need and deserve. This is the only way you will ever get them to address the nursing shortage and the conditions that are running nurses away from acute care. It is time that they and for that matter nurses realize that we can't keep plugging the holes and that if we don't fix the problem the ship will sink!
I believe that the only real solution is fixed legislated ratios like those in California or those in Victoria, Australia. Do some research of your own and you will find that hospitals in these areas are still making profit and have not closed their doors. It can and should be done.
Here is where you can be heard. ANA has all the emails set up and you just fill out the form and it gets sent to your representatives. It's a start.
You can edit your message. I added that nurses need to be protected from administration for expressing concerns about patient safety. I think that is very important. Nurses also need to be protected if they feel it is unsafe.
Specializes in Med Surg, Nursing Administration for SNF.
I left bedside nursing for this reason. No way cd I continue to try to squeeze ten hours of work into eight. I used to call myself a perfectionist - now I know better. I hope things change before we continue to lose more bedside nurses. Unforturnately, I think there are some (crappy)nurses who stay behind, taking shortcuts, fudging vitals, etc. for whatever reason. :stone
Specializes in TraumaER ,NICUx2days, HEMEONC CathLab IV.
I have seen this go on for 30 years. It is worse now. JCAHO is a huge reason it is worse. Here is a organization of pseudo intellectuals, writing is their forte. MY CAN THEY WRITE. standards of practice, Improvement Initiatives, Assessments of health care needs, just go to their website... it is full of "standards that need doccumentation"
JCAHO that has managed to tie it's mandates to insurance companies, how they aquire reimbursement, through the doccumentation of the NURSE in the hospitals. They have their fingers in how hospitals receive money (medicare/caide from the Government via dictating demands to hospitals regarding NURSING Doccumentation and how we should work. I didn't become a nurse to be PAPER MONKEY for JCAHO. I became a nurse to care for the patient. Now I am filling out so much paperwork I rival the Government. If I am wrong please tell me.
listen to
ERNursey 'hello jcaho' blog she says it so much better than I. an excerpt:":Hello JCAHO? Are you listening? Pay attention. I have been a nurse for over twenty years and I can say with confidence that all your mandates have done ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to improve patient care. Yes, that is right, billions of dollars and countless hours of time and energy spent with NO RESULTS." \
\
ERNursey. a nurse who could care for me anyday of the week.
I have seen this go on for 30 years. It is worse now. JCAHO is a huge reason it is worse. Here is a organization of pseudo intellectuals, writing is their forte. MY CAN THEY WRITE. standards of practice, Improvement Initiatives, Assessments of health care needs, just go to their website... it is full of "standards that need doccumentation"
JCAHO that has managed to tie it's mandates to insurance companies, how they aquire reimbursement, through the doccumentation of the NURSE in the hospitals. They have their fingers in how hospitals receive money (medicare/caide from the Government via dictating demands to hospitals regarding NURSING Doccumentation and how we should work. I didn't become a nurse to be PAPER MONKEY for JCAHO. I became a nurse to care for the patient. Now I am filling out so much paperwork I rival the Government. If I am wrong please tell me.
listen to
ERNursey 'hello jcaho' blog she says it so much better than I. an excerpt:":Hello JCAHO? Are you listening? Pay attention. I have been a nurse for over twenty years and I can say with confidence that all your mandates have done ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to improve patient care. Yes, that is right, billions of dollars and countless hours of time and energy spent with NO RESULTS." \
\
ERNursey. a nurse who could care for me anyday of the week.
advocateforsafety
83 Posts
I agree and if we would in mass start refusing unsafe assignments and unsafe floats and inform our managers that we will not tolerate it then they would change. We need to get our profession to realize that we truly hold all the cards, unionized or not. They need us as much or more than we need them.
Keep up the fight.