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.
To add I would like to say that I would rather you put something on the back burner that I asked for and then I know that if need be you would (hopefully) do the same if I was in trouble.
"And scripted messages, you can usually tell when someone is saying something they have memorized. Especially if you hear it shift after shift. That would make me mad."
Kinda make you think we didn't mean it?
When I speak to my patients I speak from my heart and not a script. The script tells you there is a problem in that area and that is administrations way of covering it up rather than fixing it.
It's a desperate effort to address poor ganey's coming from someone so far from bed nursing that they have no clue.
I don't have a problem asking if there is anything I can do before I leave. That has been very effective. I don't feel I need to say "I have the time." I don't want them to think I have nothing to do but be up their "bippies." I am not bored. I have things to do. But, before I walk out of their room, what can I do for them at that moment.
"And scripted messages, you can usually tell when someone is saying something they have memorized. Especially if you hear it shift after shift. That would make me mad."
Kinda make you think we didn't mean it?
When I speak to my patients I speak from my heart and not a script. The script tells you there is a problem in that area and that is administrations way of covering it up rather than fixing it.
It's a desperate effort to address poor ganey's coming from someone so far from bed nursing that they have no clue.
I don't have a problem asking if there is anything I can do before I leave. That has been very effective. I don't feel I need to say "I have the time." I don't want them to think I have nothing to do but be up their "bippies." I am not bored. I have things to do. But, before I walk out of their room, what can I do for them at that moment.
And if my nurse asks me if there is anything I need when they are leaving I feel more comfortable calling and asking for something. I feel comfortable like I know I will be cared for well that shift, like my nurse cares. And this does seem to carry out. The nurse who told me she could not help me off the toilet because I would "Rip her arm out of the socket" I never once called her for anything after that. I waited till the next shift. I was afraid to ask for anything because she was very short with me and did not help me when I needed it.
By the way I was having trouble getting off the toilet because I was a post-op patient, am right handed and the place they had put my IV was on my right wrist so I could not push myself up because my left is generally weak and even more so after surgery.
"And scripted messages, you can usually tell when someone is saying something they have memorized. Especially if you hear it shift after shift. That would make me mad."
Kinda make you think we didn't mean it?
When I speak to my patients I speak from my heart and not a script. The script tells you there is a problem in that area and that is administrations way of covering it up rather than fixing it.
It's a desperate effort to address poor ganey's coming from someone so far from bed nursing that they have no clue.
I don't have a problem asking if there is anything I can do before I leave. That has been very effective. I don't feel I need to say "I have the time." I don't want them to think I have nothing to do but be up their "bippies." I am not bored. I have things to do. But, before I walk out of their room, what can I do for them at that moment.
I wish I recieved a press gainey. I have not had one to fill out. If I did then I would VERY carefully word it so that my nurses could not get in trouble.
Although I believe in pre-set ratios (this proposal is for units to set their own ratios with R.N. input), at least this represents AN IMPORTANT FIRST STEP for many states AND is spearheaded by the ANA.
done!!!! brokenheart, are you broken hearted no more?:icon_hug:
this has been a diversion. hopefully a healthy one.
having the support here definitely helped but the problem is still there. i am just beginning to think about what i want to do. i know that i am going to look back at the lnc. floor / bedside nursing is not for me. it's not the patients - as we all know here. it is the hospitals and the abuse. i am a good nurse and i have made a difference for many people. i have a way of getting depressed stroke patients to come through in their first days, a way of getting people motivated to get up and stand when they have been bedbound, a way with confused patients to keep from restraining them and more. the atmosphere of the hospitals has pushed me away from being at the bedside of patients that i can help. they choose, instead, to keep other less dedicated nurses along side the nurses that are living the nightmare that we speak of here. it helps reminding me that i am not alone. i didn't realize the number of nurses that left the field because of what we are writing about.
i am going to look back at the lnc that i paid for.
i have thought seriously about hospice and homecare. probably hospice because all of my patients, families and co-workers said it was my calling.
my short term goal is agency. i'm going to look at the lnc and try it again. it was mostly lack of real work and needing money now that took me away from it. i'm definitely going to look into other areas away from bedside.
and i am going to do all that i can to get the word out about the problem that caused the shortage. i hope that the nurses that are fortunate enough to not be feeling what we are will still speak up. i see there has been a lot of views on this thread but very little responses stating that they went to the link. i hope they did anonymously. it doesn't hurt to try and we need to speak up....be heard.....reinforce the issue regardless of our own experiences. this isn't just for me or anyone here at the site, it is for nurses everywhere but more than anything it is for the patients. we all know that we need a setting in which we can do our jobs to increase the patient safety as well as their satisfaction. keeping the patients safe and satisfied makes our day go much smoother.
i will feel better when i see the number of inactive licensed nurses return to work because the real problem is addressed. it would be a dream come true to see the money they are trying to put towards new nurses be used as an incentive to the hospital for nurse retention. use it for services to help the nurses with stress or whatever else they need to help them retain their employment. incentives for healthy management since this is where most of the problem arises.
the reality of this whole thing is very big for me. i was awake at 5am this morning worrying. i know that i can't bring myself to make bedside floor nursing an option. i need immediate income but my goal is to get away from it. i am done. i know what goes on there and i don't believe in it one bit. it has never been about going in and doing your job. it has always been about fitting in or keeping your mouth shut about unsafe assignments and figuring out how to get your work done when all the counts are against that.
i'm glad i came here. the responses helped tremendously. i know i am not alone. i knew it but being able to share with everyone here has helped through a couple of real tough days. as you can see, i have another focus which is more of a diversion but at least i found a link for us to speak up. california got things happening. maybe i will travel there. the only way it is going to change is if we make it. things have gotten so bad that we have to do something. we need the inactive nurses to come back and we need to protect our jobs and our future.
i hope people are clicking on the link. here it is again. i will work on anything that i can to move this forward. i need support. anyone that is already active in this, contact me and i will support you too.
you can edit this message. but if you can't think of what to say, just follow the instructions and send it on. at least you are pushing another voice forward about safe staffing.
If anyone has sent in their message to the ANA, please let us know via this thread - it would be nice to get an idea of the volume of messages being sent by ANA to Congress.
lpnstudentin2010, LPN
1,318 Posts
To add I would like to say that I would rather you put something on the back burner that I asked for and then I know that if need be you would (hopefully) do the same if I was in trouble.