Sorry state of Nursing ...

[Howardhughes]

I am a Male RN with about 8 years of work experience in the ER, Prison, Acute PTSD/TBI @ the VA. I came from another Industry (Aviation/Airline), after 9/11 retrained into Nursing with the thought of doing something that "Matters" instead of making a corporation another pile of $$$$. After 8 years this has been my Observation of the current state of affairs within Nursing.

1) I have never been so poorly treated within a professional career as I have been with nursing, Managers MD's and Patients all use you as a human punching bag (I can tolerate some of this from a sick PT but not my peers and above). Unprofessionalism often rules and vengeful remarks and treatment are the norms..ie... I have heard the following from RN's,MD,managers..."shes a stupid ***** (MD), you need to find another line of work (MBA manager to new grad), "you need to pass those meds faster , whats wrong with you, cant hack it" (Charge RN).

2) Call offs and low pay...Name any other profession where you have to take hard earned leave or rotate to a totally different unit and are expected to perform (Board of nursing should demand changes to this its unsafe). BSN starting at 17 to 19 a hr nationwide avg...really...MSN with 5 years unless specially trained 60K...for real...(Bank of America pays a avg of 70 k to 100k for mid level MBA's)

I retired from USAirways in 2003, there were troubles galore with the company..but I was paid well, had exc healthcare...WAS TREATED AS A PROFESSIONAL...WHICH I WAS AND STILL AM.

Nursing as a profession.......only if you join the service as my wife did (CDR USN ret) ....to a hospital your a expenditure that they work like a dog, then throw away.

Its a sad state only getting worse as the economy is slow and Obama care will reshape the industry in pay and quality of care.

Good By Nursing.....it was a experience of a life ...time to do other things.

[LadyFree28, BSN, LPN, RN]

Hmmmm....

I will have to agree with the whole "cheese with your whine" argument. At least to some extent.

The only way your facility (or nursing as a whole, if you wanna get all dramatic) is going to change is through the action of its nurses. It takes action to affect change. Period. Whining (excuse me, "venting") on an online message board affects nothing. Never has, never will.

As for venting being a healthy outlet or whatever, well, I guess. Maybe. For some people. Mostly it's just an unproductive waste of time.

I think that, either you are going to actively do something about it, ten you will; if not, you still have a choice to respond to it...either way CHOICE is always on the menu, so to speak

However, I do think AN gives a great outlet away from the trenches...it is needed, no doubt about that.

If your work situation is such that you find it intolerable, you can either quit, or work to change it. Those are really your only options.

That's really the point most of posters, including myself are talking about

*With all that said, I find "just change it if you don't like it" to be exceedingly impractical advice. For some of us, our job is only a small part of our life. Something we do to pay the bills. I have zero interest in investing the time and energy it would require. I refuse to make my job any bigger a part of my life than it already is. If my facility and its policies don't always meet some perfect ideal, well so be it. I will just keep my head down, do the best I can with what I have, and pick my battles. There's nothing noble about fighting an unwinnable battle. That's just foolish. Nothing I say or do will convince the powers that be that it's unsafe to have one LPN for 49 residents. All that will happen is I will get fired.*

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This...right here is a good point. However, on the other side, there are a percentage that feel that can be a slippery slope when the acuity is higher; I think that's where the unhappiness come in. I do agree in the whole to pick battles; that's where my attitude is "what am be done NOW" comes in; that's essentially my point.

Power of choice includes HOW is one going to respond to the challenges?

Are we all supposed to be martyrs for the great institution of nursing? How absurd.

LOL...I believe there are LESS martyrs and more activists out there, IMHO....and change is not done always on a big global splashy-type scale

[delabeaux, MSN]

And because of this (OP), droves or nurses are going for their NP thinking it's the way out, not realizing they're creating an NP excess. NP jobs are becoming like new grad RN jobs, hard to find, paltry pay etc.

[delabeaux, MSN]

Amazing. Perhaps we spew so much therapeutic communication to our patients, we save none for our peers?

I see nothing wrong with venting. You get heard, and while it likely means nothing, its gets gears turning.

Some of the issues the OP poses are part(s) of the reasons I volunteer as an RN only for the time being. Graduating with a 4.0 I was offered two jobs, an RN job, and an IT job. IT is my passion, healthcare was my job-choice. I chose IT, and I'm glad I did. In the health-system I'm in, I get to hear about previously guaranteed hour nurses get called off, having to use vacation time to meet FTE, short staffing, frustration. This at a magnet health system, malcom-baldridge health system. All this means nothing with unhappy staff. The changes Obamacare has pushed through means, ultimately that the nurse pays. Payment is made in cut hours, short staffing, frustration, forced to use vacation time to make up cut hours, disrespect. It better be damn worth it for the additional 50 million new healthcare customers. Anywho...

As many have pointed out, the wonderful thing about nursing is it's breadth! The possibilites within are nearly endless. It can be coupled with almost any niche, IT, writing, speaking, teaching, exercise, nutrition, law, medicine, science, almost anything.

For those of us with second degrees, we can use that to our benefit.

For those of us tired of what the OP alludes to, we can find other niches within nursing, or create our own!

The possibilities are endless!

[windsurfer8, BSN, RN]

I am confused? Do you want use to feel sorry for you? You chose to be a nurse. Sorry you hate it, but I don't get what the point is? People were mean to you and hurt your feelings?

[Howardhughes, ASN, BSN, RN]

Wow...its amazing...I posted my view Sept 17th and folks are still giving input....to be sure there is a plethora of options. As I review some of the answers I can see why, unfortunately, the reason Nurses are abused by their employers... I hope for a better future where a RN is Paid well, doesn't have to use PTO to make 40 hrs, is respected throughout the hospital management and by Peers...seems it wont happen soon.

[MauraRN]

You sure stirred the pot HowardHughes!!! It has been a great discussion, wish AN would start a Second Career RN forum. Maybe we are the change that is needed.

[Been there,done that, ASN, RN]

I am confused? Do you want use to feel sorry for you? You chose to be a nurse. Sorry you hate it, but I don't get what the point is? People were mean to you and hurt your feelings?

OP was venting his frustrations, one of which was disrespect from peers.

Appears it doesn't end in the real world.

[PMFB-RN, RN]

This at a magnet health system, malcom-baldridge health system. All this means nothing with unhappy staff.

*** LOL! It's almost redundant to say it's a Magnet hospital and staff are unhappy.

[CSARmedic]

I couldn't agree more with you Howardhughes. I've walked away from nursing twice and now I'm giving it another shot as an APRN student but nothing has changed. This behavior is so ingrained in the culture that it will never change and it's more than just unprofessionalism, it's blatant disrespect. By that I mean that the lousy behavior toward nurses (mostly by other nurses) by management, MD's, etc is poor interpersonal behavior because it's the norm and (generally) accepted.

I've said it before and I'll keep saying it: Nursing's worst enemy are nurses. We bring it on ourselves.

Good luck to you and congrats in breaking away. My best in your new endeavors.

[workinmomRN2012, BSN]

You know, I generally really enjoy and respect the contributions of GrnTea & BlueDevilNP, and tend to agree with their points of view across the board. I value the wisdom imparted by experience, but I think they (and others like them) have lost touch with what it means in 2013 to be a rank & file, med surg floor nurse or LTC laborer. Or a new grad, for that matter.

With all due respect, you both sometimes oversimplify for the sake of sounding sanctimonious. Yes, we are ALL too well aware of your superior intellect and years of experience, but be careful of veering into the territory of insulting your minions here on AN for doing exactly what online forums are really for - venting and sharing feeling amongst peers. Being dismissively told "quit or change it," is not only totally unrealistic and incredibly patronizing, but it makes you both look very far removed from what life is like in the trenches these days.

If you are sick and tired of hearing the complaining, don't listen to it. Listening to it, then berating those who have a very real need for that type of camaraderie, and come here to feel safe in seeking it, isn't indicative of a "mover" or "shaker." It's indicative of the "young-eating" nurse stereotype no one wants. It does not reflect well of people who are leaders in this forum.

@McLennan- Thank you so much for your post-I could nor have said it better myself:)

[passionflower, BSN, MSN, RN]

I have witnessed the negative behavior toward nursing - and so have many of my colleagues. I really hate that I have. In fact I let my husband read the op's letter and he said and I quote "that sounds like what you have been saying for years" And it is, I have been trying to hang on and retire out but sadly know that I can not. I like the type of nursing I do but the politics and other things such as lack of respect and gratitude really get me down especially from md's, management, techs and some patient's - I mean clients. I'm getting out of bedside nursing asap

[passionflower, BSN, MSN, RN]

I am happy for those who have not had the negative experience and think you have been very lucky. There are some who have been lucky but surely you don't think that there is so much smoke without fire. Certainly when this is all done you could take an unbiased poll and I would bet a winning lottery ticket it would show the majority of nurses are unhappy and with just cause. Why else would people even consider leaving a "steady" job with "good" benefits and pay unless we were sadistic? Abuse that's why. And yes I once wanted to unionize and now I almost don't care about any of it. I will miss the patient's though and some of my co-workers who by the way feel the same.