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.
*** Thye MSN doing the exact same job as an RN with an ADN should gte paid the same, ajusted for experience. The BSN or MSN doesn't bring any more income into the hospital than the ADN does.
Do we have to remind everyone again that complications and infections are measurably lower in all-BSN + staff? That keeps money from going out the door. Oh god I don't want to highjack this thread to go there again, but just sayin.'
I would like to know exactly what projects and political action GrnTea has been working on that contribute to a collective effort to change nursing. I would like to see examples of current efforts GrnTea is making to promote real, measurable change in the nursing profession other than shaming her comrades online for whining. Lead by example, GrnTea, and show us how it's done, not how it's NOT done. Wouldn't that be more conducive to change?
OK, I'll bite. I took the advice of another nurse and quit working for other people to start my own company. Yes, I was broke for awhile; I have paid off those debts. I took a lot of education before that (earned 4-year BS in nursing, earned 2-year real MN, not a phone-it-in online one where you write the same paper over and over), took jobs in new and unfamiliar areas for the experience, took it upon myself to get the experience and education for several advanced certifications, and now I am beholden only to the clients I choose to work for. I mentor and nurture other newbies in my field, am very active in my professional organization, and write and publish.
When I was younger and prettier I did participate actively in a new nursing union in my medical center, when the state nurses assoc was lax in representing us at contract time, so we did it ourselves.
I got an award in the last few years for promoting nursing in the popular media. I go to the State House when they have hearings about nursing staffing levels, advanced practice licensure, and the like. I write letters to the editor (which are often published) educating people about the power and responsibility of nurses, and pointing out that I am tired of seeing them seek only MD quotes on health-related issues when there are more of us and often we know more about the topic. I see the beginnings of change in that from time to time.
And I do a wee bit o' work pumping up professionality and personal responsibility over on the AN Student side and for beginners in my Specialty fora. That's my contribution to the real young'uns around here. :)
I'm not the goddess's gift to nursing but I'm not asking anybody to do what I won't do. I put on my socks one at a time like everyone else, have the same fears and joys of daughtering, parenting, grandparenting, and spouse-ing; I clean up cat hairballs, mow the lawn, watch baseball, read the daily paper, donate to charity when I can, and vote in every election. I'm sorta like ... you.
I just got over sitting around and whining about things a long time ago. I got beat up and tear-gassed for peace in the 60s and 70s, and this stuff looks easy by comparison.
Oh ok GrnTea...again, if you're gonna use evidence best practices .... let's go to the place where being interrupted so much as an RN .....let's go to the place where there are so many interruptions and tasks per patient ratio that patient satifaction scores go down.... If you're gonna expect best practices...let's actually make them possible....let's go there.... just sayin... This has nothing to do with BSN v MSN v ADN.
Oh ok GrnTea...again, if you're gonna use evidence best practices .... let's go to the place where being interrupted so much as an RN .....let's go to the place where there are so many interruptions and tasks per patient ratio that patient satifaction scores go down.... If you're gonna expect best practices...let's actually make them possible....let's go there.... just sayin... This has nothing to do with BSN v MSN v ADN.
Organize, organize, organize! Or go do something else. And support your peers either way. Just stop complaining about it! People are generally about as happy or as miserable as they choose to be.
If you - GrnTea - did all that, then why are you so "whatever" now? You are obviously at a place where you are comfortable with your life. That's awesome... good for you... you earned it. :)
THE ONLY WAY TO ORGANIZE IS TO COMPLAIN - IT's the very essence of defining the problem to solve... Define the problem so you can solve it. People are defining it by venting. It lets us all know we are feeling the same way. La Di Da doesn't define a problem.... LOL. aaahhhh... but it's good to laugh at it though.
If you - GrnTea - did all that, then why are you so "whatever" now? You are obviously at a place where you are comfortable with your life. That's awesome... good for you... you earned it. :)
Ya lost me at "whatever." :) I'm not good at communicating passion? Bummer.
Well therein lies your comments.... The frustration of everyone complaining and nothing ever happening! It's crazy. And I like that you have found peace in the chaos. I like you GrnTea. :) your posts are "buck up" and be happy and that's needed in this day and age. I'm generally a happy person. I even like green tea. LOL BUT .... I'm in this place with my new career and shocked by it all - didn't know what i didn't know. Never experienced anything like this in any career I ever had.
I am also a second career nurse. I am glad that there is increasing acceptance of criticism of the profession from those of us who are second career RNs. When I first started as an RN, people on Allnurses would tell me I am unrealistic or that people like me ruin this profession.
The truth is second career people bring a welcome perspective: the working conditions of an RN are DEPLORABLE.
I'm in grad school now and work part time as an RN.
Good luck howard hughes! Like you, I am amazed by the things I have seen and have become a better person for the things I have seen and done.
I would always hope that this site is a venue for nurses without reprimand.
I've been in nursing for almost 30 years now, almost a decade as a staff nurse, and in advanced practice since then. I find as I go through life that most people, in most situations, will treat you the way you act like you expect to get treated. I've been assertive and professional throughout my career, and I've found myself in v. few situations over the years in which I've felt significantly mistreated, let alone abused. I've taken a few jobs in which I've ended up "voting with my feet" and finding another job after finding the overall culture not to my liking. I've made a few compromises that suited my needs and purposes at the time. But I've never put up (for long) with working in a setting with which I wasn't reasonably satisfied.
I guess that all of this is to say I'm a member of the "quit whining" club. Nursing is, IMO, the ultimate "big tent" -- there's something for everyone, and, if you are dissatisfied with one job/employer, there are plenty of others. You can make of your career in nursing whatever you want it to be.
I'm a member of that club as well.
I'm a second-career nurse and from my perspective, the culture in general has just gotten more coorifice and ugly in many ways. I think it can be found in any job/career choice. I don't think "nurse" has much to do with how ugly people get at work.
If you are a mean and nasty nurse, you were probably a mean and nasty person before you were a nurse.
I too don't put up with situations where I'm being mistreated.
The big issue is that nursing, unlike most professions, does not standardize or regulate itself. We have so many people coming out with diplomas, ADNs, BSNs....there is no universal point of entry, and whether some nurses want to admit it, this is a big issue. If nurses raised the standard to a BSN, we would be taken more seriously.
In addition, nurses desperately need UNIONS. My hospital has a couple of different locations, one is unionized, the other is not. At the unionized hospital, nurses cannot be given more than five patients, regardless of low acuity. In ICUs, it is no more than two. They also have better control over their wages, from their base pay rate all the way to shift and weekend differential, a BIG POSITIVE. The only downside is that in order to keep their nurse:patient ratios low, sometimes nurses have to be mandated to stay an extra fours, but they are handsomely compensated, and it doesn't happen so frequently. One nurse told me that in the last nine months (since starting in Dec 2012), she has only been mandated once. And there are ways to getting around being mandated by picking up overtime here and there which bumps you down the list. And, in some parts of the hospital, aides can only get up to eight patients. Sounds like heaven!
At the non-union hospital, however, nurse:patient ratios are not protected, unless in the ICU and other high-acuity units. I work as a tech, and I've seen med-surg nurses get SEVEN (!) patients and aides consistently have 13, 14...patients. It is so dangerous and I would be willing to bet that patient care satisfaction scores are not as good as those of the unionized hospital.
nurseprnRN, BSN, RN
1 Article; 5,116 Posts
Do we have to remind everyone again that complications and infections are measurably lower in all-BSN + staff? That keeps money from going out the door. Oh god I don't want to highjack this thread to go there again, but just sayin.'