Update: Why Emotions Matter: Age, Agitation, and Burnout among Registered Nurses

Jeffthenurse · Jan 18, 2008

I worked as a temp full-time about 7 years ago, working in hospitals and doctor's offices. I liked the work but grew tired of low staffing, disrespect, and administration's greed. I found myself growing angrier, especially during the med passes. One day while I was pouring the 9AM meds, I realized that one particular patient had 25 medications, both IV and PO. When the nurse manager told me to "hurry up" I just put those meds back in the drawer, closed up the med cart and walked away for a few minutes before returning and giving the meds. After a few more days of feeling powerless I decided I'd had enough of hospital nursing and have never returned. I spent a few years teaching and now work in homecare but I stay out of hospitals. I was lucky I recognized burnout and took steps to rescue my nursing career without hurting anyone.

Katie82, RN · Jan 18, 2008

Good one.
I don't know why they haven't got nurse recruiters on a dual role as retainers as well. Seems like one job would complement the other nicely.

Many hospitals do employ retention specialists, but unfortunatly they answer to the DON. I worked for a company that had a retention specialist, but she was totally ineffective because she answered to the manager. The manager was the major problem in our retention woes.

Ruby Vee, BSN · Jan 18, 2008

very good article but are hospitals listening and striving to make changes...i don't think so.
i got burned out after 40 years of nursing, not because of my physical job, because of having to deal with no staff, broken equipment, no staff, no staff., not enough time off. i never could convince upper management that more competent bodies on the floor would make all the difference to staff and patient satisfaction and help to retain all the good nurses who were leaving. i found that it was usually the good nurses who left because they couldn't deal with giving poor care anymore and got tired of staying over trying to get their patients' needs met.
i was talking with an experience nurse friend of mine and we both mentioned that neither one of us had ever been asked our opinion about how our floor could function better by upper management. they knew best, even tho they never did the work.
i just got tired of hitting my head against that brick wall of corporate greed and left.

i suspect that management doesn't listen to those of us who are actually doing the job because they don't really care about retention. if they retain the older, more experienced nurses they have to pay top-of-the-payscale wages. it's much easier on the budget to drive us away and continually recruit newbies at the bottom of the pay scale. only when the supply of newbies dries up will they really care whether or not they retain the oldies but goodies.

my current manager one one of those penny-wise, pound foolish managers who would rather subscribe to constand turnover than improve working conditions to retain her staff. we recently expanded our visiting hours, after years of allowing visiting four times a day for 15 minutes. now that the visitors are staying all day, they want to sit down. our manager doesn't want to invest in chairs for the visitors, so she's decreed that we offer them our chairs. (now that might be ok for a 20-something, but i'm in my 50s and cannot run around all day and stand to chart.) her response to that was "we didn't used to have chairs at all."

am i wrong in thinking we ought to have a comfortable place to sit and do our charting as opposed to doing it standing up while the visitor perches on our chair to read the newspaper while ignoring the patient they're supposedly "visiting"?

i have resumes out.

CseMgr1, ASN, RN · Jan 18, 2008

I worked as a temp full-time about 7 years ago, working in hospitals and doctor's offices. I liked the work but grew tired of low staffing, disrespect, and administration's greed. I found myself growing angrier, especially during the med passes. One day while I was pouring the 9AM meds, I realized that one particular patient had 25 medications, both IV and PO. When the nurse manager told me to "hurry up" I just put those meds back in the drawer, closed up the med cart and walked away for a few minutes before returning and giving the meds. After a few more days of feeling powerless I decided I'd had enough of hospital nursing and have never returned. I spent a few years teaching and now work in homecare but I stay out of hospitals. I was lucky I recognized burnout and took steps to rescue my nursing career without hurting anyone.

Same here. I haven't set foot inside the clinical area of a hospital in over 20 years...for the same reasons which you describe: chronic understaffing, low morale and a DON who didn't have a clue (and didn't want to know). But, my most compelling reason for leaving was the imminent danger my patients were being placed in on a daily basis, due to the horrid working conditions.

siggie13 · Jan 18, 2008

i suspect that management doesn't listen to those of us who are actually doing the job because they don't really care about retention. if they retain the older, more experienced nurses they have to pay top-of-the-payscale wages. it's much easier on the budget to drive us away and continually recruit newbies at the bottom of the pay scale. only when the supply of newbies dries up will they really care whether or not they retain the oldies but goodies.
my current manager one one of those penny-wise, pound foolish managers who would rather subscribe to constand turnover than improve working conditions to retain her staff. we recently expanded our visiting hours, after years of allowing visiting four times a day for 15 minutes. now that the visitors are staying all day, they want to sit down. our manager doesn't want to invest in chairs for the visitors, so she's decreed that we offer them our chairs. (now that might be ok for a 20-something, but i'm in my 50s and cannot run around all day and stand to chart.) her response to that was "we didn't used to have chairs at all."
am i wrong in thinking we ought to have a comfortable place to sit and do our charting as opposed to doing it standing up while the visitor perches on our chair to read the newspaper while ignoring the patient they're supposedly "visiting"?
i have resumes out.

from the first day i started as a nurse, i have been telling anyone who would listen that people come to a hospital to receive nursing care and if nurses weren't there, there would be no hospital!

management does not want to hear this because then they would have to admit how important nurses are and how under valued we are. :idea:

lindarn · Jan 19, 2008

i suspect that management doesn't listen to those of us who are actually doing the job because they don't really care about retention. if they retain the older, more experienced nurses they have to pay top-of-the-payscale wages. it's much easier on the budget to drive us away and continually recruit newbies at the bottom of the pay scale. only when the supply of newbies dries up will they really care whether or not they retain the oldies but goodies.
my current manager one one of those penny-wise, pound foolish managers who would rather subscribe to constand turnover than improve working conditions to retain her staff. we recently expanded our visiting hours, after years of allowing visiting four times a day for 15 minutes. now that the visitors are staying all day, they want to sit down. our manager doesn't want to invest in chairs for the visitors, so she's decreed that we offer them our chairs. (now that might be ok for a 20-something, but i'm in my 50s and cannot run around all day and stand to chart.) her response to that was "we didn't used to have chairs at all."
am i wrong in thinking we ought to have a comfortable place to sit and do our charting as opposed to doing it standing up while the visitor perches on our chair to read the newspaper while ignoring the patient they're supposedly "visiting"?
i have resumes out.

i have said it before, and i will say it again. when the supply of "newbies" dries up, they will merely pressure politicians to continue to dumb down and de -professionalize our profession, and pressure politicians to open the flood gates to foreign nurses. think out side the box, look at the big picture of what has gone on the last 20 years, and tell me that i am am alarmist.

the fact of the matter is, hospitals and nursing homes do not want to make nurses happy!! the name of the game is control!!. revolving door turnover makes them happy. the older, experienced nurses (and higher paid nurses), who complain, are pushed out the door, while the new grads are "welcomed" with the red carpet. this also keeps unionizing to a minimum, since no one stays long enough who can formulate opinion on why the hospital or nursing home needs a union drive. it also dis-impowers nursing big time. another goal of the hospitals and nursing homes- keep us barefoot and pregnant!

nursing will never improve as long as we allow them to continue the facade that they do not need us, they have control of our profession.

lindarn, rn, bsn, ccrn

spokane, washington

SweetSue16 · Mar 1, 2008

I to have been saying since 1971 ,without nurses patients wouldn't come to the hospital. Without nurses most settings in healthcare would cease to exist. As nurses we could do most of the jobs non-nurses do in a variety of settings. In fact we already do. In the last 37 years I have worked in a variety of settings. I have never worked anywhere that was ideally staffed. We staff to acuity is a lie.I have prepared food when the cook didn't show on the weekend. I have moved furniture. I have answered the phone and taken messages. I have cleaned up mess's that defy description. I put up with constant interuption and still finish a med pass. I am not unique! Nurse's do it all. But non-nurses cannot do what we do.I will never understand why we aren't treated as valuable. There is a shortage of us everywhere! We bring a variety of skills to every healthcare setting there is. We should be paid accordingly. Nurse's are the largest department in most work places and we have the least input. Administrators sometimes with no healthcare experience are making healthcare decisions. Is being burned out a surprise?

NurseyBaby'05, BSN, RN · Mar 1, 2008

This study really hit the nail on the head. It's not nursing that has me doing this: :selfbonk:. It's the workplace bs that's slowly sending me over the edge. I often wonder if I will still be at bedside; which I love, by my five year anniversary.

Jeffthenurse · Mar 1, 2008

I to have been saying since 1971 ,without nurses patients wouldn't come to the hospital. Without nurses most settings in healthcare would cease to exist. As nurses we could do most of the jobs non-nurses do in a variety of settings. In fact we already do. In the last 37 years I have worked in a variety of settings. I have never worked anywhere that was ideally staffed. We staff to acuity is a lie.I have prepared food when the cook didn't show on the weekend. I have moved furniture. I have answered the phone and taken messages. I have cleaned up mess's that defy description. I put up with constant interuption and still finish a med pass. I am not unique! Nurse's do it all. But non-nurses cannot do what we do.I will never understand why we aren't treated as valuable. There is a shortage of us everywhere! We bring a variety of skills to every healthcare setting there is. We should be paid accordingly. Nurse's are the largest department in most work places and we have the least input. Administrators sometimes with no healthcare experience are making healthcare decisions. Is being burned out a surprise?

I believe that if we don't come up with a solution to the nursing shortage ourselves, we will be replaced by hospital administrators, doctors, Congress, or some other researcher/group who will come up with a name for a new group of health care workers who will do our jobs for less money and with less education. It sounds bleak but I think it will happen.

Long Term Care Columnist / Guide · Mar 1, 2008

This study really hit the nail on the head. It's not nursing that has me doing this: :selfbonk:. It's the workplace bs that's slowly sending me over the edge. I often wonder if I will still be at bedside; which I love by my five year anniversary.[/quote']
I wasn't. And if I'd had the sense God gave a goose, I wouldn't have gone back to the bedside, but I did. Suffice it to say that it almost cost me my health AND my sanity. Now you literally could not pay me enough to work in a hospital.........I don't make squat working for a non-profit ALF, but I love what I do and I'll be able to do it for a lot longer. That more than makes up for the low pay.

lindarn · Mar 1, 2008

I to have been saying since 1971 ,without nurses patients wouldn't come to the hospital. Without nurses most settings in healthcare would cease to exist. As nurses we could do most of the jobs non-nurses do in a variety of settings. In fact we already do. In the last 37 years I have worked in a variety of settings. I have never worked anywhere that was ideally staffed. We staff to acuity is a lie.I have prepared food when the cook didn't show on the weekend. I have moved furniture. I have answered the phone and taken messages. I have cleaned up mess's that defy description. I put up with constant interuption and still finish a med pass. I am not unique! Nurse's do it all. But non-nurses cannot do what we do.I will never understand why we aren't treated as valuable. There is a shortage of us everywhere! We bring a variety of skills to every healthcare setting there is. We should be paid accordingly. Nurse's are the largest department in most work places and we have the least input. Administrators sometimes with no healthcare experience are making healthcare decisions. Is being burned out a surprise?

As long as nurses do not bill for their services, like other health care professionals, OUR PROFESSIONAL SERVICES will continue to be rolled in with the room rate, and complimentary box of kleenex and roll of toilet paper. At the end of the fiscal year, our names show up on the "negative" side of the balance sheet. THAT us how they control us. As long as we remain invisible, we have no worth. JMHO and my NY $0.02.

Lindarn, RN, BSN, CCRN

Spokane, Washington

Diary/Dairy, RN · Mar 1, 2008

From the first day I started as a nurse, I have been telling anyone who would listen that people come to a hospital to receive nursing care and if nurses weren't there, there would be no hospital!
Management does not want to hear this because then they would have to admit how important nurses are and how under valued we are.

My mom says that too - no one listens to her either!!

And Yes - I am one of those 20-something nurses that travels in order to get the most out of nursing - AND to be able to say, in 13 weeks, I can get out of here too.