We have a blog on our local newspaper's website to talk about local stories and concerns. I go there occasionally, but not to often because to be honest the people on there just get me so darn mad. Here is a recent entry ranting about nurses:
First from a teacher talking about her RN dgter:
I want her to do well, but I guess I kind of regret my decision that would keep me on my feet, multi-tasking all day long, doing my paperwork on my own time, while attending night college classes, because even with a masters' degree, I need hours to keep my license. Can nurses even imagine going home with much of their work in a briefcase, still to be done on their own time?
I've taken my turn with my siblings taking care of my father after an operation. Since his room was right across from the nurses' station, what I saw on night turn at least, is that the nurses spend most of their time at the station, chatting, and I guess waiting for something to happen. (Although when something does require their attention, most seem resentful.)
It just seems like it would nice to sit chatting to adults, compared to keeping up with 25 active youngsters.
I tried explaining to her that many times what is seen as nurses sitting at the desk "chatting" may actually be interns, unit clerks, aides or nurses that may be discussing patient care. Or maybe, it could have been a "slow night." WOW, then the attacks did begin. I am just washing my hands of the whole thing, some people just aren't going to change their minds not matter what. Want a sample of the worst?
How funny , the aids and clerks do mostly all the work for the RN's.. On the midnight turn i know for a fact most nurses are sitting and waiting for something to happen . Midnight turn is a breeze for the nurses and thats why so many prefere that shift
Yeah it is funny how she complained about working so hard . I'm a unit clerk and we work all night with paper work that the night nurses are supposed to do but wont . Its a joke to hear them complaining moving from one chair to another and getting upset when a patient needs them
At least a school nurse is not union and probably works the entire time she gets paid versus a union nurse that can do nothing all day and get protected by the Union. Gee I wonder why (Local hospital) is going bankrupt. The union morans think it is ok to pay someone to take smoke breaks all day
Wonder how they will feel when there are no viable hospitals (or nurses) to take care of them or their loved ones. UN FREAKING BELIEVABLE.
Yep, on midnights, I just wait for something to happen. I just sit there at the desk and wait and wait. I wish. I ran my bum off last night like I do the majority of the time. If only people could spend a day in our shoes.
I have this secret fantasy of wearing a helmet cam and recording what an average 12 hour shift can be like so my family/friends can see what we deal with. They never can understand when I come home and tell them I never had a chance to pee/eat/sit down when I work. Do you think HIPPA would go for that?
I've had patients in rooms near the nurses station complain to me that the night nurses sat at the computers all night and didn't take care of them. These are usually the same patient's who complain that they didn't sleep all night because the nurse kept waking them up to check their post-op vital signs and give them medications.
My family and friends have NO idea what nurses do at work and how much responsibility they carry. It's so nice to work three days a week and just give medicine all day. It would be nice if the media would do stories about what nurses REALLY do!
"The union morans think it is ok to pay someone to take smoke breaks all day."
Hahahaha...she misspelled moron ......hahahahaha
Need I say more?
SHe misspelled moron, mispelled prefer, miscapitialized union and has odd punctuation usage. Since she's a teacher one would assume competence with these things. I love when people complain about the competence of others when clearly disproving their own.
Oops, sorry, should clarify, it wasn't the teacher in all the remarks, just the first one. The others are the replies after mine. I vented to my husband and he went and read the replies after I went to bed last night. Called me today and said, don't worry honey, those people are just jealous because they aren't smart enough or willing to put in the work you do. Now stop going there, they are idiots, LOL. Can I just say I sure do Love my hubby.
Our local newspaper just did a thing where the posted the salary of the county and schools top paid folks. Online there was the option to search of any employee and see their salary. Since I'm considered public health, I looked up my own name (got it right).
The brand new/fresh out of school teacher was making $33K a year. There are teachers here making $50-70K.
I notice that many, many visitors/family are already extremely angry and resentful with the nurses the second they get on the floor, like we are bad people...
Once when working on a pediatric floor, I had to ask the parents the normal questions at admission - issues about custody, etc. The mother said "none of your ******* business, just do your job and get a bedpan". She apologized a little later, but I decided not to accept it. I never said "That's ok". It's not ok. It's NOT ok!
So true. This is a huge frustration of mine. It seems that if I am not at the bedside, nobody thinks I am doing anything important. Since when is knowing your patient's medical history, labs, imaging results, allergies, medications, etc. unimportant? We're expected to know everything there is to know about our patients the second we step foot on the floor, yet nobody wants to give us the time and space to look anything up. If I have to call the doctor, I need to be able to answer their questions, yet nobody thinks I need time in front of the computer or with the paper chart. We're being hounded about our pain assessments, yet nobody seems to think I need any time in front of the computer. The CNAs that bother to come get report from me demand it before I've even had time to look at anything, yet I'm just supposed to know, even if I've been off for the last three days and know absolutely nothing about my new patients. It's ridiculous.
This is not just what the public thinks, this is what nursing supervisors think too! A couple months ago we were having a tremendously busy night, and I had called to ask for more help. The nursing supervisor hemmed and hawwed and sighed like I was asking for a million dollars. Then, she came up while I was sitting at the computer, FINALLY able to see what the labs are (You know, before I give out all those 8 pm Coumadins!) and she said, "I know I don't see you just sitting there at the computer after you called about how busy you guys are!"
Even the own nursing staff is starting to turn on each other - if you are charting, it's a luxury. "She had TIME TO CHART tonight".
I'm still in nursing school, but whenever I've mentioned nursing to people past and present, many assume that they just pass pills, clean bedpans and other bodily fluids. There is never any mention of the technical knowledge or skills that I'm learning about in school, and that nurses must have. Some people are surprised that I have to know about microbiology, for example, and are astounded at the number of books that I have for school.
However, I do feel that in the media, especially TV shows, don't show the technical and in-depth science knowledge that nurses must have in order to do their jobs. There is more of an emphasis on the angels-of-mercy-and-caring part of nursing.
Specializes in NICU, PICU, PCVICU and peds oncology.
My family and friends have NO idea what nurses do at work and how much responsibility they carry. It's so nice to work three days a week and just give medicine all day. It would be nice if the media would do stories about what nurses REALLY do!
And just what are YOU doing to educate your family and friends on reality? We can't leave it to the media, because it won't tell the real story... the real story won't attract readers/viewers. We have to do it. We have to make the facts known. Who knows the truth better than we do?
Whenever I start to tell a story about my day, my dad usually says, "Where are the orderlies?" And I say, "We don't have orderlies, dad" and he says, "What? So who lifts these 500 pound people?" And I say, "We do, dad". And he looks ae me like he doesn't quite believe that.
It would be nice if the media would do stories about what nurses REALLY do!
RN1982
3,362 Posts
Yep, on midnights, I just wait for something to happen. I just sit there at the desk and wait and wait. I wish. I ran my bum off last night like I do the majority of the time. If only people could spend a day in our shoes.