We tell the student nurses to run for their lives."

RN2B4ABBY · Jan 6, 2004

Originally posted by pabrid
Good for you!

We need more nursing students with your backbone! This is not to say that nursing is easy, because I found out that the real world is nothing like being a nursing student. It will be real hard, especially for the first 6 months to a year, but if you are strong, you will be a survivor. I also went into nursing to make a difference in people's lives, and I'm still here after nearly 7 years. So, keep the positive attitude regarding nursing.

Thank you very much! This article was really interesting and even though I know that I have no clue what I am getting myself into, I know it's bound to be a rough ride! I am truly inspired by all those who still get up and go to work everyday despite the hard times and I also feel for those who were burned out because it must have been a tough decision.

Marie_LPN, RN, LPN, RN · Jan 6, 2004

I don't believe every single thing i read.

I don't believe every single thing i hear.

CCU NRS · Jan 6, 2004

How many students have jumped in on this particular topic, I hope you all have the effect on lives you seek and the ability to change things for the better for all of us!!!!

Honestly I do!

Originally posted by hbscott
Exactly!

From the last paragraph of the report the following states:

"While nurse dissatisfaction is endemic, survey after survey reports that nurses would like to continue working as nurses if job conditions were improved."

Now that is some serious food for thought.....

-HBS

Sarah Kat · Jan 6, 2004

I have never been satisfied in any job I had so far (all non nursing). That's why I am going to go back to school to be a nurse. Maybe I won't be satisfied, but there's a lot more room for advancement with further education then say waiting to be promoted to assistant manager of the KFC...

Marie_LPN, RN, LPN, RN · Jan 6, 2004

I won't for sure know how things REALLY are until i am a nurse myself. I'm lucky enough to be able to see what they do, listen to how they feel, etc. at work.

Thing is, i don't let anyone's opinion or statements of 'don't do it!' factor in on my decisions. What i decide all around is for myself. Nor am i about to tell people what to do with their lives, because it's just that, THEIR life.

hbscott · Jan 6, 2004

I have sit back and read all these responses with fascination. If you go back and look at the original post all I did was cite the published research and then post:

"*I had not seen this posted before. Very interesting."

The responses that soon followed were even more interesting, very interesting indeed. In fact you would have thought that I had done the research myself with the strong (shall we say emotional) replies directed at me. I believe the term is often called "shooting the messenger."

I am glad that this research caused a stir. I think there are some very strong negative consequences of believing a false reality such as an idealistic view of nursing practice. But at the same time we should hold on to those things that gives us inspiration and hope.

For those of you who don't believe everything you see, hear or read, good on you. But research doesn't happen in a vacuum. Research findings when validated are very important to advance a professional body of knowledge and improve professional practice. This is why critical thinking is so important in nursing practice.

-HBS

Home Health Columnist / Guide · Jan 6, 2004

Found this tonight:

Are You Selling "Postive Nourishing Nuggets" or "Junk Food" in Your Interactions?

http://nursingworld.org/can/tools/boost8.htm

Some people will only see the glass half empty their whole lives...and remind you frequently.

Others choose to see the glass half full and the potential for more, better or different days ahead.

Hosptial nursing has changed substantially in the last 10 years as more technology, drugs + devices developed to keep persons alive longer. These devices and the complex assessment/ critical thinking needed to interpret all this data for todays sicker patinets has added to caregiving stress for these clients used to be a 1:2 ratio in ICU's but now are able to be managed in Med surg units, with ratio's of 5-6 patients.

The essence of CARING: performing personal care, feeding, ADL's, care planning, medication administration by the 5 rights, Vital sign assessment, patient teaching regarding medications/injections/ pain management/wound care/diease process is very much the same.

We might have a few more tools at our disposal: tympanic thermometers, bedside pulse ox/continuous BP monitors, teaching video's and maniken's, for example that make our job easiser too.

It is the the compacted time crunch of "do more with less" /widget mentality that business/ health care insurance companies influnce on healthcare and nursing along with patients / custometers "I want it NOW" expectation that has helped to add to daily stress of doing our job.

There are many avenues in healthcare today. Nurses now have greater autonomy to chose a postion that fits their life rather than just performing a job because it's what the local hospital has available. Many hospital restructuing has enabled nurses to vote with their feet and leave when unable to have unreasonable demands changed.

In the "good old days" on late 70's, I was in charge of 26 bed Medical unit on nights: I was an LPN with just 2 nurses aides.

Thank God for those IV pumps: so my IV drips didn't run in too fast beccause patinet changed postion or free flowed cause the patient open the controller wider "to get this IV over with sooner".

But when they added 3 ventilator dependent patients, step down patients to the mix "cause we nurses had such good assessment skills" I moved to the newly established 14 bed Resp/telemetry unit.

Later found home care caring for vent dependent and IV patients at home--- and made home health care MY home for the past 19 years.

Still see the world through a half full glass, but understand at any time it could be empty.

AND have remained passionate about nursings ability to help people in time of birth/ health crisis/death and the ability to transform lives.

hbscott · Jan 6, 2004

Thanks for your post and I totally support the idea of holding on to those things that give you inspiration and hope.

On the other had I believe that "Blind Eye Syndrome" is a bad thing. In Shakespearean terms, being blind means something entirely different than our common day view. Blindness can normally be defined as the inability of the eye to see, but according to Shakespeare, blindness is not a physical quality, but a mental flaw some people possess. In other words, it's the ability to see life not from an openly logical point of view, but instead through their emotions and false pretenses that are the base of their society. King Lear is a wonderful example of this metaphor. In biblical terms there are many references to those have eyes and cannot see and ears who cannot hear.

The question is when and how do we act in certain situations (i.e. research data that suggest that nursing job satisfaction isn't so great) that results in a positive outcome. We as a society tend to be "reactive" and not "proactive" in problem solving. As the saying goes "an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure." Health Promotion Practioners can certainly vouch for that.

-HBS

Sheri257 · Jan 6, 2004

The most frustrating thing about all of this is, everybody tells you how bad it's going to be once you get out nursing school. But no one points to any real alternatives besides nursing. They just want to complain about it.

If nursing is so bad and so horrible, OK, I got it. I believe you. I do take you seriously. I'm not blind.

BUT, don't just tell me to run. Tell me about a career that you know for a fact is better. And I mean, FOR A FACT, don't just guess at it. I'm not independently wealthy. I have to work. What else am I supposed to do?

I've worked in lots of jobs, and they've all had their horrible elements. And now, even though we're supposed to be pulling out of recession, they're calling it a jobless recovery. A lousy nursing job with decent pay is still better than no job at all.

Everytime I ask this question, and try to take it to the next level, hardly anybody responds. My guess is people either don't know and haven't worked in anything else, but just want to relentlessly complain about it. Or, they have worked elsewhere and know, like I do, how bad other jobs can be.

Quit telling me to run, and give me some viable alternatives. And if you don't have any, then SHUT UP!!! Because it's really not fair to tell me to get out when, more than likely, there's no where else to go. We all have to make a living somehow and it's a really lousy job market out there.

(This post isn't directed at you Hugh (hbscott), since you are one of only two people who have ever been helpful on this question in the past. This post is meant to express my frustration with the article and the board in general, since this topic comes up time and time again with no real answers or alternatives mentioned.)

hbscott · Jan 6, 2004

Originally posted by lizz
Quit telling me to run, and give me some viable alternatives. And if you don't have any, then SHUT UP!!!

Good Point! When identifying problems we should offer up solutions (or at least solicit others to do the same). Reading from the article that was cited it seems that the first two obvious things are:

Advanced Practice Nurses Report the Most Job Satisfaction

Improving Job Conditions is A Critical Factor for Nurses Today

Career choices (I believe) are best made when aptitude, ambition and opportunity are best matched. Once in our career we then should endeavor to improve our body of knowledge and scope of practice as best we can.

-HBS

Sheri257 · Jan 6, 2004

Originally posted by hbscott
Good Point! When identifying problems we should offer up solutions (or at least solicit others to do the same). Reading from the article that was cited it seems that the first two obvious things are:

Advanced Practice Nurses Report the Most Job Satisfaction
Improving Job Conditions is A Critical Factor for Nurses Today

Career choices (I believe) are best made when aptitude, ambition and opportunity are best matched. Once in our career we then should endeavor to improve our body of knowledge and scope of practice as best we can.

-HBS

Actually, that was the most helpful information in the article, and what I am planning to do anyway. Of course, I don't see many people on the board pointing this out. The only way I knew this was from talking to other nurses, in person.

The relentless mantra on the board is to get out of nursing all together. Well, that's does NOT give a complete picture of the different alternatives that are available in nursing.

hbscott · Jan 6, 2004

Originally posted by lizz
The relentless mantra on the board is to get out of nursing all together. Well, that's does NOT give a complete picture of the different alternatives that are available in nursing.

I Agree! The first part of resolving any difficulty is correctly identifying the problem through careful Assesment. Then of course we need an effective Plan follwed by Implementation. Evaluation provides the feedback we need to determine how successful we are in our efforts. The Nursing Process (AKA Scientific Method) helps us to map that out. The trick is to have valid data to work from.

Some people leave nursing (for many different reasons) because it was the right thing to do at the time. Some people stay in nursing and "fight the good fight" so to speak. Some people leave nursing because of burnout and despair. The latter causes me the most concern. If nurses and nursing fails to identify and act on valid problem areas in a timely manner then significant negative consequences do occur.

In my lifetime I have seen and been through several so called "nursing shortages." As more people start coming back to nursing I would like them to stick around and make things better and not vote with their feet as many have done in the past.

Just some food for thought (low in calories too).

-HBS