Why is it nurses put up with such poor conditions?

[scared'o'needles!]

I know where I work we are understaffed. We have poor resources. We are first in line for any criticism. We get no support for anything. Our shift patterns promote ill health, yet when we are off we are subjected to an inquest and veiled threats regarding poor attendance. We see people being unfairly treated and yet we say nothing.

You would think that within an organisation that has so many of us in the same position we could be more supportive of each other. I have never worked anywhere that has such an 'everyman for themselves' environment.

2 years trained and thinking that I must have been insane to want to do this!!

Sorry for the whine, just getting tired of it all.

[gonzo1, ASN, RN]

Florence Nightingale rocks

[gentlegiver, ASN, LPN, RN]

Nursing is very different than other vocations. We accept assignments we cant handle daily, and put people's lives at risk as a result.

I think any nurse who throws in the towel is a nurse that is thinking clearly. Things will just keep getting worse til one day, i will be ashamed to call myself a nurse. Our lack of unity and excess of excuses are deplorable. :)

I have reached that point of being ashamed of being a nurse. I am currently unemployed & studying for a different career. My reasoning comes from the lack of unity, excuses, and, backstabbing. I have run into this situation in every LTC facility I worked in. Not all Nurses were like that, the ones that weren't just kept thier heads down and mouths shut. They were afraid to do anything for fear of losing thier jobs. This is NOT what I went into Nursing for.

[firstyearstudent]

Because we're stupid and have poor self-esteem?

[HappyBunnyNurse]

If I think I work in poor conditions I read one of the articles posted on here from the Times of India....

[Midwest4me]

i have reached that point of being ashamed of being a nurse. i am currently unemployed & studying for a different career. my reasoning comes from the lack of unity, excuses, and, backstabbing. i have run into this situation in every ltc facility i worked in. not all nurses were like that, the ones that weren't just kept thier heads down and mouths shut. they were afraid to do anything for fear of losing thier jobs. this is not what i went into nursing for.

the rns get the respect, the "hello" in the morning, etc. we lpns are seldom given the time of day. i, too, am ashamed of being a nurse some times. some of us have low self-esteem because of being beaten down so badly and for many darn years(and not just by supervisors but by co-workers/fellow nurses too)! i have found this behavior by managers and co-workers to be evident in a variety of settings.

in order to survive in this crazy field one needs to keep his/her mouth shut(that's a "skill" with which i have trouble at times), do the job the best possible, make sure you have a solid union rep going to bat for you and let god handle the rest. with this economy and lack of jobs, it's best to keep quiet, nod obediently in agreement with whatever or you could be without a job. better to be miserable and able to pay the bills than happy and living under a bridge!

[lindarn]

Why do nurses put up with crappy working conditions?

The same reason that millions of other people in other vocations do...

It's called being an "At-Will Employee" which means that you can be terminated for no reason at all... just because they don't want you anymore.

Unless you're in an area with plentiful jobs so that you can move to a new employer then you're essentially faced with a choice: Put up with their crap or be denied pay and - perhaps - medical insurance.

I've been stuck in dysfunctional organizations before and it's horrible. I'm pleased that there are a number of hospitals around here that seem to have decent people leading them... too bad none of them are hiring new grads :-(

Because most nurses are not unionized, and/or work in right to work (for less), states, and rightfully fear for their jobs. If nurses had unionized years ago, as teachers did, we would not be in the sad state that we are in now.

I also feel that, for years, when most nurses graduated from Diploma schools, they had virtually no job mobility. Work in a hospital for peanuts, work in a doctors office for even less. A Diploma in nursing was an educational dead end. You had no college credit to change careers without starting from scratch. Most nurses did not even know how to type. None of your classes transferred for anything. There were not the alternate careers, or job opportunities that are available today. You were trapped working in a hospital, and the hospitals knew it.

That "learned helplessness" mentality, has carried over to each generation of nurses. Nursing schools do not foster the camaraderie, that medicine does. They do not give you skills to survive the stresses of working. No skills or education that helps you to navigate the business world that healthcare has become. No education of employment law. You are on your own. With no self appreciation, and the feeling of being thrown to the wolves, we turn on each other. We have no loyalty to each other, and that mentality of divide and conquer is encouraged by management. We grasp at any straw and crumb of appreciation thrown at us, no matter where it comes from.

I don't know how to stop it or turn it around. I wish that I did. To be able to add the what I call, "employment survival skills", requires a longer educational course than what is available in ADN or Dipoma programs. There is just not enough time.

If I had the money, I would conduct seminars around the country on just these issues. Partner with an employment attorney, and teach nurses what they need to survive and how to change things in the workplace. Meet management on their own level, and watch them crumble when their tricks and double talk no longer work on you. JMHO and my NY $0.02.

Lindarn, RN, BSN, CCRN

Spokane, Washington

[VEBERT1020]

Food for thought.....how do the NP's feel about the power struggle? As an example, my daughter is an ARNP who has her own practice/clinic in a small town in Idaho. In other words, she has the same privileges and respect as a doctor. However, where do the majority of NP's work? I don't think they work in hospitals, as a rule. Any thoughts?

[BradleyRN]

better to be miserable and able to pay the bills than happy and living under a bridge!

it's better to be happy and able to pay the bills. if you give me a choice between miserable with money or broke and happy, i would have to choose the latter. life is too short to trade happiness for cash. give me both or show me to my bridge!:)

[pagandeva2000, LPN]

Fear and intimidation is why nurses put up with this crap. Many times, there is one person who is willing to speak up, but the problem is that other nurses who are afraid will push this person to speak up, but not back them up publically. This puts the advocate in the position of being the bad person and becoming a target. Nursing seems to promote more of oneupmanship, where most people feel the only way to validate themselves is to put someone else on the carpet. No support for newbies, poorly run nursing programs that do nothing to prepare one for the REAL world is another factor. Other departments infringe their problems and their will on nursing, leaving the nurses almost powerless.

My friend told me the other day that she just plain wants out. She is prepared to earn a degree in anything else, because she really sees this as dead end. No matter how many degrees, how much knowledge obtained, the circumstances remain the same and she feels it is just no longer worth it.

[UM Review RN, ASN, RN]

IMO, I respectfully disagree. It's a simple matter of business. They own it, we don't. If we owned it, we could make the rules.

We once had medical people running the healthcare industry and what happened? They couldn't control spending and so they wound up having to close facilities or sell.

It's not the matter of making money that is the problem with healthcare, it's the matter of controlling costs. Nurses have always been controllable, obedient, altruistic, and deaf, dumb, and blind to the very real healthcare costs that limit every system's ability to provide healthcare.

The healthcare system will not get better with unionizing or with universal healthcare; proof is what we see in other unionized countries with universal healthcare, whose nurses stagger under the same burdens.

We put up with the poor conditions because we have never yet developed a nursing program that teaches nurses to be independent practitioners that can bill separately for services. No union will get that for nurses, because a union is just another authority that can placate the masses. Ultimately, what will happen with union-run facilities is exactly what is happening with the UAW now.

Nurses, as professionals, need to figure out how to break free and bill independently. Then, and only then, will we have control over our profession.

[BradleyRN]

The healthcare system will not get better with unionizing...

Clearly nurse to pt ratios are to blame for all of our bad circumstances. The only way to change that is to speak together with one voice. It does get better with unions. The proof is in the CNA.:)

[XB9S, BSN, MSN, EdD, RN, APN]

Clearly nurse to pt ratios are to blame for all of our bad circumstances. The only way to change that is to speak together with one voice. It does get better with unions. The proof is in the CNA.:)

The OP works in the UK in the NHS which is unionised. It doesn't make a great deal of difference over here, different pressures mean that we still can't come together with one voice