I've been a nurse for awhile and have always contemplated what makes nurses leave the profession (or bedside for that manner). As a matter of fact, I have thought about it from time to time in the 13 years I've been a nurse. From my experience I have found that aspects such as short-staffing, too many tasks, lack of upward mobility, poor management and underpayment contribute to a nurses' unhappiness in their career.
I just wanted to ask the general nursing population regardless of how long you've been a nurse what your thoughts were. Do you think leaving the profession comes from one of the aspects listed above? Or is it something else entirely?
The views and responses on this poll have been great. It looks like many of us would like to see more staff when we are working. I know management loves to cut costs and staff is one of the biggies. If they only knew how much nurses would actually enjoy their job if they weren't pulled in multiple directions being the nurse, aide, unit secretary, ect maybe we wouldn't have so many wishing to leave.
Thanks for validating what I've thought for so long!
I have been a nurse for 2 yrs only in a medsurge unit but once in a while I would contemplate on switching to adifferent job outside of nursing. However, I couldn't find any job I could land my feet on that matches my salary as an RN. I work in a county hospital where nurse work hard basically.
It seems to me that now a days people are just getting sicker and sicker and are more drug seekers. There are moments when I have patients that are literally telling me how much narcotics they want for pain and how often they want it, and if they don't get it they scream and yell at your face. For this reason I feel like switching to another job, something that does not deal with sick people .I do feel unsatisfied with my job when I see patients returning to the hospital over and over again for the same reason and are not getting well but getting sicker due to being non compliant.
If management thinks that all that can be done in an 8 hour shift, how about keeping track how much time each of the above things take of your time.
Start with med pass, dressing changes, treatments, the amount of time each interruption takes of your day.
Place it on a graph, and ask them exactly how they think that you can manage your time better. Better yet, ask them to shadow you for one of your shifts.
If they will not pay you OT to complete your tasks, move up the food chain to the state DOL, and let them handle it.
Nurses are notorious for complaining but having no plan of action to force management to see how unreasonable their demands are.
JMHO and my NY $0.02.
Lindarn, RN, BSN, CCRN,(ret)
Somewhere in the PACNW
I see that you've gone ahead and made the assumption that nurses who complain about legitimate concerns have done so without any evidence or conclusion. I'm not denying that some nurses complain and don't take action, but I do get irked when people assume complaints about working conditions are unfounded, and require excessive effort to justify their concerns.
Power point presentations shouldn't be required in order for management to address concerns, especially when those concerns are well know, and simply overlooked or ignored. These same concerns put their patients and facility at risk, and should not be taken lightly. The patients are our main focus, and they are the reason the facility exists, so there's absolutely no point in ignoring the issues that threaten them.
It's obvious, and has been for years, that these issues play a vital role in patient care and recovery. Management where I work, as well as others, are very well aware of the issues, and the many solutions available to combat these issue. There's usually no sense in beating a dead horse, but in this case continuing to air concerns, be it through complaints or suggestions, is the only way things will change.
Reading from your response, you seem to have assumed that I too have not taken action. You feel I've done nothing but complain, without taking responsibility and making an effort to change that. Again, you are wrong.
I have done everything you've mentioned, and more. Three of my fellow floor nurses and I have in fact charted our daily duties and routines down to the minute. We have charted the amount of interruptions that we received each shift, the reason for the interruptions, and the negative impact they have had on our work and our patients. We have compiled this information and presented it in meetings, to corporate, and to the state. We address it monthly, with updated articles and evidence to support it, as well as lists of solutions.
Through investigation, no fault is found, and no changes are made. This is mostly due to the fact that the nursing staff care a great deal for their patients, and refuse to give any less than 110%. The fact is that the staffing and workload are doable to some extent, though it is at the expense of their staff and patients. The quality of patient care shouldn't end at "acceptable" levels, it should go well beyond that.
Management has shadowed the floor. Management has also worked the floor, and still does when necessary, and absolutely despise doing so due to the issues brought up in this thread. Believe me when I say, they are fully aware of the issues, but continue to state, "I know it's bad, but that's just the way it is." It comes down to the dollar, and how to make the most profit.
Why do I stick around? I care about my patients and residents. Not just for them, but about them. I was called to be a nurse because I care about the health and welfare of people I know, I've never met, and those I will never meet. I put forth my best effort every single day in pursuit of enriching lives, and supporting those who need me.
I am passionate about this subject as I see the negative impact it has on those around me, whom I work with and care for. I have seen so much unnecessary suffering and death, all due to the need to profit off of the pain and suffering of others. The human life these days is only worth what insurance will pay.
Just this morning I lost one that I had cared a great deal for for many years, I was even the one who had to pronounce her. The death was unnecessary and avoidable, and took place because my facility sacrificed her well-being for the sake of money. Though it's impossible to prove it, the nursing and care staff see it clearly. Unfortunately this isn't the first, nor will it be the last.
So yes, I will complain, and I hope many others complain as well. We will complain daily with our every last breath until these legitimate concerns are addressed. In the end, some will give up and leave. Like watching a mass slaughter and being helpless to stop it, you just can't take that kind of stress forever.
I'll assume you won't read this far, so here's a potato:
Specializes in Med nurse in med-surg., float, HH, and PDN.
I was told by the DON of an LTC that I spent too much time talking with the patients, and that the reality of 'now' is that there is no time for that! No time to address the needs of the patient because they involve a little face time? THAT'S NOT NURSING! I was speechless with the whole idea that my job did not leave time to include something as basic as human connection and understanding. That is completely astounding to me. What we are doing in our 'care' for the patients is simply warehousing them and condemning them to an appalling life of knowing that the essence of who they are as a living, feeling fellow human being and individual DOES NOT MATTER.
To me, that is a terrible sin of omission, and not acceptable in the least. I find myself feeling the extremely unkind wish that those who mandate this BS could experience a month of that kind of 'life' and see how it feels to not count as anything but an inconvenient hindrance to the 'business' of health care.
In addition to everything named all of those things cause stress. I get so stressed out sometimes by the huge level of responsibility. At one point in my career before my shift for a few months straight I would get diarrhea just from the stress. That's the main thing that makes me think about leaving the bedside.
Specializes in Med nurse in med-surg., float, HH, and PDN.
So, maybe 'uniform allowance' is a benny gone by the wayside, but couldn't they at least issue a Depends allowance (generic brand, of course) so our scrubs will remain tidy looking, over our 12-hour-shift-with-no-bathroom-breaks? I mean, if it is all about appearance......
I have been a nurse for over 2 years now. I have done school nursing and home health care for two very sick kids. I am now looking outside of nursing for a job. I like working with kids but that is not my LOVE. So as I have been looking for a new area of nursing I hit the same road block every time. I apply for a job. They call me and we sit down for am interview. At that point I hear "oh you have all of the skills we are looking for, but you have only worked home health care and schools. So we are sorry but you are not the right person for this job. But you have all the right skills just wish you had not worked home health care." I hear that every time. I need more hours then I have now at my job. I have applied for jobs at LTC, Doctors offices, staffing places. If I cannot find a new job but the end of the year I will be forced to look outside of nursing. When that happens I will never go back to nursing. I love nursing. I feel that its a calling. I feel that calling down to the core of my soul. But once more other nurses will not stop killing the younger nurses that want to move to a new area of nursing.
Add to the list, "Too much infighting and dysfunctional, indirect communication within the hospital setting." At my facility, the staff have been encouraged to rat on each other instead of confronting the person first, then filing a compliant second if they are not open to listening. I don't see physicians acting in this manner. They don't go off attacking other physicians the way nurses attack each other. It's like how lab rats act. When a lab rat is in pain, it will attack another rat near it--regardless if the second rat was minding it's own business. Nurses likewise then to be catty and negative. The more proactive ones tend to leave the hospital setting and do something more independent.
Specializes in Med nurse in med-surg., float, HH, and PDN.
Add to the list, "Too much infighting and dysfunctional, indirect communication within the hospital setting." At my facility, the staff have been encouraged to rat on each other instead of confronting the person first, then filing a compliant second if they are not open to listening. I don't see physicians acting in this manner. They don't go off attacking other physicians the way nurses attack each other. It's like how lab rats act. When a lab rat is in pain, it will attack another rat near it--regardless if the second rat was minding it's own business. Nurses likewise then to be catty and negative. The more proactive ones tend to leave the hospital setting and do something more independent.
Yeah, what I hate is the passive-aggressive co-worker and the gleeful backstabbers. Sometimes they are one and the same. Pfftt.
been there,done it
84 Posts
LOL, read the the recent thread about 'carrying' to work. There was also a thread about a doc that brought his dog to the ER.
Not an issue for me, but nurses deserve protection wherever they are.