Just to get your RN, put your time in at the beside and jump ship to advanced practice or non beside care as soon as possible, right? Why put up with all these horrendous working conditions, lateral violence, etc... and why talk about all this stuff you have to deal with if you aren't gonna raise a finger to do something about it?
I don't think it's right that I should have to sacrifice my mental and physical health to satisfy the "needs" of a business. I don't think it's right that we should have to do "more with less" (staffing, rations, etc...) and still be expected to deliver exceptional care to the people that need it, the patients. I don't think it's right that we should "whore" ourselves out to please the patients and CEO's, yet there is no one to back us up or anyone we can fall upon? I don't see these "problems" in nursing fixing themselves anytime soon.
I mean, if this isn't what nursing is supposed to be, then what is? Are we glorified medical waitresses or are we professional healthcare providers? Cause I graduate nursing school this year, and I sure don't feel "professional" at all.
Specializes in Critical Care, Emergency Medicine, Flight.
ooh u mentioned lateral violence..that must be a hot new buzz word, bc i NEVER heard it mentioned until i got into nursing school and we are discussing it in our ethics class this week as well...
At 23 years old, your brain isn't fully developed....Why not give it a rest for a couple of years and take time to rethink your career choice. And actually become a nurse, so you have some credibility with hating it :)
ooh u mentioned lateral violence..that must be a hot new buzz word, bc i NEVER heard it mentioned until i got into nursing school and we are discussing it in our ethics class this week as well...
Yeah- used to call it a brat or sociopath, depending on the severity
Specializes in Emergency Dept. Trauma. Pediatrics.
I haven't been a nurse long. Only a couple of months, but so far I love my job. I look forward to coming to work and I love that I get paid good money to do something I enjoy. I really don't have any coomplaints. I am getting out of nursing exactly what I was hoping to get.
If you see problems in nursing, then once you are one, do something about it.
This varies from person to person...
Hate the re-admit factor due to non-compliance? Work on it. Develop ideas, evidence-based preferably, for decreasing the issue. Community outreach, education, nurse call backs for monitoring...
Hate the way the floor is run? Join your unit council or it's equivalent, hash out viable ideas with your peers, present them to management.
Irritated at all those nosocomial infections? Figure out ways to cut them down, present it to management, have the facts and figures to back why you feel your ideas have merit.
Upset b/c your end of life pts aren't dying as comfortably as you think they could? Investigate nurse-driven protocols at other facilities, come up with one you think would work, present it to you oncology docs.
If you identify an issue, don't just b**** and moan about it, get involved in trying to fix it. It may not happen today, or next month, or next year, but be a force for change. Your ideas may be shot down, they may not coincide with what your facility wants or needs, but if you're just sitting on your butt complaining nothing will ever change. And even if the issues you've identified are never resolved, you'll have brought attention to them and hopefully provided some food for thought to those who can implement changes.
I'm not a Pollyanna, I know it's a tough environment to be in (over a decade of bedside nursing experience). I'm just so tired of the pity party that's going on that comes from people who aren't willing to expend some effort to fix problems.
It's like I tell my husband...if you don't vote, you don't get to b**** about the election results. If you're not involved, keep your complaints to a minimum.
(Sorry for the rant...this has been a huge issue at my place, and of course I can't be that blunt there :) )
I'm planning on getting my DNP eventually. I'll still work at the bedside PRN as long as they'll let me, b/c I do really enjoy it, and I want to stay involved at that level. I'm proud to be a floor nurse, despite all the crap we take.
These are all valid points. You're right, if I want to change the way things are run, then I should be on side of the fence that does that.
And I went into nursing because I like medicine, the disease process and seeing people heal, and it's a decent way to make a living. I'm 23, and I'm trying to get school out of the way as soon as possible. It was either go to school and make something of my life or be dead or in jail like the majority of my friends are. I chose the former. I've already "took some time off." And I never got how, you can mix business with emotions and compassion, the so called "heart" of nursing. Money doesn't have emotion.
And sometimes I DO think about stopping school and just "using my credits towards something else" but I graduate in a year and AFAIK, core nursing classes don't transfer to any other degree but I HAVE heard of people using their nursing degree to get into med school, which could be a viable option in the future.
Either way, things need to change and there is a valid point of "if you're tired of taking the shots, start calling them." The forums do a bad job of conveying my intonation and context lol.
And it's not like I dread coming to work everyday. I love the core aspect of my job even thought it gets difficult sometimes (PCT/PCA) but it's just the politics, negativity and BS that just drive up the wall!!
And IMO, work shouldn't feel like I'm going to a concentration camp... Yeah it's work, but I should still enjoy it somewhat.
Oh and I'm pretty determined to do advanced practice, teach or graduate study. I have a passion for learning so **** it, why not.
Spikey- kudos to you for having the courage and forsight to even ask the compeling questions and thought you did. You may be 23 yr old. But I suspect you are mature beyond your years. To even be able to see through the idealistic BS that is taught in these schools is a feat in itself. Most of what I read on these formsfrom current nursing students and new grads with no expeirence is sappy idealist crap from Disney aka these crack head CEO's who have enbraced and began the spewing approx 10 yr ago, this 'customer service, best patient experience ever' nonsence like they the patients were on the Mad Hatters Teacup ride in Disney's Magic Kingdom theme park. These patient are sick, critically ill acute and chronic disease. The skills, proceedures and treatments administered to them do cause pain- physical(obvious) and mental-( non compliant, they don't want to do it). This we are the best junk it the CEO business philosopy that has taken over the real guts of nursing and medicine. The whole climate and focus of nursing, medicine, dis-ease has been artifically rearranged. Newer nurses coming out of schools think all they need to do is: " a bright white smile, look cutesy in a pair of scrubs, have a peppy cheerleader persona, want, get my Dream job , fit the barbie doll mold created by the "business entity" of healthcare administration, move about at a normal leisurely pace because we only have 12 hrs and it's OK to leave it for the next shift, are not stopping to note- they are being used by these business tycoons(CEO's) to support the business atroucities - cutting corners, short staffing, jeapordinzing patient lives, and their own licenses, downgrading the nursing from a profession of respect and dignity to a common laborer, not to mention the forcing down of nursing wages accross the board and the country( I remember Bedside acute care nursing wages spiraling up and hitting to the $60,000/yr mark back in the early 1990"s, the wages surpassed this up to $80,000/yr just before the 2008 recession, then came the HIRING FREEZES ak boo hoo lying crying poor, sobb stories from CEO's making multimillion dollar salaries and no cuts to them folks!!!)
We are expected to make this patient have the best patient expereince in this hotel- allow them to refuse recommended care, because it's what ever the patient wants, and we must be better in the press ganey scores than our competitor accross town so we can pay for the CEO big bucks and the piano in the front lobby. Yes, these CEO busines tycoons are expecting us to forgo scientific theory and medical ethics for their profit and wealth- Yes, I would call that "whoring" also.
.thumb.jpg.5aa4d55557c0228e31b94de19666bbbb.jpg){kind=small}
Pneumothorax, BSN, RN
1,180 Posts
ooh u mentioned lateral violence..that must be a hot new buzz word, bc i NEVER heard it mentioned until i got into nursing school and we are discussing it in our ethics class this week as well...