If, in your "healthcare job" you never touch anything but paper, or smell anything but coffee, YOU ARE PART OF THE PROBLEM WITH HEALTHCARE TODAY!
If your job description DOESN'T have an annual requirement to be on your knees, geting freaky with Resusci® Annie, YOU ARE PART OF THE PROBLEM WITH HEALTHCARE TODAY!
If your hospital department is closed on Christmas Day, YOU ARE PART OF THE PROBLEM WITH HEALTHCARE TODAY!
If the "alphabet soup" after your name on your employee badge is LONGER than your actual name, YOU ARE PART OF THE PROBLEM WITH HEALTHCARE TODAY!
If you have an assigned parking spot for your 9-5 job, while the 24/7 clinical staff walks from their assigned parking 1/2 mile away, YOU ARE PART OF THE PROBLEM WITH HEALTHCARE TODAY!
If, from your primary work area, you couldn't see an actual patient with binoculars, but earn twice as much as those who do, YOU ARE PART OF THE PROBLEM WITH HEALTHCARE TODAY!
If there is an "RN" after your name, and you NEVER, EVER wear anything but business clothes to work, YOU ARE PART OF THE PROBLEM WITH HEALTHCARE TODAY!
If "every other weekend" is NOT in your job description, YOU ARE PART OF THE PROBLEM WITH HEALTHCARE TODAY!
If you've ever written a memo that had the words "mandatory in-service", "self-education module" and "during employee's spare time" and distributed it via company-wide email, YOU ARE PART OF THE PROBLEM WITH HEALTHCARE TODAY!
If the trunk of your car is full of pens, post-it pads, pen holders (and other trinkets with a brand name drug on them) that you hand out by the thousands so you can bribe your way into spending 5 minutes shmoozing a physician, YOU ARE PART OF THE PROBLEM WITH HEALTHCARE TODAY!
If you have NO IDEA why the blue thermometer tastes better than the red one, YOU ARE PART OF THE PROBLEM WITH HEALTHCARE TODAY!
:idea:This post reminds of the cna's who have been heard numerous times at numerous facilities. "It must be nice to be a nurse and do nothing all night but sit behind the desk".
I don't believe any of us know how tuff a job is unless we have walked in the others shoes.
Specializes in Peds/outpatient FP,derm,allergy/private duty.
Lamazeteacher--
That comment about nurses in management being the "enemy" is too ridiculous to even respond to. My list is about a subset, nothing more. Notice I said the comment is ridiculous, not the author of the post.:)
It was actually a "business casual" nurse who inspired me to become a nurse! She was the Oncology liaison for families with children diagnosed with cancer when my little bro had leukemia way back when. Happy to say he turned 40 last year with successful trailblazing protocols implemented back then, Yaaay. . .
It's very discouraging to see us devalued by these "innovations". I do hope that it is the corporate marketing types who by and large come up with this stuff. It's hard to imagine that anyone who was ever a bedside nurse would sign off on the "no sit" rule, or hang up a sign that says, "remember, customer service starts with a smile" (another real example from the recent past)
Specializes in M/S, MICU, CVICU, SICU, ER, Trauma, NICU.
i may wear business casual, have my own desk in an office, work m-f, etc but I am just as much of an RN as you. I am part of the solution as much as you are, as much of any of us is.
(i am a community health nurse who goes into the homes of poverty level families with young children for health/parenting/safety/life/dental/chronic illness support and education)
In fact, if we were all bedside nurses, we'd be in a world of trouble. the nursing world needs managers, needs research nurses, needs nurses in offices who don't see patients to make the nursing world go round. Someone has to do the managerial work-if not the manager, then teh floor nurses woudl just have even more work to do.
why can't we support each other, adn be glad that nursing offers many opportunities and career paths?
There will be bad seeds/problems in any nursing job. crappy managers-sure! over paid nursing executives? absolutely! but there will also be floor nurses who arent worth a darn, either. "part of the problem with healthcare" isn't limited to non-floor nurses, and the "solution" isn't limited to floor nurses either.
i've done both, and think that they both have tremendous value.
I agree with you and glad that most of us do.
There are just a few quirky squirrels here looking for their missing nuts.
Working as an Employee Health Nurse a few years ago, I naively though that meant that I was the employees' resource for care and concern, to get insurance going when they were injured and be sure they were protected against diseases and mishaps. Until it was rubbed on my face, I didn't realize that admionistration thought I was their tool to disprove their responsibility for employees' misfortunes. I was thrilled that I could purchase equipment that was ergonomically correct for employees - until I realized that administration wasn't thrilled with that, and indeed saw me as THEIR enemy, while the employees shared that view that I was THEIR enemy. So "middle" management is set up to never win!
Now as a first year student, where did you get the information that I'd somehow missed, in 50 years of practising nursing - twice in the past as an Employee Health Nurse, and 3 times as an Infection Control Nurse? Is the present mind set that everyone other than staff nurses are the enemy, to assuage the insecurity presented by the financial/economic woes? Or are those with advanced authority envied or too authoritarian? I've always respected those who had climbed their career ladder. Will you want to always be a staff nurse, so you won't be hated?
Thats a scary/sad situation your describe, with nurses and admin. alike targeting you. Seems no one is resistant to the constant bashing the general public/politicians seem to think will motivate us to care for them .
The scripting that appears to have no basis in reality, I imagine is ignored or adapted by the nurses. I feel like "is there anything I can do for you? I have the time", which is the most common mandated statement I have seen, is particularly perverse when combined with cutbacks and staffing shortages.
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This may also be the reason for the tracking devices being accepted. One nurse here said she had no problem with it because it helped management assign resources effectively. Personally, I have a more cynical view as to why they want nurses to wear the things.
One thing I forgot to add to the list is "hourly rounding". First, as with the others, it assumes the nurse is a wayward, surly child who cannot be trusted to conduct her/himself appropriately without surveillance measures, or decide how often to check her patients, but they actually have nurses initial a sheet of paper like you would if you worked cleaning the restrooms at Target!! Professional? Give me a break!!
The "hourly rounding" and "I have time" scripts are the handiwork of the Studer Group, a consulting firm who (using studies they [Quint Studer] paid for) sells hospital management on using their system to increase Press-Gainey scores.
If this silliness is at your hospital, you can count on them having a paid a pile of money for it to the Studer Group. If you've seen "The 5 Pillars - Service, Quality, People, Finance, and Growth" propaganda around, you have a full-blown infestation.
You may have thought your "leadership" was being innovative and "market-driven", but they were in fact just writing checks for indoctrination in this latest management fad and regurgitating the results to the clinical staff.
Increased Press-Gainey scores leads to slightly increased reimbursement from Medicare. Since about 60% (or more) of a typical hospital's revenue comes from government sources, this can mean some real money over the course of the year.
Of course I'm sure your "business casual" manager never mentioned any of that. I'm doubly sure you're NOT getting a commission for the customer service bonus you are earning for your hospital by being dogged.
As usual, it's all about money and squeezing the last little bit of productivity out of the nurses (like a tube of toothpaste).
Many hospitals are not filling open positions now due to "The Economy" (as well as fear of Obamacare changes and cutbacks), so working short-staffed is now the new "normal". When "The Economy" cycles back, don't expect the hospital to suddenly decide to raise staffing levels, as we've all been demonstrating we "can get the job done just fine" for the last year and a half with less warm bodies on the floor.
Don't worry. After a few more mandatory meetings and PowerPoint presentations (each containing 60 pages of multiple one-word bullet points) it will all make sense.
Hmmm, I agree with some parts of this but it does tend to strike a chord with people. I am an RRT and yes, I am not a nurse but we all bust our butts. There is too much middle management within nursing and within every other structure.
Everyone gets stressed out and lashes out at people that they believe are the problem. Sometimes we need to look at ourselves in the mirror and really figure out where the problem really is. We all paly an important part and there are always things we can change within our departments and within ourselves to improve healthcare.
Specializes in CCU, SICU, CVSICU, Precepting & Teaching.
the op comes across as narrow minded and bitter
i am not management.
i'm not sure where all this hatred toward the op is coming from. she/he sounded neither narrow minded nor bitter to me, and the post was actually quite funny. there was a very big grain of truth in it.
360Joules
Professional? Give me a break!!
jswanderrn
1 Post
:idea:This post reminds of the cna's who have been heard numerous times at numerous facilities. "It must be nice to be a nurse and do nothing all night but sit behind the desk".
I don't believe any of us know how tuff a job is unless we have walked in the others shoes.