The Effects of Nursing on Nurses
Hi, welcome to my blog post. I have never had a blog post get more than 50 comments, so I am a bit overwhelmed. After responding to many comments, here is a note:
Note: I wrote this blog entry at the end of my 3rd 12 hour shift in three days. I was tired and I was emotional. It is a blog post, not an “article.” It is not researched or sourced, it is purely opinion.
The point of this post is that nurses (and many other professions) need to take the time to practice self care and to encourage one another to practice self care.
My biggest mistake in this post (and there are many) was to use “her” or “she” when I should have used “they” or them.” I ignored my male coworkers, and I should not have. You have my apologies, and I have corrected the post. I have left “she” and “her” in place in the portion where I talk about my coworker.
I have read every comment posted and deleted some very nasty comments that were not helpful to conversation. If you feel this is the place to spew your vitriol, it is not.
August 11, 2013
This morning, while I was giving report to the day shift nurse taking over my patients, she burst into tears.
She’s going to miss her children’s hockey play offs due to our strictly enforced every other weekend schedules. You work every other weekend, no more, no less, unless you are going to college (I work every weekend because I’m in college). She’s their hockey coach, and inevitably, each year, their last game falls on a day their mother has to work. I’ve come in early for her before.
So I offered to come in on my night off for an hour and a half so she could get to the game. I’m coming in that early because I know she won’t be done charting.
She turned me down until another day RN got involved. I reminded my coworker I only live a mile from the hospital, and it really wasn’t a big sacrifice for me. She finally agreed, and calmed down. We got permission from the charge nurse.
Nursing is one of the largest professions in the world. If you don’t know a nurse, I’m really surprised. Nurses talk a lot about the rewards of nursing. Catching that vital sign, saving lives, providing comfort, but nurses, by nature, are taught to martyr themselves on the altar of nursing.
When I was a new grad, I hated coming to work so much that I would wish I’d get hit by a car on my way to work just to get out of work. One night, while checking medication sheets, I confessed this to some experienced nurses and found out some of them still felt the same way.
In nursing, it is NORMAL to have days where you wake up and just can’t mentally and emotionally face the day at work. I swear, the only other people who can understand this are nurses.
Nursing is emotionally, physically and mentally taxing, and some days you run too low on what you can give emotionally, physically and mentally. That minor back injury you don’t want to report to HR because you don’t want it on your record. Having a patient with constant diarrhea who can’t get out of bed and needs to be physically rolled and cleaned several times an hour. The cold you got from the two-year old someone brought in. The sorrow that comes from supporting someone who has just found out they were dying, holding in your own tears so you could wipe theirs. In one day, all of those patients could be yours.
I don’t know a nurse who hasn’t taken a mental health day. Some do it by requesting more vacation than others. Some do it by calling in sick, but it’s all time off because we are too drained to give anymore.
So if you know a nurse, and that nurse mentions to you that they feel like calling in because they just can’t take it another day, don’t give them a hard time. Especially if you have an 8-5 job with weekends off or some other really great schedule. The 12 hour shifts nurses work mean we miss the entire holiday we work with our families. Night shift nurses have to choose between holiday dinners or sleep. Often, if a nurse chooses to sleep rather than go to the holiday dinner, guilt ensues. Even though I’ve told my mother-in-law repeatedly that every nurse has to work holidays, she makes a point to say how horrible it is my husband has to be alone for a few hours. What about me? Working my ass off while everyone else celebrates?
We work hard. We are intentionally understaffed by our hospitals to improve profit, even if the hospital is a non-profit. We help people at the worst times of their lives, and often have no way to debrief, to get it off our chests. We don’t just bring warm blankets and pills. We are college educated, degreed professionals who are often treated like uneducated, lazy servants. We get sexually harassed by our patients. We get groped, punched, cut, I even know of a nurse on my floor being strangled (she survived).
Nursing can be rewarding. But nursing is a fucking hard job. If you are afraid of healthcare rationing, you should know it is already happening. Nurses are unable to give everyone the care they need, so patients with smaller problems may not get the same level of care. A nurse may be pressed to only give the minimum amount of care to a patient if they have 5 or more very sick patients. If you don’t want healthcare rationing, talk to your local hospitals about their nurse to patient ratios. Talk to your doctors. If you hear of legislation to support nurse to patient ratios, vote for it. Support it.
So if a nurse needs a day off, you support them. If you’re in a position to help like I was this morning, do so. If you are a nurse, go easier on yourself when you think about the things you didn’t finish, or the things you should have said. It’s a 24-hour a day job and you don’t have to do it alone.
As of January 27, 2014, this post is no longer accepting comments. I am doing this as a practice of self care. Tending to this blog post, several times a day, has become a burden. It has had over 2 million hits, and I am tired. The post has become a platform for people who want to propel their own agendas and are using my space to do so. Thanks to all who said such nice things, and to everyone else, go write your own blog.
Posted on August 11, 2013, in Nursing and tagged Health care, Nursing, registered nurse. Bookmark the permalink. 2,612 Comments.
ofcourseitsaboutyou 
Let me add that although I love nursing I often DO NOT want to be a nurse at home. After being drained all night at work (about 35 of my years have been nights–my preference) I just want to relax and think about something else when I’m home. My husband, bless his heart, is so understanding. It was harder on my children but now that they are grown they understand too. So (like the energizer bunny) I keep going…and going…and going…..
I am not a nurse, but I am a phlebotomist…I completely understand where you are coming from. I go to work at 0300 every morning to get the AM Labs done. I must draw anywhere from 30-50 patients in a 3hr timespan….that doesn’t leave much time to make the patients feel that they are being cared for…and it never fails that I get at least 10 people every morning that want to curse at me, pinch/kick/slap/bite or spit at me. I don’t do it for the money…I do it because I am good at it and because I am a vital piece of the healthcare team. I also find myself wishing that I would have a flat tire or some minor catastrophe some days, but in the end, I am thankful for being able to help someone when they need it the most….I know I don’t do nearly as much as a nurse, but like you said, sometimes the patients who have smaller needs often don’t get the time they need…and that’s where I come in….I am often the “ear” they need or the person that gets them the extra blanket/pillow so as not to disturb the nurses who are finally sitting down to chart after being on their feet for 10 hours….we are in this together….
Exactly.
Amen sister
I’m a nurse… And I’m sobbing. It could’ve been written by everyone of us.
Thanks for updating your blog ……I see a theme from many responses, & that is about caring.
I believe you have to care, but what I see is a moral that is pulled, pushed,twisted, yanked & abused by ‘ourselves’, our co-workers, our leaders, those further up the chain that decide ‘how’ & ‘when’ things be done, & lastly media/TV/film/public.
Did you all go into nursing because you cared? If so then kudos to you. I believe it is not just ‘one’ event that leads us to this choice. If this line of work was just about caring then there are many qualified folks who could do it.
For me I didn’t think I could do anything else (at the time), but I did enjoy first aid etc & it seemed like I could do it. I joined the army & trained there…
Fast forward 30 yrs…I’ve spent most of my career in Emergency care / ICU & a few other areas & oh boy have we come a long way as nurses , BUT oh boy have we gone backwards in other areas. Our educational level/requirement has increased, our tech skills/knowledge have HAD TO improve, our efficiency & time management have had to go to warp speed in some cases & our public relation skills seem to be the priority so we can get good survey results in the mail. I’m the 98.6 that has to follow new patient flow/throughput & constant guldline changes for my documentation as a result of multiple Kaizens! Did any of you spot the action of caring in this paragraph?
So, when I read about how if I/we don’t like it we should get out, think about your job….do you get long lunch breaks? Let’s say an hour? Where you can have a nap if needed? Do you clock in & get scolded if you’re a minute late? Do you have an environment that is making things an ‘industry standard’, do you get complained to, glared at, threatened, cold shouldered? Do you get you’re hard earned sick time & PTO put into question just to bring you up to a ‘standard’? Nursing wants me to care, not just about the patient but the bottom line too. Who cares about the nurse?
If we are all honest , yes we are here because the salary is often a good one, why is that wrong ? Lots of people do jobs that pay well and are not criticized for doing so. I don’t believe it’s the only reason for most, but please don’t ram my ‘caring’ capability down my throat when talking about being a nurse….nursing is my job, & I like to think I do it well, but I am not…..I am no longer nursing as I should, because the industry has moved away from it…..if you care too much then you’re not doing your job in this world of healthcare, but if you’re able to tolerate the impersonal, rushed, glossed over reality of how we are expected to deliver ‘nursing’ to the bedside, congratulations, your hospital will love you.
What are you doing now that you have left nursing?
My daughter is a nurse in Texas. She works 12 hours shifts and comes home exhausted. She is an amazing young woman. When I visit, I see the toll the hours take on her. I am a teacher, I don’t work 12 hour shifts at school, but spend hours at home researching and working on lessons.
Our work is emotional as well. I believe that is what makes a difference. Both fields call for those who are called, and I do believe it is a calling, to invest themselves emotionally. Our “work” centers around life – yours on the physiological aspect – actual continuance of it and mine on the potential of what a life will accomplish. That is what makes the rewards so great and the stress even greater – we aren’t in a factory making widgets or in sales convincing folks to buy something. We affect people and that is a great responsibility that we (as witnessed by your post) take seriously and therefore we place great expectations on ourselves. My daughter does this. As I’ve aged I’ve learned that it is okay to vent, it is okay to take a mental health day, it’s okay to go home and cry because your day was so bad. If you love your job, you find a way to cope, you find a new place to do it if the hospital or school district you’re in is no longer the right fit, but you keep answering your call.
There are those who appreciate what you do, I do, take the kind words you get and cherish them. Tell you MIL how important your work is, if that doesn’t work, ignore her.
Your work is important, remember not everyone can do it – if they could there would not be such a need for nurses!
I have been a Mental Health Nurse for44 years in New Zealand , England and now in Australia. I have been bullied and threatened many times but just carry on. At times it has not done my Mental Health any good. During this time I have lost ( mislaid) 3 partners, one to a drunk driver and 2 to CA. I have also bought up 2 children as a sole parent. None of it was easy but I am still nursing and teaching, facilitating students. Just keep at it!! Happy New Year to my colleagues all over the world xx
After ten years I’m done. So done. I hate it. I still love my patients and still get notes from them about how much my care meant to them but the charting, the management, the understaffing. I am willing to do sex work rather than continue with nursing. I feel you.
I am now retired after 41 years as a nurse. Would I have chosen another profession now knowing the sacrifices and compromises I would make over the years? No! Nursing is a “calling”. I have a wonderful group of fellow RNs that I cherish as friends and many memories of having made a difference in someone’s life, including being at the bedside of a dying older gentleman which had a profound faith renewing effect on me…yes, I would have preferred to be at home for all those holidays, etc., but somehow it all worked out…so, be proud and patient, you are one of the “chosen”! Best, SE
Thia goes for all nurses n CNAs. Im a CNA and I gave up Christmas with my 11year old daughter just so they Patients have someone that cares. Someone theu can count on. Its not fair to them that they don’t have family near by or the facility’s shortage of staff. It is a hard job and there are days when I feel I cant go on cause I dont have the energy. But at the same I love my job and my patients. It has its rewards good or bad.
“”We don’t just bring warm blankets and pills. We are college educated, degreed professionals who are often treated like uneducated, lazy servants”” -> Very True.
Same can be said for Police Officers. I know I was one.
As a fellow nurse, I so hear what you are saying. I sometimes regret the hours I have given to others families while neglecting my very own. Lecturing patients on drinking more water while I haven’t had time to take a drop, the entire shift!!
As nurses, we have a healing spirit. At times drained, tattered, worn and weary. Only God can refill that broken, weary spirit. May all my fellow nurses lean on our Saviours mighty shoulders for renewal.
Wow. It sounds like you are really getting the shaft. If I had THAT MANY miserable feelings and experiences during my 37 years of employment, I believe I could find another medical facility or change careers. I HAVE left employment because it was so bad. If you love being a nurse, then be one somewhere else. I hear they are in high demand. I’m sure you needed to vent, but maybe you should have chosen a small group of friends or co workers to unload on. And wanting to get hit by a car or having a tragic accident on your way to work sounds as if many of you have some mental health issues. Perhaps a leave of absence in order. I have spent many weeks in the hospital this year both as a patient and as a wife never leaving my husband’s side. I have no complaints about any of the care we received. Sometimes people need to look within to determine if the career they have chosen is best suited for them. Perhaps they chose the career for the wrong reasons. Better yet, some careers are a calling and some are not. Were you called or dis you get up and just go. Ask yourself.
And, again, K, just saying “Quit and move on” serves no purpose here. She’s already stated, very clearly, that she has no intention of leaving her job. If you’ve read the many comments from other nurses here, you already know that the problem isn’t unique to Grimalkin or her employer. It’s not even unique to the U.S., I’m gathering from the Australian and Canadian nurses posting here.
Indeed it is not unique to the US. I say this as the husband of a Canadian RN in Toronto.
Yeap. Canadian here and my wife is an RN. I let her destress on me and it amazed me how remarkably similar the “feels” in this blog post are to my wife’s feelings.
With due respect to your ignorance, all nurses have these problems, where ever they work. And we do this because we live for this moment, here it is… To make a difference in the life of someone who at the moment of extremity was desperate to be helped. As an RN since 1975, this has never changed. And on the rare occasion a patient doctor, or family member thanks a nurse We take in stride. Thanks or no thanks, we know we touch lives as no other profession can. Nit police, firefighters, doctors or teachers. We balance our hardship with compassion and insight, with comraderie and hope, with strength and knowledge. We are nurses, and damn anyone who would critique us. Next time you are sick or injured, keep a journal of who took care of you. Then remember your hateful comments, and realize you are a moron.
K, the feelings expressed in this blog are unfortunately the norm rather than the exception for nurses. If every nurse who ever felt this way left his or her job/career, there probably would have been NO nurses left to care for you and your husband during your many weeks in the hospital. I am a registered nurse of over 25 years and can totally relate to GrimalkinRN’s feelings and perspective. Maybe many of us nurses do have mental heath issues, but it was probably the job, doctors, patients, and patient’s families that gave us mental heath issues.
Until you have walked in our shoes, you have no clue. You have no clue because we are good at what we do. Come into your rooms, smile and comfort both patient and family, hence you had no complaints. Nursing is a calling to serve others, when they need your skills the most but we get tired.
You obviously don’t understand because you’ve never been a nurse and also very obviously don’t understand the sacrifice and toll it takes on an individual. Its extremely stressful. I understand her comments because I AM A NURSE. I wish all of you people that don’t have a clue what you are talking about would quit with the ignorant, self-righteous posts!!!
K Please!!!!! Not trying to be a jerk but you just don’t get it. You can have the calling of a saint and still have days wishing you could hit the lottery or be real close to retirement. Nurses vent mainly to other nurses because they get it. They live it.
Nursing isn’t a job. Nursing is a profession. It requires years of dedicated study, and when you finally graduate and pass the boards you get to realize how much you still need to learn while working your first job. We continue to educate ourselves to ensure our patients will receive the most up to date evidence based care. “k”, do you even know what evidence based practice is and what it entails? Unfortunately for us in our profession we get to deal with the very unique health care system inadequacies found in the US. Health care represents 20% of the nation’s GDP, and this is projected to be 25% (yes a whole quarter) of all dollars spent by 2017. How do we cut the bottom line? Nursing staff. This is CNAs, LPNs, LVNs, RNs, etc. Therefore this is system wide. Every nurse will deal with this in their career. It is only going to get worse with an aging work force and the baby-boomer generation that is retiring at 10,000 people a day. They are expected to live longer with more comorbidities than previous generations. Put on top of this that the average age of the working nurse in around 50, and nursing schools cannot produce enough nurses fast enough……do you see where your ignorance is now? If we all just “quit and found new jobs” who would be your nurse? And more importantly who would be mine when I get sick. To all of my brothers and sisters in nursing, I salute you. I am proud to call myself a nurse, and will continue to progress through this career that I have chosen. I will endure the hard days, and buy you a beer when you need one because you had a bad shift. “k’s” post proves only this, people don’t have a clue unless they walk a mile in your shoes.
Wow. Let me just say that you missed the point of the post entirely. Maybe because you are not knowledgeable about the profession, maybe because you have not been close to a nurse personally or maybe because you just do not GET IT. This is not something unique to this nurse, this is something that is pervasive throughout the profession. Shame on you for trying to make the author feel bad about her career choice when you clearly have no idea even a small portion of what goes into our jobs. Being a patient or family member doesn’t cut it, but you obviously don’t understand that just being IN a hospital and watching what the nurse is doing in your room is only a small sliver of what goes on in a single shift.
You’re obviously not a nurse… I have been for 39 years. I have prayed that entire time for changes to the profession, but the only changes have been that things become increasingly worse year by year.
I got to the point that I vomited at the thought of going to work. I had to take antidepressants, antiemetics and valium to get through every shift…so, I quit. It’s not worth it.
I have been held hostage at gunpoint, had patients come after me with shotguns, beat up, bitten and verbally abused by patients families, doctors and staff, and been told to suck it up, it’s not their fault, they’re under stress…bite me!
I stuck it out so long because my direct peers appreciated what I brought to the table, I was considered valuable and I offered support to those I worked with, but there comes a point when one’s own well being is infinitely more important than a thankless, dangerous and unfulfilling job.
I say job, because nursing is no longer considered a profession in the public eye. We’re just grunts who perform delivery service. Forget the fact that I have saved so many lives, most patients have no idea that I was the one who recognized they were going in to renal failure, bleeding out, going into anaphylaxis etc. I am the one who delivers a blanket, that’s all.
As far as venting…when? where? We are not allowed to ‘vent’ at work, bad PR…we have little time off, even if you have a day off, you have mandatory meetings, mandatory education, ‘voluntary’ committees that aren’t really voluntary… You have NO time to yourself! You have no time to vent with a trusted colleague.
I’ll find another way to make money and to heck with the degree and the lifetime that I have invested.
I suggest nurses start striking across the country…maybe things would improve then, but I doubt it…nurses are too self sacrificing.
Wow K.. what a completely ignorant human being you are!
You know, if you really don’t know a lot about something,
maybe you need to keep that nasty big mouth of yours closed as you only made yourself look very foolish!
From the perspective of a qualified nurse, let me tell you a thing or two about what I know..
Are you a nurse or have you ever worked so much as one day in the life of a nurses shoes? If the answer is no.. which I think it must be based on your response to this girls blog?, then heres a few things you should know…
Many people do indeed say nursing is a ‘calling’, and for a select few I could not agree more, they are perfect for such a demanding role, they always knew thats what they wanted to do… as if it was indeed some kind of calling. However for the most part.. Nurses I have worked with, are simply good, hard working, caring people with the very best of intentions. Just like the girl (Grimalkin) who wrote this post. She/We do not deserve your criticism for being honest about just how tough the life of this profession is.
You make comments like … get another job.. work at another hospital … I hear nurses are high in demand! etc etc! Well get your facts right.. Yes nurses are greatly needed and hospitals are very understaffed but unfortunately thats the way it will remain! Hospitals only provide the absolute minimum funding to employ staff. So they are always short of nurses, but its not so simple to just change wards or hospitals just because you are not happy where you are.
I am a nurse in Australia. Less than 60% of qualified nurses can even get themselves a Grad Program. I was fortunate enough to secure one, but now cannot get a permanent position. I can get casual work, or desperately hope that my 6 month contract will be renewed at the end! applying else where is even more difficult as with only 2 years experience, you go straight to the bottom of the pile when jobs are so competitive to secure.
Nursing is physically, mentally and emotionally draining!! EVERY DAY!! Not only is there the physical lifting, cleaning, back breaking work, but there are family members on your case, wanting things you generally cannot provide. Doctors demanding their patient needs a treatment immediately…other nurses getting on your case and judging you because you do things differently to them and they don’t like that! (even though they have no right). Managers demanding you attend learning programs.. when you havent even attended to your daily nursing tasks. Patients attacking you because they feel as though they haven’t seen you once in the last 3 hours – which they haven’t because you are so busy and are doing so many things you physically could not have got back to them in that time. On any given shift, I hit the floor running and I do not stop until it is home time. Even then I usually leave late because I still have to document that days activities! I sometimes don’t get home until 11pm and I have to leave again at 5am to get to work for a morning shift the next day. We clean up every bodily fluid known to man, We are abused beyond belief from all levels of staff, patients and family members. I cant remember the last time I actually took my scheduled break at work on time, if at all!
And It does not matter which area you work in, or which hospital you are at. It does not matter what day of the week it is, or how positive you push yourself to be as you are walking into work! These demands meet you.. head on each and every day and they wear down even the most strongest of individuals!! So before you go questioning some folks integrity and start asking them to look into themselves to see if perhaps nursing is not the right career for them (as if they have done something wrong for having a bad day or being run into the ground) Maybe you should question yourself and your own morals and integrity and think about what kind of person try’s to bring down an honest open individual that merely suggested Nursing is a tough profession?
In regards to those of us honest enough to say we struggle and its tough to the point of feeling as though you would rather smash your car over going into work that day… it may sound over the top and dramatic.. but that certainly does not warrant being told you have mental health issues.
And again even if that person was depressed filled with anxiety etc etc, take a look in the mirror and ask yourself what kind of person you are to try and bring them down so negatively instead of offering support?
To those nurses leaving comments to suggest they have never felt the above girls mentioned feelings at any point in there wonderful long fulfilling careers.. well done! Lucky you! If you genuinely haven’t had one of those days, then why not just show a little sympathy and compassion toward your fellow nurses who have .. shame on you, you should know better!!
If I could ask one thing of my fellow nurses.. it would be to listen to each other and be kind to one another! This job is very demanding and exhausting! It is extremely hard at times, so why go throwing in the bullsh*t politics and making things so much harder on one another! Help each other out! We are the only ones who truly understand each others predicament! 😀
Great post, Gem. If you lived and worked on this side of the world, I’d encourage you to apply at my hospital.
One word: RUDE. You have obviously never been in our shoes. You need to go thank all the nurses who has taken care of you/ your family, because you obviously has NO clue what goes on behind the scene. We work hard to provide people like you good service/ critical thinking to save lives. If we quit, the would be no one to take care of you/ your family. Power to the writer!
Very well said. We are constantly told to do more with less, and even though hospitals run 24/7/365, co-workers rag on the shift before if things aren’t done, even though they are nice to the reporting nurse’s face.
Hi Grimalkin; loved your post! So spot on. Can I hijack your thread for a moment and ask the question: what are LVNs CNAs etc? Im an RN in Australia and we dont have those!! Sounds like we should! Im figuring they are the equivalent of our EN (enrolled nurse) and AIN (assistant in nursing) positions? Thanks!
LVN – Licensed Vocational Nurse. LPN – Licensed Practical Nurse – operate with an RN, limited scope of practice. CNA – Certified Nurse’s Aid – Operate with an RN, perform many tasks like walks, weights, glucometers, beds, baths, emptying drains. Very limited scope of practice, RN is ultimately responsible.
Okay thanks for that. i googled as well. Yes describes our EN and AIN postitions where they have a smaller scope of practice but RN is responsible. Thanks for replying!
I am not a nurse but some of my friends are. I have several chronic auto-immune ailments in addition to being bipolar. Thus, I have had many amazing nurses care for me over the course of many years. I have to say how much I appreciate the tender loving care I have received when I was feeling my worst. When I must stay in the hospital, I don’t like to complain. I normally wait for the nurse to come around to ask for what I need, unless it is an emergency. And I always say thank you when someone helps me or does something for me. Nursing must be very difficult work, but angels do it.
JANICE
WHY RUIN A PERFECTLY INFORMATIVE THREAD WITH SILLY ASININE COMMENTS SUCH AS YOUR OWN? Do you have anything decent to say; or just trolling? Move on!
I worked 5- 12hour shifts in a row all the time ! They were able to do it because after the third 12 hour shift (really 14 hours or more) it was the new week ! I dare most people to try to work 70 hours in 5 days ! One doctor told me that a trained monkey could do what we were doing. I thought of him each time I was calculating doses to titrate to a desired effect. By the way, I had BLS, PALS, ACLS, TNCC certifications. I’ve been kicked in the stomach, sqeezed till tears involuntarily left my eyes, scratched, punched, pulled, peed on ,pooped on, spit on and at….all for less than starting x ray techs were making. Did I love my job helping people and families, of course. This job left me disabled and we lost everything we had ever worked for by lifting/moving a very “well nourished” patients. I have screws, rods etc in my back. Each day it hurts to move and financillay…it has left me wondering if I will be able to have a roof over my head. There must be rules on how much nurses have to lift and move continously for hours on end. I’ve been told that we should have excercised more to strengthen abdominal muscles that support our backs. You try working out after 14 hours of heavy lifting and being on your feet on concrete floors. It’s all my fault for not having enough help and equipment to move 500 pound people.
Instead of promoting evidence based outcomes (who keeps doing things that don’t work anyway ?) the nursing board needs to focus on the actual NURSES ! We already care for the patients. Who is going to care for us ?
I’ve been a nurse for 14 years & often made the comment “I’d rather be beat than go to work.” I never knew anyone who could possibly understand. I remember locking my door,closing blinds & avoiding phone calls after my shift was over. After being out of work for 9 months..I am now having to return to this career. I cried as I read this article. I now know I am not alone.
I am a nurse of 14 years. My experience includes critical care, post anesthesia and currently outpatient surgery. We are experiencing some similar problems in our work areas. I lefr critical care due to poor management. I left post anesthesia for a better schedule. I took a five day work week with no call to spend more time with my family. As did many of the nurses I work with. The thing is, our 8 hour days are repeatedly turning into 10 to 12 hour days several times a month. our department is having the evening shift staffed by mandates. Mandates that are illegal according to WV state law. Now surgical services is being expanded by 4 more operating rooms. But the ancillary services such as PACU and OPS will not be expanded. Meaning more patients longer work hours and the same amount of nurses. While being pounded by administration about patient satisfaction scores and federal funding cuts. It’s hard to care about the bottom dollar when you know your kids are missing another practice, another piano lesson, another evening that could be spent with mommy or daddy but mommy and daddy are being mandated, yet again. Don’t get me wrong I realize health care is “big business” but at what cost to the patients who I refuse to refer to as customers. Patients that deserve the best care possible. Care that should be provided by nurses who are happy to be there not there due to being mandated.
Hmm – maybe don’t be a nurse then ? Simples !
Do you want to do the job then? Didn’t think so! !!
Blimey Naandoodi, that’s a bit patronising! We all have the right to some self-expression and a bit of a vent. Never had a bad day / week / year at work? If not, lucky you. If so, then you can’t relate to another person expressing frustrations at their working environment? Either way a bit of support might do more good than a metaphorical a slap.
Well said. Been a nurse nearly 20 years and I hear u, sister. Thank u for your frankness. Yet, I still would not give it up. I cannot explain why something that takes so much out of me is also the very thing that gives me satisfaction and pride and joy. I appreciate yourr courage to express the very real and raw emotions we have all experienced. Wanna add that I’ve been married to a police officer for 22 years (rotating shift work) who experiences much of the same….except most people assume nurses are “nice” and cops are jerks. All service professions should support ourselves and each other. If no one has told u today…you ARE appreciated and very valued…dear nurse, CNA, police, fire, EMS, RT, etc
Amen
Most of my nursing career, I was single and family was 4 or more hours away. I always worked holidays and especially at Christmas, so my coworkers with kids and family, could be there in the morning, or night, and not miss time with them. I enjoyed it, because they always were happy when they came back to work!
Hi, I saw your entry through a share on facebook, I used to think of throwing myself into traffic on the walk to work. I finally had enough and left. I had been applying for jobs unsuccessfully for months and was very fortunate that just as I finished working my notice I got an admin job with office hours. My physical and mental health is better then it has been in years. I think I was a good nurse but if I had stayed I would have turned into a bad nurse and a bad person. I wish you and everyone else still on shifts with reduced staff and resources Good Luck
Right on, sister! Yes, I love my job and most days, no problem. Then, you get a group of patients who have more illness and real world problems that cannot be solved, what a killer. I have been at this for 47 years! I am still told you need to find something else or I do not belong if I dare to attempt to address the issues. Yes, take care of yourself and each other!
A kindred spirit! Ive been a nurse for 34 years and have gone home many a night in tears from complete exhaustion.
Wanted to say one thing for those non nurses that don’t understand some of the responsibilities.
Other than just direct patient care nurses are also responsible for making sure doctors order not only the correct medication, but also for the correct reason, correct doses, and correct route.
Im a non nurse and I do understand the work load you nurses have. But as a non nurse I also see the complete lack of understanding nurses have for us
Tracy, could you give us some examples of why you feel nurses don’t understand nonnurses? Remember, none of us were born with RNs or LPNs, so at one time we were nonnurses to. And most of us have been patients ourselves, or family members of patients, so we do realize what it’s like on the other side.
I grant you that some nurses are more sensitive to patients’ and families’ needs than others. But we can’t really discuss this without having a better idea of what you’re getting at.
I’m sorry if I’ve come across to you in a bad way, that’s not what I’m getting at. You nurses ARE fantastic and I do understand the pressures you face daily as I work with nurses too. As a clinical support worker, we do get patients and relatives express their thanks to us and appreciate what we do for them but feel sometimes nurses forget just how hard we work too. We change beds, assist in personal care, get bed pans and a lot more besides. At the end of a 13 hour shift and not sitting down for most of that, we are exhausted. Yes you don’t need a degree in that but you need stamina,patience and a lot of love. Most of the nurses I work with are wonderful and I do feel your given too much to do in one shift but on the acute wards we work on its difficult not too. All I was saying was that it would have been a much nicer blog if it had included us all working together as a team. That’s how it should be and makes all our work loads much easier to get done. We help each other on our ward and don’t treat people any different just because we are lower or higher in ranking. And the patients we have notice how well we work together too. Isn’t that how it should be
Tracy, this blog was specifically about my interactions with other nurses. While I know you work VERY hard, I did not include CNAs because CNAs have never performed the behaviors I was talking about in my blog. I have never had a CNA judge me for being worn out, talk about me behind my back on a bad day, or practice lateral violence. I have also never had a CNA see I was on the verge of collapse and suggest I get off the floor for 15 minutes.
Before I was a nurse, I was a tech on a very difficult spinal cord injury unit. We worked really hard. I was often exhausted. I worked a lot of 16 hour shifts to make enough money between classes and clinicals. But generally, I always left work on time, I always got my lunch, and the nurse, not myself, was the person who was ultimately responsible for whether or not the job got done.
We do a lot of similar things at our jobs, but my post was about nurses. It was a personal post and while there have been a lot of “don’t forget the CNAs” comments, the CNAs posting don’t seem to understand it wasn’t about them at all. Nurses have different interactions with one another than we do with CNAs, which is why my post was about nurses.
In addition to your comment about “a much nicer blog.” This is not a researched, sourced article. As I have mentioned repeatedly, I wrote this in AUGUST OF 2013, as a way to vent off some frustration about my job. If you are looking for a more inclusive blog, I suggest you write one yourself.
Of course that’s how it should be, Tracy. On my unit, everyone works together. If the NA (or, in my hospital’s case, PCT) is busier than I am, then I do vitals and answer call lights and transfer my own patients. If he or she has less to do than I do, then s/he will take over some those tasks so I can focus on the ones that only an RN is allowed to do. I give the PCTs on my unit credit for being the experts in certain tasks, like splinting and blood draws, because they ARE experts in those areas.
But I also understand why Grimalkin made her blog entry about nurses, rather than all direct care employees. Nurses have some unique problems that CNAs don’t have, just as CNAs have problems specific to THEIR job.
One of those is the problem of having to work with physicians, some of whom can be pretty difficult to deal with. Trying to get a doctor to order a pain medication for a patient who you can see needs it, when the doctor would rather punish you for bothering him, by refusing to give you that order. And then having to explain that to the patient, without showing a negative attitude toward the doctor.
Another is the realization that you, as the nurse, are expected to have all the answers. I’ll never forget what it was like, after I graduated from nursing school, and gave up my job as a CNA to work as an RN. One of the postsurgical patients had a sudden spasm of severe pain, and I caught myself saying, “I’ll go get the nurse.” Right then, I realized, I CAN’T “go get the nurse,” because I’M the nurse—-and I’m expected to know what to do when these sudden problems crop up.
Another problem is that many (not all) of those tasks delegated only to nurses are extremely time sensitive. Hospitals throughout the country are trying to beef up their “standards of care”—-hanging antibiotics within a certain time frame, for example, or “door to balloon time” for cardiac patients. So you have to drop what you’re doing, even if you’re in the middle of something important (including going on a much needed break), to do that even more important task.
I’d never, ever say that CNAs don’t have a hard job, or that a good CNA isn’t worth his/her weight in gold, but I can tell you that there ARE times in my job when I wish I WERE a CNA again. The work is hard and exhausting, and the pay isn’t as good, but sometimes it would be nice just to be able to jump in and work hard, without having to worry about surly doctors or medication interactions or the patient with NO veins who needs blood cultures and that IV antibiotic within the next 20 minutes, or the fact that the patient’s allergic to a bunch of antibiotics, but forgot to bring the list detailing which ones they are.
(Note to others who might be getting ready to argue, “Well, quit and be a CNA again!”: most of the time, I’m glad to be a nurse. But that doesn’t mean that I don’t have self doubts at times.)
yes this is a very difficult career for anyone who loves to take care of sick ones. i have been a nurse for 30+ yrs, i did med-surg nursing for many, many yrs, now i am a hospice nurse who has a body of a 90 yr.old woman!! no one knows how much we do sacrifice, how much we do care for our patients and families, and how at times we dont know how to care for ourselves. the public in general thinks we just sit around for 8 to 12 to 16hrs doing nothing, well the most rewarding career is to be a hospice nurse,it is very draining physically, mentally, spiritually, but i do love it. i am now on disability leave, my body is racked with pain, i hardly ever get a good nites sleep! the person who says we should change our career is a very uninformed person. i feel sorry for you! until you have been a nurse or worked in the medical field, keep your mouth shut,. you know nothing of what we do, we do care, we do love our jobs, and yes most of us have been called by God to do this rewarding, difficult job!! but we do burn out very easy the longer we are in the work force! dont ever for one moment think a nurse has an easy job!!! medical careers are the most tiring, most emotional, the most physical, the most demanding, the most important job any one can hold, and we esteem it highly. nursing school is and was the hardest thing i have ever done, so do not tell me to get another career!!! one day you will have a loved one who will need a nurse. and i pray you get the best nurse ever!! sincerely, i do. you are just wrong!! thank you for sharing your blog with us nurses who do understand when even our families do not understand why we cry, are angry, are emotional, scream to the top of our lungs in our cars on the way home. we have to be multitasking all the time, and it is wearing nurses down daily!! thank God there are still nurses today we still care!! sincerely, patti
WOW JUST WISH I WERE THERE WITH YOU AND SUPPORTYOU ANY WAY I COULD!!!! D.O.D
Perfect example of how much the “public” has no clue what we are up against. Nice environment ? Snacks?Coffee? Bathroom breaks? Seriously ?Unbelievable. No clue. Football players get paid millions for ???? But if Nurses, Firefighters, Teachers, the Police Force, get anywhere near a livable wage earning- we somehow don’t do ENOUGH to deserve it. After all-didn’t we know how we would be treated? Buddy, you better hope it never becomes just about the money cause there’s not enough to be treated with such disrespect. We have always made our “jobs” work no matter what-we’ve made it look easy. For all those who have needed us-and even you.
Stupidppl, listen to yourself. You’re not a nurse; you’ve never been a nurse; but you have two sisters who are nurses and you volunteer at hospitals, so you assume that that makes you more knowledgeable about the problems of the nursing profession than the other posters here (most of whom ARE nurses). Wrong. Not even close.
I’m sorry, but even a very empathetic listener (which you clearly are not) isn’t going to understand as much about a particular profession as the people who actually work in it. You need to realize, too, that not all workplaces are run the same way.
For example, the coffee thing: that other nurse is absolutely correct. In my workplace, eating or drinking in the nurses’ station isn’t allowed. We do have a coffee machine in the nurses’ lounge (there is no “canteen”), but seldom have time to go back there and pour ourselves coffee, much less sit there and drink it. You can say “but my sisters say thus and such” all you please, but the fact is that your sisters don’t work in every single hospital in the country, and what they experience might not be the norm.
As for your comment about “labor laws”: it’s not that simple. If an employee repeatedly claims that s/he isn’t getting a lunch break, management will usually just say, “You need to plan your time better. You need to use better teamwork. You need to set priorities more effectively.” And it’s very difficult to prove that we ARE doing that, but still don’t have the time to take breaks.
You won’t understand this, of course, because your attitude shows that you’re determined NOT to understand. But those are the facts.
You tell the nurses here “quit, if you don’t like it.” Well, I’m going to throw your own advice back at you. This blog was started by a nurse, and her blog entry was a vent to other nurses. If you don’t like hearing nurses vent, then why not leave this blog and find another one more to your liking?
If every nurse that felt that way left, your family would would have to come into the hospital to take care of you. And attitudes like yours make me want to say fuck you and walk off the floor.
Stupidppl, if you’ve never heard a nurse use the F word, then you haven’t been around nearly as many nurses as you’re trying to pretend.
And, just to let you know, VERY few nurses wear white any more. This might burst your bubble, but nurses aren’t seraphim or etiquette instructors. They’re strong, hardworking people who see patients at their worst, handle diseased body parts, provide painful treatments as well as comfort and hand holding, break up fights and set firm limits. As a result, some of them can be pretty outspoken, often vulgarly so.
I do understand that some get offended by the F word, and there’s nothing wrong with that. But, if you don’t want to hear it or see it here, it might be wise to be a bit less truculent toward the nurses posting here.
Trust me on this one, Stupidppl, many police officers use the F word, too, when talking among themselves.
No one was suggesting that nurses would or should use it when interacting with patients. Sounds like you’re trying awfully hard to get a fight going.
I have blocked that IP address from posting on my blog. All that individual was doing was attempting to upset people.
We all sacrifice in healthcare, from the admitting clerk to the housekeeper to the physician to the nurse. As a seasoned healthcare finance professional, I’ve worked every holiday that’s fallen in the first 15 days of the month for as long as I can remember. I work whenever needed for month-end close, year-end close, tax season, cost report season, and budget season. 8 to 5 means 8 to whenever the work is done. I don’t get overtime, shift bonuses, double time, or call pay. On a good week I work 50 hours, last week it was over 70.
I do this job because I love healthcare and I am driven to do what I do best, healthcare finance. That means ensuring staff get paid, suppliers get paid, we collect enough from the government, insurers, and the uninsured to make sure Administration can keep the lights on. It’s a constant battle amidst payment cuts from every angle. So don’t blame your nursing ratios on us. We’re fighting to keep the status quo. Please focus your efforts on healthcare spending cuts. That’s what’s going to keep putting pressure on nursing productivity.
I can’t imagine the emotional toll patient care takes on a healthcare provider. For that, you have my deepest respect. Please afford your support staff the same respect. Doing what we do isn’t easy either. We spend time away from our friends and family too. I only ask that you consider everyone in your healthcare environment before making generalizations. Thank you.
grow a pair…we all knew what we signed up for…
James, Grimalkin is a woman. Why in the world would she want or need to grow testicles?
Tell you what: if it bothers you to hear people venting about the difficulties of their (very difficult) profession, perhaps YOU could “grow a pair,” and learn to take it in stride. What IS it about some of the posters here, who can’t handle nurses acknowledging problems in the workplace?
I got a pair and I find that rarely does any of us know exactly what we signed up for all the time. As for your asinine comment, I know the kind of male nurse you aspire to be and truly enjoy running into you outside of a professional setting.
Ihatestupidppl… you don’t have a clue what you are talking about. Walk a mile in my shoes. I work a 12 hr shift, often with no lunch, no food behind the counter that you mention and often times can’t get to use the restroom until my bladder is so full its about to burst. .. and this is all due to understaffing and bad patient to nurse ratios. You take care of 6 people at once that are so sick that you are literally running circles for 12 straight hours without sitting down once and then have to stay an extra 2 hours to do all the charting for a total of 14 straight hours with no food and no breaks… according to your own words that’s worse than our soldiers over seas. ..at least they are getting two meals and I’m sure they are able to use the restroom in those same 14 hours. AND NO THEY DONT TELL YOU HOW BAD IT WILL BE IN NURSING SCHOOL…YOU ARE ASSUMING SOMETHING AND CLEARLY HAVE NO IDEA WHAT YOU ARE TALKING ABOUT. I certainly was never told nor could I have imagined how ungrateful many patients and families such as yourself are for the many sacrifices nurses make to care of them/you. Never did I imagine that I would be kicked, spit on, cursed at, etc all while being compassionate and trying to do my job. Shame on you for your uneducated and ill concieved comments about an obviously thankless profession that you have never taken the first step toward doing and if you’re family RNs have it that great they are a rare exception. I hope I never have you as a patient. You are obviously one more thankless person who doesn’t appreciate others sacrificed. Take away all the RN’s who work their asses off for thankless selfish individuals like you and just see where you will be. I’m thoroughly disgusted with people like you!!!!
Wow, dude. Shitty attitude. Not sure about the US, but here in Australia there is no abundance of nursing grads waiting in the wings for a nursing job. It is getting harder and harder for hospitals here to find staff. Mainly because no one wants to work for shit pay, to be treated like shit by arseholes like you. My mum is a nurse (has been for almost 50 years) and I’m damned if I know how she does it. For all the shit that she deals with she still fronts up for work every day at the ripe old age of 67 and loves it. Bad days, good days and all that are in between. It is a job that I could never do – but nurses get nothing but respect and admiration from me.
Well here in Australia it IS arsehole (not my fault you lot can’t spell), so suck it. As a chronic asthmatic and migraine sufferer I have met some nurses that make Nurse Ratchet look like a saint. So I know full well that there are some in the profession that are less that perfect. But you get that in every aspect of life. Although generally they are an amazing group of people.
Stupidppl, I don’t believe the other poster asked you for advice. She’s simply telling the truth about her job. Now, maybe YOU don’t care about the difficulties of her job—-but, if you’re not a nurse, and you’re not interested in hearing nurses vent about the difficulties of their job, what the Sam Hill are you even doing on this blog?
P.S. Just because you have two sisters who happen to be nurses, it doesn’t necessarily follow that you “understand” what a nurse’s job entails.
you’re nothing more than a hateful individual…its not a tantrum it’s telling it like it really is I also have a business degree and I probably will choose not to stay in this field the hours are horrible the pay is really not as great as you imply especially not for the hours and the abuse…and I don’t see any nurses here lined up waiting for a job in fact there’s a shortage here because people are quitting right and left so again you have no clue what you’re talking about
What could have happened to you to make you so disrespectful toward the nursing profession? These nurses are not disrespecting other professions or comparing “lumps”. They have hard jobs, emotionally and physically. Let them “vent”. It’s healthy to let those feelings out. If you don’t like what they are saying, why are you following these posts anyway? Just to be an ass? Good news for you – it’s working.
Stupidppl, if you want respect from anyone here, maybe name calling, threatening and acting like a spoiled adolescent isn’t the best way to go about getting it.
The topic is difficulties of the nursing profession. So far, you’re doing a bang-up job of imitating a belligerent drunk in the ER, but otherwise I don’t see you providing any special insight. What, exactly, is it that you want out of the nurses here?
Move on troll!
wow only 5 patients? I had 50 patients to 1 nurse working 12 hour shifts every day for 4 years. For four years we only had two nurses for the 50 patient psych unit at the Oregon State penitentiary. Try working for the state hospitals & prisons in Oregon..
I was a pre nursing student and decided to not move forward. I have been in dialysis for 30 years as a tech. and absolutely hate my job. I cry when I go to work and cry when I get off. What is worst in northern cali in my field is that if you are not from the Phillipines you probably will not get a job in my field. I still work hard at doing a good job. I am looking to transition into another field asap. Thank you for your honest opinion about nursing and exposing it for what it truly is. Yes there are rewarding days in patient care, but far too many days feel like one big dysfunctional cesspool. #therehasgottobesomethingelseicando?
What rings so true about this is that no one but a nurse can understand how true the words rings. I have been a nurse for 27 years. I have been choked into unconsciousness, hit, stabbed, demeaned and berated by the very people I vowed to serve and care for. I have worked the holidays so others can be with their families or children. I have cried from exhaustion and continued to care for those in need despite my own pain. But it is my calling, as I can see it is yours. Thankfully there are nurses willing to care for the world simply because we care. Thank you for sharing.
WOW!! What a litany of responses!! I had no idea people would react so strongly, including in opposition. Here are my thoughts:
1) YES this can apply to different professions… she was simply speaking of her experiences as a nurse. This doesn’t mean disrespect towards anyone else and their respective professions. Saying nursing has differences than other professions does not mean it should be construed that nurses are saying they are better than other professions.
2) I am thankful that so many of you have such peace in your world, including as a nurse. As you can see, many of us do not.
3) Nursing is a mixed bag of a lot of things – for me:
*great compensation for a 4-year degree
*meaning and purpose
*job security and flexibility
*an avenue to use my intelligence and continuously be challenged
*I believe I get the privilege to see the best in people
ALSO, for me:
*my bladder is a mess from working 12+ hours without a bathroom break (or maybe 1)
*the stress of literally (or even potentially) having someone’s life in one’s hands is very overwhelming and significantly wearing
*my personal relationships have been strained from my hours (including staying over)
*24/7 call (being in management) is also taking it’s toll…
*seeing some of the worst in people…
We don’t have to be martyrs and this blog post should not be construed as bitching and moaning. This is real… and part of coping is relating with one another. While I am immensely grateful to be a nurse (and I’ll take my mixed bag!), I am VERY thankful for Grimalkin’s post. It’s so nice to know we are not alone, but are in this together, and many of us share the same feelings. I mean no disrespect, but what we do isn’t flipping pizzas. We are working with people who deserve our best. We can’t just clock in and out. And even once we leave, our work is still on our minds. Perhaps those that do not feel this stress have figured out better work-life balance?
Cheers, colleagues!!
After 38 years as a nurse I can empathise with everything you’ve said, but wouldn’t have wanted to do anything else (apart from be a rich property developer!) my spine is ruined, my family. Had to spend Xmas without me, but people remember us, not everyone can do it, we are not”just” nurses we are special souls and the world would be a worse place without us
Haha what a ridiculous out of touch post, Ihatestupidppl
Perhaps if hospitals would stop cutting back staff and increasing patient loads (4 is ok, 5 – 6 high risk is not) on nurses to unsafe levels, then the nurses wouldn’t be so stressed?
I have news for you … If “every nurse who feels/has felt this way” quit on the same day, the system would collapse as nobody would be left.
Stupidppl, I just got home after a (typical New Year’s, i.e. rough) night shift, and four out of the first five posts I read were written by you. No problem there, but every last one was fairly dripping with anger and disdain.
Seeing that you apparently can’t manage to address a nurse without getting pretty nasty, why is it that you have so little tolerance for nurses who vent to each other about the difficulties of their job?
I mean, if you can’t manage to maintain a positive attitude here—-when you don’t even work in the field being discussed!—-how on earth do you expect the nurses to be Mary Sunshine 24/7?
Bit of a double standard there?
ihatestupidppl:
PLEASE, as an RN, my professional opinion is that you get the psychiatric help you so need. Actually, no one would need an RN to realize you need professional help.
I agree that nursing is a physically, emotionally and mentally draining job! I have many friends who are nurses or training to be.. And I admire them, but along with all the other extremely taxing jobs out there. I am a social work student and know various social workers in different fields, is that an easy schedule just because it might be 8-5, I don’t think so. So if course you might need to be a nurse to understand these particular feelings yet think about other professions which are equally as demanding. Your not alone.
Hi I can see your point very well I used to be In the nursing progression so I can relate but now I’m a newly qualified social worker and to be honest social work is a hard job but not as physical as nursing.
Reposting this as I think I accidently buried it in a reply somewhere in the thousands of comments:
A couple thoughts from a Canadian perspective. Even in the big learning hospitals in the downtown core its common to have patient loads of 5. Its becoming TOO common actually … 4 used to be the standard.
My wife learned some lessons the hard way.
1. Work in a downtown unionized learning hospital if at all possible. She started in one, when we moved to the suburbs she switched to a non union community hospital — big mistake
The community hospital it was criminal how unprofessionally nurses were treated by both management and doctors, and without the union there was zero protection. There was also very little opportunity for professional growth.
Unionized learning hospitals (usually located in the downtown core of a city) have it far better – unions that ensure nurses have a voice at the table for starters and processes by which unsafe work practices by management (such as too high patient loads) can be addressed.
Unionized Learning hospitals also provide opportunities for professional advancement …. But most importantly they empower nurses to speak up.
My wife and I moved back downtown and she is back at the unionized hospital … It is night and day the difference in respect nurses get in union environments.
Your post was in the moderation queue. Before this post went viral, I’d actually only had about 100 comments on my blog at all, and so moderated them all, so every. single. comment. on this blog has to be moderated, even though future posts do not. I let one of your comments stay and deleted the other, as they seemed identical.
Not being a Union member is like a Gridiron player without a helmet, Vulnerable. Every Doctor or Police Officer belongs to his own Union.because of the advantages ensuing.
5-6 patients per nurse? Where do you work? Try up to 10-11 patients. Not every day, but some days…for 12 hour shift, with no PCT or phlebotomist. A good day is 5 patients. Its getting harder and harder to be a nurse.
You are right Kelly. I was charge nurse, had 7 patients and preceptor who had 6 patients. Nobody said it was going to be easy, but lets just be safe. Patients deserve our best and how can you give more than is humanly possible ? It’s all about the bottom line and keeping the cost down. I REALLY wish that management could shadow us for an entire shift to see what they are requiring us to do. Until then, things will not change. As for the union, some states are totally against them. I think that if the nursing board is not going to set limits, maybe we should all have unions. Just a thought.
Ihatestupidppl
please let us all know where your sisters work sounds like a wonderful place sign me up because I work at two hospitals locally and they are not as you describe. All the hospitals locally in two major cities in my area which is over 20 hospitals arent anywhere near as wonderful an environment as you claim your two sisters work in and I know a lot of nurses working in many of the hospitals here…..so somethings way off here either you’re exaggerating how wonderful a condition your sisters are in or they really lucked out in finding two hospitals that actually care about the patients and their nurses and not the bottom line!
Ihatestupidppl
actually I never thought that they worked in little hospitals in the middle of nowhere in the country obviously if they’ve got it that good they must be working in a prestigious well-funded hospital that has plenty of money and can offer better working conditions for their nurses with better patient nurse ratios… that’s why you feel the way you feel about this whole subject because it sounds like they’ve got it pretty good you should not assume that the rest of the nurses have it that good. Alot of hospitals in this country are run down don’t have that kind of budget and do not provide that type of work environment for their nurses you’re under staffed overworked and underpaid you have no clue what you’re talking about you can’t take the example of your two sisters and apply it across this whole country that would be true of any profession you really are showing your ignorance here so why don’t you just shut up and quit bashing everyone you obviously have no life if all you can do is sit on the internet and keep complaining about nurses I don’t have that much time so this is my last post…and I will not be reading any further posts made by you. Youre not only ignorant you’re an idiot.
Your blog is right on!!! Its interesting that the only people who offer a negative opinion are not nurses. I am an Australian RN and your blog could have been written for me. Thanks and keep on keeping on.
Love this! Thanks for sharing with us. I can fully understand what you’ve been through because it is as exactly as what I thought and went through.
Now I’m working as Occupational Health Nurse. Much better flexibility than the times when I was working at the hospital but no regrets for the experiences from there that serves me as basic background on practiced skills.
Most of us can relate to this because at some point of time, we’re all in the same situation as what you’ve been through. So, we’re not alone & I’m sure we don’t regret being a nurse too. 🙂
I’ve been a nurse in a hospital for 29 years. I have had tons of gratifying moments. It was the job for me! Proud of where I worked. But times have changed. Work is harder. Patients don’t get the care they used to due to costs and understaffing. And they wonder why they complain. And try to smooth the complaints over. In the good years, when a patient went home, they were like family and you would miss them. No time to build those bonds now. So much less nursing satisfaction. I am sad to say that if someone is thinking about nursing- I discourage it. It’s a god forsaken job and you work like a dog especially on the floors. I always look at the teachers who sit home for endless holidays and all summer, and snow days. And say oh they work so hard with all those kids. PLEASE! People get a clue we dabble in body fluids and save lives for a living!
I fully understand where you are coming from, you should try to be a Registered Respiratory Therapist, most hospital staff think we just sit around and wait to be called to give a breathing treatment once in a while, however we are much shorter staffed and have at least 40-50 treatments to give in an 8 hour shift plus all the stat calls we all have difficult jobs in healthcare, and most of us have the same gripes and complaints I work with MR/CP clients who don’t know how to communicate their problems so we basically have to guess and then unfortunately fight them just to treat them. I’ve been in Respiratory 29 years, it’s hard but I am extremely happy to be able to help anyone in need and yes there are days I go home crying and not wanting to go in for another 12 hours shift and know I’ll be getting a call on my day off to cover for someone else who has called off, I have a hard time saying yes, but i do it because these people need someone on their side to take care of them. You may want to consider taking a job in management or possibly case manager. I know they work hard as well but most likely don’t come in contact with the patients, or consider taking a break from nursing altogether, it called burnout sometimes taking a break from the day-to-day for awhile will give you the break you need and make you happier when you go back into the patient care area if the profession. Just remember anyone in healthcare has felt the way you do or will, the colleges don’t really prepare you for the real hard and fast of patient care. and what you really have to give up to work in these professions.
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