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 
I am now fortunate enough to work an 8.30-5 office job in nursing (in the private sector). I love my job and am very thankful for it. I remember too well the sacrificial alter of nursing and the constant strain of demand put onto nurses. And now, there is so much negative press about nurses that I am surprised any keep going! Of course, there will always be those who aren’t as conscientious or caring … but it is hard to maintain that level of care when you are constantly battered and bruised by a system and society who tell you that what you do isn’t good enough! All work has its pressures and people in all professions face the family/work balance dilemma. But most other professions don’t have to deal with grief, death, dying, fear etc as the medical and nursing profession has to. Nursing is a profession like no other. It is hard and challenging and it is, at times, terrifying. I would like to thank, with all my heart, all of you who continue to work in this soul-destroying system! All of you who care for us when we are ill and frightened! THANKYOU! I am sincerely glad that you do it.
I know exactly what you were talking about. I nursed for 32 years and worked various different areas, med, surgery, and psychiatry. Staffing was always short, Patients getting sicker on admission, nurse-patient ratio too high and the government regulating more and more paperwork fr us to do in mandated times. I loved my patients, worked overtime more often than not trying to finish my charting and went home feeling guilty that I had not had sufficient time to spend with my less ill clients. Sleep was something you grabbed when you could. I have grocery shopped after working all night, come home to look after my family etc.etc.
At age 55 I could not take it anymore and retired gratefully. Reason–not able to give to my patients the care they needed and deserved. Bureaucracy and paper work drove me out. I now volunteer my time helping others and love it. I was a Canadian nurse.
As a Rn for 39yrs in OB, Med Surg, 10 ys ICU, 10 yrs, Cath Lab and 8 yrs in Home Hospice I can agree with all that you say. Due to health issues, I have retired from nursing. It was God doing for me-what I couldn’t do for myself. I loved what I did when working, a lot of the time. However, it took too much out of me. I was constantly tense and irritable. I missed out on so much while my kids were -growing up. Self care was never a priority. So health care workers everywhere-remember that being a caregiver does not define who you are-but what you do. Take time for yourself, even if it is 15 min. a day. You can’t give if your cup is half full. Self care helps fill the cup so you have something to give others.
Thank you!!! It is nice to know others feel the same.
I get it! My daughter is a nurse and I don’t know how you do it. I never understood why hospitals even “allow” nurses to work back to back shifts when dealing with people with life threatening illnesses or any patients. They aren’t in the hospital on vacation. You can’t be the best decision maker working physically and emotionally exhausting shifts. The reality is we, the patients, should be the ones complaining to hospitals about that practice. God Bless you and all nurses for what you do!
This is a copy of the response I gave a young nurse I know.
Sorry, but I can’t shed a tear for this one. Nursing is not a profession, it is merely a low paying / low respect job in primarily a female ghetto, that ruins family life for all involved directly or indirectly.
During the indoctrination phase in a nursing school or college or now the required university degree programs, students who are primarily females are preyed upon for their “loving, caring, compassionate” psyche to promote the ideals of nursing. Little do they realize they will be treated like shit by their ultimate employer – the government in it’s quest for votes and the delivery of a service at the cheapest means possible, all on the backs of the direct health care professionals. In conjunction with the College of Nurses that promotes “ideal nursing,” what other employer can get away with charging their employees $15 to $20 to park their car to come to work, what other profession can get away without giving their employees a proper and regular work or lunch break, in a staffed cafeteria 24/7, what other profession can force the employee to remain with the patient long after their quitting time under the guise of nursing responsibilities, and the list is endless. Try doing that with other government employees such as doctors, firemen, policemen, teachers, or any other civil servant – oh they can strike – nurses can’t.
So you work understaffed, with ever increasing responsibilities. You take specialty courses on your own time, but is that reflected in increased pay rates – nope a nurse is a nurse is a nurse. Heck a teacher takes a course in basket weaving, gets reimbursed, then is given a pay raise in the grid.
So you start your career in a nursing school taking a 3 year course, the government seeing a shortage of nurses due to politics of funding then defunding, revamps it into a temporary 2 year program – bing bang boom you are now a nurse. Next thing you are “head hunted” to start up a coronary care unit at a brand new hospital. Then you are offered a position in another larger hospital’s busy emergency department, where you experience 2 or 3 MVA, or boating snow mobile deaths of children to adults, a couple of heart attacks and other deaths daily – and you are to walk out at the end of your shift as nothing has happened or effected your mental and emotional well being – bullshit – you eventually built an “emotional wall” around yourself – a wall that extends to your family. So along comes a new kidney dialysis program and you take it at the coaxing of your family – hey they might see more of you – Well that stable patient dialysis unit grows due to the fact of the ever increasing kidney failures of the population by 15% to 20% a year. You expand, and expand and expand, then you open satellite units at hospitals throughout Simcoe and Muskoka and your little stable patient unit becomes the acute unit. Acute patients – more suffering and dying not to mention getting poked by aids needles, catching all kinds of “Superbugs” that effects your health and the health of the nurses family and pets. So you lose your immune system, sprain your back from lifting 500lb patients – hell a garbage man only has to lift 40lb trash cans. Then the superbugs are on your clothing when you come home, giving MRSA to the family pet in the form of MRSP along with a couple of other super bugs. Pathology reports from the death of your dog have a clear path back to you the nurse and the hospital.
So dinners go cold, your son’s hockey games go missed, your daughter’s dancing recitals missed. Trips and vacations – forget it – you are so exhausted, all you do is sleep.
Is it me- nope, just go ask any spouse / significant other / etc. of a nurse and they will tell you the same thing. In fact I could easily get a list of over 100 nurse spouses right now that would say the same thing – Nursing sucks! Nurses are nice people, but why bother get involved with one as there is no family life – you are married to the hospital just as much as the nurse is.
In 2009 after 32 years of marriage to the hospital, having raised my 2 kids through university and seeing them settle into decent jobs, building a monster home on Georgian Bay figuring I would give it another try, I got a separation. Yup I am now legally separated from the hospital. Live in the same house, but at 8500 sq feet, it is like living in an apartment building. My nurse won’t retire/quit/ etc., even though she could easily do that – money is not the object. We never fought or quarreled, all very civilized, but in the end I would like a life without nursing and hospitals for myself. Is it me – nope the nursing industry (it is not a profession) has one of the highest divorce rates of any careers.
You are young, have a nice boyfriend, probably someday would like to start a family – then plan an exit strategy now to get out of hospital nursing – look to other areas of nursing – a doctor’s office, a clinic, etc.
Oh, and BTW – I noticed this post a few hours ago, since then I was awaken by my nurse – she lives on a different floor. Got up around 3:30 and put the coffee on in our community kitchen, made her lunch, went out and cleaned the snow off her car as a coyote walked down the street and stopped to watch and wonder what I was up so early for along with warming up the car. She left at 5:30, if I am lucky, might see her at 9:30 tonight, some days it can be well after midnight. Then if it an 11 to 11, forget seeing her at all. So I might as well have my own life.
Before I forget, don’t forget to send the College of Nurses your $175.15 nursing registration fee before midnight December 31st so you can be taken advantage of for another year, else it will be $250 Jan. 1st. I am just venting! Have a great day!
And while you to vent try not to offend and insult other professions that you obviously know nothing about. Most of those you attacked do respect, understand and support your concerns.
AMEN!!!! Could NOT have said it any better, though I’ve been trying for years!!!
I was in the hospital end of june into july. I had the shingles terribly. Most of my nurses and cnas were very kind. I could see they were very tired from going to room to room. They were outta breath. Even though i was deathly sick, i would say when you time in the next hour i would like some pain meds. I never demanded anything and i know that is was appricated! Thank you nurses and cnas at Wausau Aspris Hospital in wausau, WI
I agree with what everyone is saying. It’s exactly like that in nursing. Except this job I’m at right now. I am a case manager for Hospice. I feel respected by my coworkers and upper management. I’ve never received a single disparaging comment from anyone. We work as a team. It’s such a great place to work for and I can’t imagine ever going back to working a unit at a hospital or nursing home. Now, granted, there are still stressful times, especially when you have a higher than normal caseload, several patients on crisis care, and 24 hour visits that have to be made after an admission, but you also always have other nurses to draw help from. And if I need to take a mental health day, it’s not frowned upon, in fact it’s ENCOURAGED! Most families are actually appreciative of everything the nurses do for them. I know there are changes coming down the pike due to the new healthcare regulations. We’ll just have to see what that brings.
Nurses, just take care of yourselves, because remember: If you don’t take care of yourself, you won’t be able to take care of anyone else. And as one nurse to another – I thank you for all you do for your patients. I applaud you for the dedication you have for your work and the care you provide, and I have the deepest respect for all you do.
Well said. After 6 years in hospice care I became a statistic. A goal I hoped to never reach. Now 2 years past that I am a stay at home mom with a head full of useful information that I have no desire to use at the bedside. It is unfortunate. There are a lot of good nurses out there in the same predicament. I defined myself as a nurse and did so with pride. Now I find myself trying to redefine my role in society…and not with much luck. The situation with your co-worker is unfortunately not unique as I’m sure you know. It made me think back to all those times I was offered help, needed it, and pridefully declined with an “I’ve got this, it’s ok, I’ll be all right”. Martyrs indeed
A stay at home mom is th most important job you will do in your lifetime. Put into it the research and knowledge you did as a nurse. One day you will look back and hopefully not have any regrets. And realize that who cares what society defines you as! You are a mom. PRICELESS TO YOUR CHILDREN. ♥
Absolutely love your post, couldn’t have described it better myself. After 31 yrs of nursing, I still am in awe of my nursing peers! I went to home care because of what you describe, I just didn’t want to drive myself into that proverbial wall. I was hating my job and myself for choosing a profession that I was called to, but hit in the face by reality of what it really was…a real dilemma. Home care was my salvation, my true calling, and although I gave up money and professional respect, I gained a life. I know it’s not for everyone (you either love it or hate it) but it kept me in nursing. I am now a manager and I try everyday to focus on keeping my staff happy, emotionally grounded, and professionally supported. It’s hard work, knowing what they face everyday, but I am glad to give to them what I have. I was lucky, I found my path, I hope whoever reads this keeps looking for theirs. Nursing may be rough, but when you see/feel you made a difference…it is beyond compare!
I am not a nurse but would like to address 12 hour shift nurses…you work THREE DAYS A WEEK! You have four full days to get rest and do all of those other things during the day that the rest of us with those easy M-F 8-530 jobs just can’t fit in. The business world functions on weekdays and I am often hard pressed to get any personal business accomplished. Going to the Doctor or the mortgage company or the financial aid office at my kid’s universities or getting my teeth cleaned NEVER HAPPENS without vacation time. You have that option every week. I’m sorry you work some holidays and weekends but that is the personal price you pay for choosing an occupation that requires 24/7 staffing. I am grateful for you and what you do but do not believe you have it worse than everyone else. Now go and enjoy your four days off!
Not all nurses work 12 hour shifts, AND I think one of the points of this blog is it is impossible to do a good job due to the work load, and when nurses don’t do a good job, people die. What happens when you miss a deadline on your paper pushing job? Oh, nothing. I think the stress of missing a deadline for a report is different than missing someone’s medication or missing an important symptom of a change in someone’s medical status. I hate to be ugly, but if you’re going to trivialize my profession, you earned your tounge lashing.
Shut the hell up please!
Seriously?? You think having 4 days off means we leap out of bed & hit the shops? There is a reason there is a 3 day limit for 12 hour shifts. On a night shift u start at 7pm & u r still at it at 7am. Then u drive home & if yr lucky yr in bed by 9am. Then get as much sleep as u can (if yr super lucky & get 6 hours u will have a whole 3 hours until u have to be standing on the ward again). Our job is physically emotionally & mentally tiring. I worked in a bank for 7 years & worked as a nurse for 25 years. I often think about how easy it was to get up the same time every day, rush around in my lunch hour & have a real dinner when l got home. Yes, it was my choice to change but dont think for one minute l dont think about getting my easy life back.
This is a typical response I hear all the time. Yes its nice to have four days off. But you will never understand this blog unless you are a nurse and have experienced it. You can’t compare if you havnt been a hospital nurse trust me.
Not to mention the phone calls on your days off to replace sick staff members where you feel so bad your work family is gonna suffer more and work even shorter so you sacrifice your home family once again and go in on one of your 4 days off or 2 of your 3 days off etc …
Unless you have walked a mile in the shoes of a nurse, don’t EVEN tell me “you only work 3 days a week”. I am irritated beyond words right now!
youre so tired after 3 nights you can hardly walk, talk or think, let alone sleep, over tired, and you just try to turn yourself around so you can get rested a bit to go back for another round of bashing.
you really do not know how that scheduling works do you. 3 on 2 off then back to it you really think they are off 4 days a week. you are living the lie they tell all the new nurses. depending on your rotation you can work 6 strait to get 4 strait off is that a trade off when you have an hour commute to and fro then fit in eating and that’s if you get off on time never happens you get your 8 hours of sleep shower gt ready and back to it. not to mention the 12 hour shift without a lunch half the time since there is not someone to cover your patient much less if you get a chance to take a crap. you do not work it and until you are in there shoes do not begin to tell how awesome the shifts are. my wife and sister are nurses and i have seen it on the front lines.
I will never say the hours I work are more difficult than someone else who works 9-5 Monday through Friday.
I will say that your rather uneducated opinion on how we “only work three nights a week” and have four whole wonderful days off to get things done is less than accurate. It isn’t that simple.
I am 25 years old and work at a specialized hospital with high acuity levels 24/7. My “12 hour shift” is always a minimum 13 hours and I promise you, unless you are a fitness trainer or do sales door to door, I am on my feet for 98% of that shift and most people will never understand how that feels. We work what you work over five days in three. We will complete 40+ hours of mentally challenging, emotionally draining yet heartwarming work over the course of three days. That is NOT an easy task by any means and usually requires a full day of recovery. Those nights may be back to back or spread out over the course a week. I sleep during the day if I am allowed to by all the other aspects of life that forget I work shift work.
Sleep is more difficult during the day as I fight my body’s natural circadian rhythm. My life expectancy is cut short and my hormone levels are off. I am probably building insulin resistance solely based on the hours I work, not because I don’t workout every day of the week to keep my self in shape. I do not want sympathy or to make claims on who works more difficult hours. (Quite frankly my opinion is that it is all relative) I do know that after working those 40 hours in three measly days I need several other days off to recharge so that I can go back in to that hospital and make decisions that can literally mean life or death for people that I don’t even know, but I love and care about by nature.
I did choose this profession and I wear my badge with pride. I choose to continue to do this because not everyone has it in them to do so and I love what I do. I am thankful for the work you do and would never address you or any other Monday-through-Friday-Nine-to-Fiver the way you addressed nurses. Maybe your line of work asks you to make life or death judgment calls, but maybe it does not. Regardless, you should practice empathy when considering what it may be like for someone else before speaking in such a cavalier tone to a group of people who will likely be there for you or your family in a time of need.
You’re so vein you probably think this song is about you…… when writing a review article about cheesecake you don’t include your opinion on a review of pasta sauce brands. To the devoted nurse who wrote this blog you are spot on. No one can relate other than a fellow nurse or maybe a family member of a nurse.I say time and again, I love the patients, I love my field, its just all the other s*** .I have had other jobs before becoming a nurse. Yes all jobs have a level of demands. However, nothing compares to nursing. I too dread going to work. I don’t even call out for those mental days because I am worried about who will take care of the patients.Nursing indeed is a very abusive field. Thankfully nurses have support from each other. Thank you for the blog.
This made me feel better about life as a nurse! At least somebody understands!!
I have just graduated with a BA in nursing, I am starting my newgrad year at the beginning of feb and I am absolutely terrified. I know I am a good nurse and I am smart but I am terrified. im terrified of making a mistake, letting my patient and their families down, letting my nursing team down, looking and feeling incompetent to the more experienced nurses and doctors and most of all I’m terrified I have taken the wrong career path and will absolutely hate my job. I just pray that kind hearted nurses like you are around to support me and all other newgrads in my position! Nursing is definitely a hard job and university (mine at least) does not prepare you enough!
Amanda, it’s a given that you will make mistakes from time to time, as you’re only human. That said, 99% of mistakes aren’t likely to be hazardous to the patient, although they should be reported. Just pay close attention to what you’re doing, NEVER let anyone distract you while you’re preparing and giving medication, and that will eliminate lots of potential problems.
And, yes, it IS a shock when you leave school and actually start functioning as a nurse. Nursing school qualifies you to ENTER the field, but most of your education will come through working as a nurse. And I won’t lie to you, it’s going to be hard for the first year or so. Just make sure you take a job with a place that supports new graduates well, preferably with a charge nurse and preceptor who enjoy teaching. Remember that, while nursing is terribly hard at times, it’s also extremely rewarding.
And one other perk of the job: if you find yourself absolutely hating what you’re doing, there are other nursing opportunities, often right in the same facility, that allow you to do a completely different job, without losing seniority or having to apply to other employers.
I commend you for voicing your opinion in such a well written and truthful manor. Im a paramedic by proffession and im dating an RN who expresses the exact same stressors after a difficult night shift. She’s regularly placed in busy districts on her unit and is forced to work double what some of her senior coworkers do because she’s a new grad. As for myself, i work similar 12 hr shifts, overnights, holidays and weekends and due to regular understaffing of nurses on holidays and weekends, we regularly find ourselves being the middle man to the nursing homes and hospitals as they either discharge as many patients as they can or “request evaluations” for patients in the ER knowing full well that for most elderly patients, a trip to the ER from a nursing facility typically results in a few days on a med surge floor for urosepsis, Pneumonia, uncontrolled HTN, or DM to name a few. But to get back to the topic of over worked and understaffed, healthcare management are forcing the senarios on their staff and the health care system as a whole and while were flooding hospitals in most cases what can be considered Non-emergent, very minor illness or injury, my partners and I find ourselves serving the ER’s we transport to in the capacity of an RN while were there dropping off patients. We make beds, start IV’s, draw bloods, continue medicating patients from our drug bags as well as various other tasks because of the neglected staffing ratios of hospitals. Ive worked in many systems in my 13 years doing this and NOTHING has changed for the better on behalf of the nurses. Responsibility, ancillary specialty certifications, and continuing medical education requirements have all been on the increase over the years and the added workload on the nursing proffession is unrecognized.
It takes a big heart, pride in your work and a willingness to sacrifice a touch of personal sanity to continue providing all that you do as a Nurse.
People with an office job will never understand the thoughts or feelings of people like us after saving or losing a patient.
Remember what truly made us follow these careers. It certainly wasnt for the Money! Lol
Thankyou for all you guys do!!!
I truly believe that nurses are angels! It can be a thankless job at times. However, there is no more noble and needed profession in the world! Doctors do their surgeries, rounds, etc while nurses remain in the immediate domain of the recovering patient. Sometimes your dedication, expertise, and demeanor are the catalyst in the successful recoveries of your patients! And yes sometimes it is the thing that makes living more comfortable when nothing more can be done! I appreciate the positive attitude most nurses display and am sometimes blown away by the untiring dedication! God bless you and keep you as you keep all of us! THANKS!
Hoorah. Thank you for saying exactly what every nurse I know and work with say and feel everyday. I am a Surgical/Trauma ICU nurse at a very large Medical Center. I work weekend option which means I work every weekend except for 10 weekend days a year. Do I miss a lot of family/friend time—yes but I choose to do so. I have done this for 21 years and I cannot think of any other job I would rather be doing. Yes there are days when I ask myself why do I do this. Then I look at the patients I care for and their families and the answer is already there for me. We care for the sickest and the most injured patients any nurse could have. Our ratio is 2 to 1 but on a lot of days it could feel like 10 to 1. I am a male nurse and proud to be one. Fortunately we have a great support system in the unit–EACH OTHER and sometimes a simple hug from a co-worker is all that is needed to get through the rest of the shift. I have worked many Christmas holidays for younger nurses who have small children at home and would like to spend that time with them that they will never get back if they had to work. My children are grown and we always have Christmas when I can be there with my grandchildren. Yes it may not be on Christmas day but that has never mattered to them or myself. I applaud you for this blog. It is much needed and I hope many non-nursing people, families, etc get a chance to read your statement about some really great people who do a job that many times goes unrewarded. Thank you!
I worked on the night shift at a local hospital for years. I loved bedside care, but left to provide nursing education on a medical device. I truly believe that “the nursing shortage” is more because nurses cannot continue to work under the demands required by hospitals. As you mentioned, nurses are exhausted. Somewhere the heart of nursing has been lost to the bottom line and patient satisfaction. I used to care for 8 critically ill patients and get a minimum of 2 admissions per night. ..EVERY night. This was a step down ICU/cardiac unit where I was running high risk IV drips. These patients received the best care I could provide, but not what I wanted to provide. It was just too much. I came home one morning and told my husband that I just couldn’t do it anymore. I found my current employer and left. I wish hospital administration could walk in our shoes. Our CNO (and nurse managers ) has forgotten what it is like to work directly with patients. They are lost in a sea of meetings and CMS red tape. If someone in hospital administration is reading this. ..Please hear our cry!!!! Stop the madness.
in response to sharon- this same thing happened to me-belittled out of my 32 year position with facility-always having received exemplary evaluations,great salary, plus many benefits earned over this time, and then whop–position gone to 2 new employees who now have my position and salary. not to say that in those 32 years many personal sacrifices went by unspoken. Thank you for the very “spot-on” article and blogs.
Wonderful article, written from the heart. I’m a non-patient care nurse at this point, but I can assure you, the stress is no less. Even in my business, we are “graded” (and deflated) on an almost daily basis. The bottom line is the defining factor!
Thank you for writing and sharing this. I’ve only been a nurse for a few years and just recently quit my job. I do not want to go back. It feels like the life has just been sucked out of me. Nurses in Illinois should support the legislation for nurse to patient ratio laws. I have had as many as 22 patients and management didn’t get why I was upset!!!
That really summed up my weekend. I came in on Saturday received report and burst into tears. My assignment with two dying patients a total and a gentleman that was having uncontrolled pain and the potential of having the first admission was the final straw. They have us fill out acuities but don’t follow them. I spent about 90 percent of my weekend in those very busy emotional rooms. Having all that plus all the other things pop up I’m just done. I had went and talked to my director not even 2 weeks ago and told her I was burnt out. She blew me off. I told her I just wanted to go to ssu for like 6 months. Somewhere where people where happier and not so sick. She told me i could float occasionally. Yeah 😦
Jean, like so many nurses, I am so very sorry for what you are going through, and I have been there, and I have changed jobs because of it. I sincerely hope you are able to find new work that allows you to care for yourself as well as your patients, and if you need to talk, I’m around.
If you dont want all the crap that comes with nursing…GET OUT OF IT!! or dont do it in first place..We’ve always been underpaid and had crappy schedules etc. and we always will!! Quit the dang whinning!!!!!!!!!!!!! From a nurse of 33 years who has been through all the above….
Were you forced to read my blog? I mean, really, were you? Blogs are for relating personal experience. This is mine. You really don’t have to come back.
Sorry for the bad experiences with nurses. Good hearted hard working smart nurses have taken huge pay cuts to leave the profession. Many of the ones left have no other options for themselves or are covering for those staff members and getting burned out to the point of ineffectiveness. I routinely gave meds and treatments to 25 patients while taking full responsibility for 6 aides and triaged multiple emergencies. I did this under a cloud of angry threats from families and upper level administration. Requiring nurses to simultaneously keep people alive while policing non licensed staff while under the constant threat of losing everything in a lawsuit for a business is absurd. It is a broken system. I was a compassionate and competent clinician. Self care is good but inadequate. How about applying the nursing process to the problem and uniting to heal a broken system?
Well written article! While I am a social worker and not a nurse I grew up with my mother who was. I would never be able to do what nurses do. Unfortunately the comments some have written do not take in account the fact that this is one person’s experience not everybody else’s. We all have different experiences and we all have different values. There are many jobs that are stressful and emotional and tough to cope with sometimes. I would be lying if I didn’t say I have felt all of the above but to say that some are more important than other’s seems somewhat silly. So again, well done will the blog post! Nice to hear some honesty and realism about a profession that can be challenging and often times heartbreaking.
That, as an educator, is the vital component left out of nursing education- adequate self care and healthy boundary creation. It is as vital to survival in the healthcare workforce (because believe me- I see the exact same lack of self care in the EMS portion of the healthcare chain) as foundational knowledge in A&P. Besides, in the end, I can only truly give sustainable compassion to others if I am already giving sustainable compassion to my number one responsibility- Me. Thanks for posting this blog! Rich Width RN, EMT
I grew up with a mom who was a nurse so I understand the holiday absences. I do need to make one small point. I think ur husband needs to have a talk with his mother. It’s not ur job to explain things to her. It’s his! It’s HIS mother. When me and my sister were kids we missed out mom terribly on Xmas every other year. She worked weekends too. My father was awesome bcuz he sat us down and explained the importance of my moms job and why she had to miss Xmas. And also how much she wanted to be with us but couldn’t. I think ur spouse needs to find his voice and support you and tell HIS mother to mind her business or help out instead of bitching.
I don’t know if you saw the note I added to my blog, but I did sit down and talk with my husband about holidays and now we do not have holiday meals on days I have to work. No last minute cleaning, no tired cooking, and actual sleep. Better for me, better for my patients. If we had children, it would be very different, but we do not.
I am wondering about the about the TITLE of your blog, The Effects of Nursing on Nurses.
I am thinking perhaps” The Effects of Unrealistic and Non-flexible Demands on Nurses”.
Largely the nursing profession comprises women..who continue to be overworked , both at home and in the workplace..it is supposed to be invisible.. magic. Nurses are expected to care and be available (the moral code of nuns)
As a profession, with the medical model, which is extremely hierarchical..and the backbone of one on one care.
It is not the effects of NURSING on Nurses..it is the institutional and social model within which nurses work.
Not changing my blog. Thanks.
Every single nurse should read this blog. Why is it “nurses eat their own?” I have been a nurse in Labor & Delivery for over 30 yrs. Still work full time. We have a UPC as well. There is absolutely no reason why a nurse cannot request a day off for special occasions. Are you required to work Fri. Sat. & Sun. On your weekends, all 12 hr shifts? Why did this nurse, as the coach request vacation time or work two weekends in a row to go to the playoff game?
I love your blog, so very true. We give 100% of ourselves to our patients while at work. I know for me, there is nothing left to give when I get home. I love what I do but am counting down to retirement. Keep posting. It is good therapy to express yourself. Like you said, we do not take the time to take care of us. I so agree. Thank you!
At the time, we had a very restrictive, VERY restrictive weekend policy that did not allow vacations on your weekends or even shift switching. Now we do. But yes, she should have tried to get the day off. Thankfully, I was able to come in and everything worked out. It was her tears that led me to post this entry, though. I literally came home from giving her report and wrote this back in August.
I just want to say Thank You to all the nurses out there. I have been a mother in the hospital long term with a sick child and a patient myself. You are truly angels on earth.
Nurses, I’m a chaplain. We work side by side with you, we see what you do. We are here to help the patients–but we are here for you too. How can we best support you and help you get through on those tough days–besides pray for you (which we already do!). How can I help you remember that there is no other job as tough…or as rewarding….as what you do each day.
Thank you for posting this!!!
I agree with everything said about nursing. I hated it after graduating and so went on to become a nurse practitioner. While that helped solve some of the issues you are talking about, it created new ones. They don’t have enough money to pay me to ever become a floor nurse again. I have worked as an adjunct professor and while teaching some of the students, know the excitement will probably disappear after the first month on the floor. It is a very sad thing to say.
I have to say I’ve been a nurse for 7 years and staffing has always been a problem. Nurses understand patients needs and that they get aggravated wanted better care. However, nurses feel arrivistes at being unable to provide the care thy want to for lack of time, huge patient/ nurse ratios. I personally worked until a few years ago and, midnights and felt I’ll myself. I went to urgent care twice with no blood being drawn and a doc asking me what I needed!! I was told I was diabetic and then told I had a sinus infection. As it turns out I have leukemia and have since had stem cell transplant and now graft vs host disease. I was fired be ause I was salary and ran out of sick/ vacation time. Lost my insurance and could not get help from state until I racked up additional $15,000.00 in med bills every 6 months. Its been 2 years since the transplant and people think being a nurse I get a large social security check…. Well guess again. I get less in one month than I made in one week. I owe student loans and my credit is now in the tank.
So, people need to understand nurses get e erythronium they get. Aggravated and work while I’ll. I worked a few months before diagnosis and was so sick, but I worked to provide my patients the best care. I miss my job so very much and will probably never get to nurse again. So, please see both sides. Nurses sacrifice every day, while many are a patient for just a few days a year.
Thank you for sharing that. As the daughter of a nurse for over thirty years, I can tell you this is on point. We kids knew that the schedule went in months in advance. So the first thing we learned to ask our teachers (on the first day of school) was for all of the dates of field trips, meetings, performances, anything that would possibly require my mom to have to be off to come to. We knew that if we learned of a special occasion weeks or days instead of months before, mom couldn’t go. Most of the time I just didn’t tell her if an occasion was given to me too late for her to get off….the pain in her eyes was too much for me. The hardest thing for my mom was that she was the only parent so she knew if she couldn’t make it, we would have no one there.
When my mom was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer last year, her whole unit showed up for her. From donating their leave so my mom wouldn’t have to worry about losing her pay checks to giving her money and food to praying with her to holding vigils at the hospital for her to planning and funding the repast at her death, these women were nothing but phenomenal to her. When my momma’s time came to die, she was brought to the hospital that she worked at for twenty five years. When I called to say she was coming, there were four doctors and the director of nursing met the ambulance. The doctors immediately sprang into action to save “their Goldie” and the director of nursing was there for me….she held my hand and walked me through the registration. She was also there with the so many of momma’s fellow nurses when they told me the sad news that there was nothing else that could be done. They made the decision to put my mom on her unit.l.lthe unit she worked on…with the people she loved. And throughout the night, I could see these nurses struggling through their own tears valiantly taking care of my sweet momma and her daughters. They sang my momma’s favorite songs. The atheist ones even read my mother’s favorite bible verses. They played music for us when mom was in a coma and the silence was screaming. And when she died, they held and hugged us and still took care of us. Never weeping openly in front of us, but always there.
For this I will always say that nursing is the hardest profession. And I am grateful for all of the nurses that took such amazing care of my sweet momma throughout her brief illness and death. Their actions saved my momma’s heart and home.
After reading some of these comments, I’m surprised that most of you are still nursing? I have worked in jobs where I had to work every weekend and I often worked 10-14 hour days and sure I missed out on football games and recitals but that is reality of being a working parent. I spent 10 years putting myself through nursing school so that if I had to work at least I could do what I loved.
I knew going into the profession that it would be weekends and holiday as long as I worked in a hospital where care is 24/7.
Faye, most of us accept the reality that we won’t be home for important family milestones, or that we’ll be very tired after working long hours. But that doesn’t mean we can’t and won’t vent about it to others who understand the frustrations of nursing, as well as the compensations.
So you don’t feel the need to vent about your nursing schedule? Great! Maybe you can do what I (as a nurse whose children are grown) do: help out your coworkers who have a harder time being away from families on those important occasions. But, please, don’t put down those nurses who are frustrated and want to talk about it. You don’t know what their individual circumstances are, and it’s just possible that they’ve got a tougher row to hoe than you do.
I totally agree, I think it’s time to go back to 8 hour shifts! Also what about the PCTS/CNA? We also work very hard, we are your ears and eyes and report to you about the patient? And our ratio is twice/three times the patients. It’s sad to think acuity of a patient means nothing, it’s the numbers! It’s a business, not the human being anymore!! People need to remember one day you will be a patient in some way, and this will affect youl. I think a patient not only needs the physical care, but mentally and spiritual care! I have been in the medical field over thirty-five years, I have worked in a variety of areas with patients. It’s hard work, Nursing is not an easy field, I really believe you have to be a strong person to endure! Amen (:
Was on iPad. I’ll = ill Other typos should be understandable. So sorry.
As a Rehab physician, I am most appreciative of the nursing, ancillary staff, CNAs, and therapists, and I see how hard they work. Yes, many of the comments made on this blog are true. There are great nurses who will do anything to help, even covering shifts (or partial as the author of the blog has done), and there are others who only do their own shifts, and even work within their shift, without lifting a finger to help their nursing partners. There are those who gripe about the schedule, getting assigned “that patient”, and the nursing:patient ratio. There are two problems that I see in the nursing profession that should be “fixed” in order for all to really enjoy their art. First, nursing on a unit needs to be a team effort, not an individual effort with the CNAs, LPNs, and RNs all on the same team. Nurses shouldn’t be assigned patients, but assigned teams. During shift change report, the teams sit down and report, not individual nurses to nurses. This way, you eliminate the nurses that won’t help the others, They either join the team, or find another place to work. LPNs and RNs have different licensing, but need to eliminate the hierarchy, They all have to work together. Passing meds, wound care, etc should be as a team. Some nurses get caught performing long dressing changes, and the patient in the next room hasn’t received morning meds yet. Eliminated if working as a team. Second, hospitals are making HUGE monetary profits. They will tell you they are on the edge or bankruptcy, but nothing is further from the truth. Cutting staff is one way to increase profits. The PPS/DRG system of payment to hospitals is easy picking for fraud and abuse by hospital systems. Hospitals will decrease the staffing ratio (patient:nurse) to the bare minimum which leads to med errors, falls, and stress by staff, patients, and family members (see the mother blog above). A ratio of 7-8:1 is unsafe for patients. A ratio of 5:1 is about right. The only way, I see, to solve this issue, is that Medicare and/or State Legislature needs to pass laws/regulations that specifically state the nursing ratio in various settings. In acute care facility and rehab facility (5:1), ICU (1-2:1) nursing home (maybe 6:1), Assisted living (10-20:1). The laws need to be precise and not have loopholes. Third, and last for me, the laws need to have a time-off schedule. Airline pilots and truckers have specific time-out legislation, lives are at stake. Nurses also have lives at stake, and should have very specific time-out (meaning time away from work between shifts, number of shifts/month, number of weekends/month, etc.). Coming from a physician, I also work hard but I also see the hospitals making very large profits at the expense of their staff and patients. Patients are no longer “people” in most hospital systems, they are a Medicare or private insurance “dollar figure”. Fill the beds and discharge them (in two days for acute care) ASAP to capture as much PPS money as possible but don’t keep them as long as their DRG allows. Finally, if we (the medical community including Hospital Administrators) treated patients the way we would want our mother or father treated, with appropriate meds, supplies, and staffing, all would be happy with their jobs, and not desire to be “hit by a car so I can miss my shift!!”
We used to work as a team in my hospital but can’t now since LPN’s were “transitioned” to PCT’s. Before this happened, as an RN/LPN team, we would split the workload with the RN doing IV push drugs, assessments and calls to the doc. The LPN administered po meds, hung IV fluids and antibiotic meds along with any dressing changes and assisting the aides when they needed help. Now, we ( PCT’s) watch helplessly as the RN’s struggle to do all of the meds, all of the charting, all of the wound care/dressing changes, while still making calls to the docs and taking on the new larger patient load mandated by the hospital! It’s very frustrating to know that as an LPN (now a tech) I could take so much of the workload off the RN but can’t due to our hospitals new found drive to become a magnet hospital. And who is suffering most due to these new rules? The patient….changes need to happen but I don’t see administration and gov’t taking notice. As always, money is the bottom line.
I am an LPN Charge Nurse in a rehab/extended care facility and couldn’t agree more with your statement. In PA facilities are allowed to count nurses who do not provide direct care into minimum nursing hours for Medicare/Medicaid, meaning administrative nurses are counted towards daily totals. What is wrong with this picture? On any given day there are a minimum of 11 nurses (we are a 180 bed facility) counted into our nursing hours none of whom even answer a call bell or for that matter step onto a resident unit. Our supervisors do not assist in direct patient care and in fact have been told they are never to fill in for a Charge Nurse position as it “cost too much for them to be pushing a med cart”. I work 11-7 and normal staffing for my floor of 60 residents is myself and 3 CNA’s, on a good night we have an extra CNA for half the shift. As the LPN I am responsible for medications, treatments, charting, monitoring tube feedings, IV’s (including TPN at times), monitoring all 60 residents for any change in condition, making paperwork for appointments outside of facility, checking every chart for orders missed from the earlier shifts and that all orders have been taken off correctly, checking lab work, checking and completing physician orders/MARS/treatment records/and lab records for the next months documentation, filing paperwork into charts, acting as 4th CNA, and “any and all duties that fall in the scope of my practice”.
I have a half hour per shift deducted from my pay for a lunch I can’t take as I am the only nurse and can not leave my floor unattended. Most days I do not even get to use the ladies room before my shift is over. I rarely get off the unit on time and am chastised when I don’t but face disciplinary action if I forget to do something.
I have been hit, bit, “clothes lined” hard enough to cause a cervical strain, hair pulled, kicked, spit at, puked on, groped, cursed at, and called demeaning names. I have been refused to seek medical treatment when a patient bit me getting told that “someone would relieve me after they were done with their meeting” I finally sought treatment after my shift for what was by then a severely infected finger.
Yes, I picked my profession, I made my proverbial bed, but does that mean this is okay? Is this good nursing care? No matter how hard I try I feel there is someone who has to wait for care/medication. 28 years ago staffing ratio for this type of setting was higher and patient acuity levels were lower.
Yes, I cry before I go to work many nights but not for me, I cry for my patients. I cry for the patient who had to wait 30 minutes for pain med because I am in with a CNA doing a complete bed change on a combative patient who not only soiled the bed but ripped off all their dressings and pulled their foley out.
I wonder if the general public knew about the use of administrative positions being counted into nursing hours if they would think it was okay. As for me, I am leaving rehab/long term care for a doctor’s office setting. No, I haven’t deluded myself into thinking it’s all unicorns and rainbows but at least I will be able to give my patients the 1:1 they deserve.
Jean, I’m so sorry. I can hear the burn out in your post, I’m sorry your manager is so disconnected that she can’t understand. Keep looking for an answer, it’s out there.
I’m not a nurse, I work in mental health as a house monitor for 6 intensely schizophrenic men. I work in 18 hour shifts (3p-9a) and I work XMas and will work New Years this year. I feel your pain. I’ve dreaded coming into work, and once I even called in sick when the thought of going in made me hyperventilate. You nurses aren’t alone-we social workers and mental health professionals love and support you!
It is my opinion that when you enter into a profession, especially one that involves taking care of others, that you chose to do so because you genuinely want to help others and know what it entails to do so…working long hours. I do not agree with the way the medical profession schedules Nurses or any other licensed care giver because I feel that you can not give 100% of yourself and mistakes WILL happen. Having had elderly parents that required skilled nursing assistant, I saw the effects it had on all involved. No it is not an easy job and if you feel you can’t handle your job anymore, then it’s time to get out. I really do not think anyone thinks you or any nurse is uneducated. I have many friends who are in the Medical profession and thankfully they love their job and I would place my life into any one of their care….You…I would not….suck it up sweetie or change careers!
I respect your opinion, but I want to ask you how easily you could change careers, right at this moment? How easily could most of the people you know change careers? Here’s the problem, you read a post from a frustrated nurse urging other nurses to make an effort to meet their emotional and mental health needs and took it to mean I can’t handle my job. Of course I can handle my job. Most nurses I know cannot change careers. Being nurses, we really can’t just do anything but be nurses. While there are many kinds of nursing, they are often difficult to transition into. At no point in my blog entry did I say I could not handle my work. What I did was encourage self care, and encourage looking out for your fellow nurse.
Amen, Grimalkin! I’m a little surprised at how many nurses are reacting negatively to the venting here. I mean, as nurses we allow (and even encourage) our patients to process their fears and frustrations. Why would we NOT think that nurses, too, need to process fears and frustrations? We’re only human, And sometimes talking about it in private with others who understand what we’re going through gives us the strength to keep on.
Suck it up sweetie? Are you kidding me? You are incredibly rude, thoughtless, and you have NO CLUE the sacrifices required being in healthcare. I would place my life in this nurse’s hands any day of the week because it’s obvious she still CARES about her job, her patients, her colleagues, and herself. Until you take a walk in her shoes, why don’t YOU SUCK IT UP SWEETIE?!?! K?
Only the recently hired are ‘forced’ to work every other weekend on my floor and that is not fair. I hate it. And there’s never anyone to trade with if I have plans. I hate it. Some days I just wish I would’ve stayed at my old job. Yeah, it’s that bad.
I’m not a nurse but I know all about 12 shifts! I work as an operator in a power plant. 24 hours a day, 365 days a year we are there, understaffed, overworked, expected to do more with less. Burn-out, stress, family events, holidays, been there missed or experienced them all! I’m lucky I have a great support system, my hubby has always supported me. Our son grew up knowing I couldn’t always be here my salary allows us to live the way we do. This is just understood in my home! If I need sleep, they leave me alone, phone is unplugged, sign goes up on our door. After 30 years of this I can see the light at the end of the tunnel, unfortunately though my body is breaking down, I have had 6 surgeries in as many years, both shoulders, gall bladder, right hand 3 times now! My job is very physical I hope this old body lets me retire instead of becoming so disabled I can’t enjoy my retirement, 4 years to go!
Thank you so much for sharing this. It reminded me if how I have been feeling lately, and how I need to remind myself that I can’t do it all…
As I read this, I could really relate as well. I am a respiratory therapist. We all deal with the same issues. Lots of really sick patients and not enough therapists to go around. I worked in small rural hospitals where there was only me on duty for the whole hospital. It gets pretty stressful when the icu is paging you that your patient on the ventilator is crashing while you’re in the nursery bagging the premature infant that was just born and the er is calling saying they have a code coming in 5 minutes out and your copd patient on the med- surg floor wants their treatment early. I too, have wiped patients tears, held their hands as they passed away, cried with family members, and got into fights with the md over a medication or treatment plan. We all strive to be and do the best we can each day we go to work. And yes, there have been days when I have needed to take a mental health day or wished that something would happen just so I didn’t have to go back in to work. I agree completely, take care of yourself!
Hi I work in aged care and I couldn’t agree more!! We run ourself into the ground to help people to get better or to be there when they pass away…but no one is there for us!! If the world didn’t have nurses of all kinds where would we be???? Please remember nurse are here to help being nice to us helps and so does a simple thank you….to the nurse out there stay strong.
After reading the post above I had to voice my opinion. I have a rare genetic neuromuscular disease and have been in the hospital more times then I’d like to admit. My first hospital stay was when I was 19 and I’m now 45. I would like to THANK all the nurses who have come to my aid and did everything they could to help me both physically and emotionally through the severe pain and life threating episodes that I experience. I think that in every profession there are always going to be people who picked the wrong profession and are miserable because of it. It’s just not right for anyone to judge all nurses by someone else’s actions. I know that most of the hospitals I’ve been to have been understaffed. I’ve seen terribly run ER’s were there are nurses gossiping about patients in a way that was totally disrespectful, and I’ve also been to ER’s run extremely well and have gotten excellent care. I have had nurses that have shown me such kindness when I needed most, and I will be forever grateful. I always show anyone including nurses respect and kindness when I’m being treated with respect and kindness. I also make an effort (if I am able) to speak up if something isn’t right, I once had the head of administration come to my room because I took the time when I had a moment the day before I discharged to write down my complaint to the hospital. I was put in a room that was filthy with an air vent that didn’t work,(my illness effects my lungs and heart) and I’m pretty sure they were trying to save money with the cleaning staff and expecting the nurses to take care of it. I made sure the hospital administration listened and I also made sure the hospital knew how lucky they were to have such excellent nurses. My family and I always make sure we let the nurses know how much we appreciate them. My family also makes sure someone is with me to help take care of me during my hospital stays. I never thought to write a complaint about understaffing to help the nurses and patients. I appreciate your blog and will now try and make an effort to speak to hospital administration or write a letter to any hospital I visit that is understaffed, I think that there should be laws put into place regarding the amount of time any healthcare worker should be allowed to work in one shift, Not only for their emotional well being but for the safety and care of patients. Here is a link to an article I found regarding a study on the amount of hours nurses work. http://content.healthaffairs.org/content/23/4/202.long I also want to add that most of the nurses I have met are very intelligent and have helped me figure out how to manage my rare disease. So I’d like to say a Big Thank You! to all the healthcare providers out there. I appreciate you!
We need to take this blog one step further to letter writing to your board of nursing, governor, senators, republicans and any other state/federal representatives. Words on paper are valuable. You might think one person one letter will not make a difference and you would be right. But many letters voicing similar concerns of patient safety and hostile work environments will catch a lot of attention. If we all as one unit make our voices known there is now way we will be ignored. And don’t be afraid of retailiation because what more can be done to us – nothing. Nursing crisis is upon us people. As it is there are not enough nursing graduates to take the place of the expected number of soon to be retired nurses. So do not fear about getting fired for speaking up. If they fire you, get louder. rely on your fellow nurses to make your case known by increasing letters to representatives. You will always have a job as a nurse. Letter writing can make a difference. In fact it is imperative to instituting change. Law makers need to make precedented changes one small step at a time. But they need pen to paper to make that happen. Nothing says nursing profession as it is has to remain this way. You can change it. We can change it. Let’s do it.
I’m saddened by the treatment if our nurses! My family comes from a long line, I myself am a RVT (reg. vet tech) not exactly the same but I can relate in SOOOO many ways! We work long ass shifts, every other weekend and are ridiculously understaffed. We have to stay strong while we euthanize a puppy that was hit by a car, or the 17 year old family cat with liver failure. We are verbally beat by angry pet owners who can’t afford the treatment their pets’ needs. And told ridiculous medical advice given by breeders, and let store staff.
Turn over rate is about 5 years. I can’t imagine doing all this plus having someone losing it because of a family member dying.
There are people that understand and support you.