Reactionary

A news story like this is what makes me want to tear my hair out. While the article agrees nurses are busy, its general tone is that of fear and overwhelming concern for the elderly who are supposedly “at risk” in hospitals. Nevermind that old people are at risk etc just by their age. Just a nugget of the entire article admits nurses have no time to babysit people at mealtimes. No mention is made that nurses rarely get a minute to use the bathrooms, let alone lunch breaks. “Busy” doesn’t cut it. The workload on med-surg floors is obscene. No other word describes it. Dear cubicle dwellers and namely journalists who investigate and then write articles like this, you have no idea what a shift on a floor at a hospital near you is like. It’s an environment where there’s no time to breathe, you’re expected to always be happy and sunny, to never complain about your aching back or sore feet, to love your patients more than yourself, to respond to everything as if you were a serf, ignore abuse and actually smile through it. There is no support. There is no help. If things go well, it’s the “board’s” divine genius. If things go wrong, it’s all your fault. Sometimes, they give you a bone like a free pizza. Yay. Now you need to work overtime. Oh, you wanna get paid? Why?

It’s brutal. But it’s never acknowledged and no one cares about these people who are supposed to be doing all this work and making the hospital “safe for our patients”. What about making it safer for staff? What about making hospitals accountable for hiring more nurses or at least fostering an environment where people want to work? It isn’t nurses’ jobs to get people for the hospital to hire. They need to do it but have failed and are failing and it’s getting worse. They act like you should pay them to work at their bleeding hospital. Think again. I quit floor work because of these things and many more. Others I know have done the same. I wouldn’t recommend nursing to anyone. I wish I were 18 again and could pick a major again. I’m thining of getting out entirely. It isn’t me. Admit it. Lay the guilt where it lies: the antiquated system, society’s unreasonable health care demands, and the entitled, rude populace. They treat me like I should be happy to have a job outside the house cooking and popping out kids. Wake up!

August 29th, 2006 | Category: News, Rant |  Print |  Send it | Subscribe to comments | Leave a comment | Trackback URL