According to the news there is a nursing shortage in the USA. With my rose colored glasses that means the value of a nurse is pretty high. Specially a nurse that shows up for duty on time, provides not good but great patient care, able to follow hospital policy, board of nursing requirements, manage staff, answer questions from the doctors,be cursed by patients, pulled from a normal area to another unit to work and cover a new unit and the list goes on with the many things one person juggles.
To find a nurse to wear those shoes should be looked as great value.
Just recently a local contract agent who covered many of the patient care areas lost their contract with the facility. Instead of allowing over 30 nurses to roll their contract over to an agency that remained active- the hospital administration decided to let all 30 nurses go and hire new ones and just replace them.
What is the real value of a trained state mental health nurse who is willing to work in a hostile environment daily?
This one move effects 30 families and all of the staff left behind. The patients are now affected with yet another change in their life. For the next 6 months the hospital will be running with brand new staff instead of highly trained quality nurses.
Situations like this cause such stress and frustration that nurses suffer burn out.
The nursing shortage starts to become easy to understand. If your value is so easily replaced with a swift kick to your buttocks, no wonder nurses turn to other industries for employment.
Nursing Entrepreneurs are born from worn out, burn out, disrespect nurses who are seeking appreciation for the value they provide to the customers, that they love to serve.
Nurses generally speaking are people who love to serve high quality care to their customers. They want to offer assistance, see their customer progress, and offer the highest value in products that are best for the patient.
To hear the words 'thank you' or ' you really helped me' makes a nurse forget the hard days of nursing for that one moment when a customer smiles and feels like the care they received made the illness less painful.
As I have sit around the nurses station and listened to the many conversation from nurses some of the things that always seem to pop up are: short staffing, poor work conditions, inadequate resources for nursing research and education, the aging nursing workforce, the biggest of all of them lack of respect from the administration over the hospital. When someone can look a loyal employee in the eye and tell them they are replaceable. No matter what their work record is or how trained or skilled they are to complete the job. Nurses are replaceable.
Sad isn't it. To give all you have to a company that can at any given time dismiss your services. Nurses become angry – hurt – and burnt out. Where do they go from there?
Nursing entrepreneur opportunities are hitting the web for these ambitious, highly skilled nurses. They are taking control of the own career and cutting ties with a boss who tells them what they are worth and instead raises the bar to show the old boss what they lost.
Going back to school to raise your nursing education no longer guarantees you a higher position once you are out of school. As a nurse entrepreneur they now have control of their time, schedules, increase their own pay, and no longer hear the words "your contract is up". As scary as it is to change career paths and starting a new business adventure – the outcome out weights the fear.
There are so many opportunities out there for nurses but what makes a nurse feel the best – watching their customer/patient smile and the path to wellness can begin to happen.
Angela Brooks has worked in a state-funded psychiatric hospital in Kentucky for 21 years as a nurse, assisting sometimes-dangerous patients who come in shackled and cuffed. At AngelaBrook.com, she offers stories of life on the inside of a psychiatric ward, and the site, as well as her company, offers support for nurses in the mental health field and helps them bring passion into their role at work.
Everyday we share insights, strategies and even some of our biggest secrets to nurse entrepreneurs on our Facebook page! Join the fun and connect with like-minded business owners and Nurses EVERY single day! Click here and "become friends" with Angela's NOW!
* Please note: I am not here to CURE, DIAGNOSE, Treat or suggest replacements for what a doctor prescribes. The names used in this post are not the real names of the people being mentioned – I am sharing my nursing adventures with you.
What Did You Think?
Let us know your thoughts on today's issue.
Post your comments below.
Remember – sharing is caring…
Are we connected on Twitter? | Come write on my Facebook Page wall!
I have been a nurse for 20 years…Have lots of experience in Er, Trauma, Cardiac nursing. I have great frustration and anger over the lack of respect we get not just from Administration, but the Doctors in general. I am a seasoned nurse. I… take great pride in what I do for my patients…Im a teacher, caregiver, educator, counselor among other things. How can we expect our patients to give us the respect and honor we deserve, when we cannot even get our own peers in healthcare to do it. I have looked at switching professions because of this. Yes, we will cont to have a nursing shortage as long as the healthcare profession cont to treat nurses as if we are second rate citizens and replaceable. We as nurses want continuity of care. Want our patients to feel safe and trust us. When the administration of healthcare realizes what it means to have experience as a nurse. How we, as seasoned nurses can help educate our new ones and provide that link to pull together as a team. Until that occurs, the shortage will cont……
Angela, you said it all. When I tell people that the nursing shortage will continue for many years to come, they look at me cross-eyed. I've worked at a skilled nursing unit/long term care for 6months and I've seen more people leave/fired than hired. It's sad to see people stressed out because of shortage. You have new employees orientating with new employees, every day at work is a reminder to get serious with my business enterprise.
Thanks for speaking out
Because both my mother and sister chose the nursing profession I have somewhat of an idea of what nurses go through and my heart goes out to each of them. It may seem like an insignificant job to those who deal with finances, but I would be willing to bet the farm that when the day comes and they are on the needing end of nursing as a patient they would learn the value real quick!! I for one, am grateful for all nurses do!
Thanks for bringing this to light, Angela. We have the same issue here in Canada (a bit different, but similar enough), and I don't think the general public really has a clue that this affects them directly. They NEED to understand…