posted December 21, 2011 10:17 AM            

Educate, educate, educate!

In my 12 years of nursing, all as hosptial staff, I have been watching, and I am increasingly saddened.

We have sold out to the $$

Hosptials are all about money making now (even non for profit hospitals, they have to support themselves somehow.) They comprimise good nursing staff, good medical staff, good equipment (alot of ours is broken or not working properly.) They practice unsafe nursing to patient ratios.

The hospital I work for was purchased several years ago by a big business player who specializes in rescuing small, failing hosptials. They have holds in Disney Land, Carnival cruises, it that tells you anything.

My hospital coohoted a business deal with several (less than good) nursing schools, payed for the nursing students education (at a terribly elevated rate), then contracted them at one of their facilities for 3 years to pay off their school expenses...but it was all about the $$. You see, my hospital, and lots of others, tend to hire young, inexperienced nurses, as we are payed not for skill, but for years of experience, place them as staff, in the ICU, on the foor, in the ER especially and in the cath lab. Staffing is cut more and more all of the time, so there is not always a "senior" nurse around to be resource for these new nurses.

Sux for the nurse as she/he has a license to protect, sux for the patient and families, but the hospitals are making bank!!!

And hospitals dont care about law suits. They employ bigshot lawyers to protect them (not us nurses, but their business holdings) and almost always settle out of court. Have you ever heard about anybody sucessfully suing a hosptial? Sure, docs, but not hospitals. They settle out.

In the old days, we were provided with enough staff, (agency nurses are a dying breed as they are pricey and hospitals would rather pile more patients onto a nurse than staff appropriately.) We had good working equipment, we had skilled pharmacists, knowledgable doctors and administrators who kind of cared...AND we had directors who cared about their staff, whereas today they are part of admin and have to answer to the buck.

My particular institution has started to contract their own docs...Doogie Howsers, who are fresh out of school and dont know squat.

Again...$$$$$$$$$$$

It is unfortunate that we nurses are forced to protect our licenses first and patient care second. Of course they go hand in hand, but with lack of staff (and lack of good staff) we are forced to keep our patients alive most of the time and skip on baths, comfort care, bonding with families,, all the things nurses are known for.

I have morals and ethics and I have been found in administration many a time trying to correct potentially dangerous situations with patients...

For the 4 1/2 years I have been at my hospital...

Nothing has changed...they dont listen, cause it is not about patient safety anymore...remember law suits dont scare them.

Nurses are dispensible to hospitals, they look at us as a piece of furniture. And I know this for a fact, I have doc friends who sit on hospital boards.

I get payed very well, I negotiated my price into this hospital to help start the open heart program, but still I have ethical dilemmas....but no amount of bitching, advising or begging has changed anything to provide greater patient safety.

So, this is my answer...I will speak out to the public, I will educate, educate, educate!!!

Take care of yourselves, obtain knowledge, research, cause these days hospitals are only there for the money and docs have to watch their ***** , cause they are private individuals and are prone to law suits.

Nurses are the only ones in a hospital who will watch out for you, but our hands are becoming more and more tied.

There was a Readers Digest a month ago or so that featured fifty things nurses wont tell you. I usually find creative ways to tell my patients and families, without cutting my own throat, but still people need to beware.

My most favirot of the fifty things?

Docs dont save patients,, nurses do!

Pass this info on to your friends and families when dealing with difficult health issues and especially when dealing with hospitals.

blessings~~~

posted December 21, 2011 12:18 PM            

Research your docs, your hospitals (they are all rated every year.)

posted December 24, 2011 01:36 PM            

Like I said, it is all I can do...

Someday, I see myself in some sort of an alternative medicine clinic...or working for some kindly old country doc..(yes they still DO exist! )

But I wont sell out..

posted December 27, 2011 10:22 AM            

My experiences with my labor and then my heart surgery were wonderful. I was so well taken care of. The nursing staff in both instances was remarkable. The CNA's were on top of it, the PTs were informative and caring.

With my labor, I didn't see much of my doctor until I actually delivered, but all office visits with the OB's were great, as were subsequent check ups.

My "cardiologist", however, was dissapointing. He seemed to want me to have the procedure that was less invasive, and even said I should go to Boston for a second opinion (kaching!!!$$) before I met with the surgeon. (I should mention that after my surgery, my surgeon said "who thought you should have the femoral clamp? That hole was very big and it never would have worked") I had an anxiety attack at my office about a month before surgery and ended up in the ER (at a hospital I had not been to since I was a kid). When I called my cardiologist to let him know what happened, and that they suggest I talk to him about a med for the time leading up to surgery, just to not put more stress on my heart, he NEVER called me back. In fact, it is now over three months after my surgery, and I have not heard one peep from his office. Their bill remains unpaid by me, so this may be why. At least, that's what I suspect.

My surgeon was the total opposite. Very caring, very attentive and professional. He is a faithful person though, and does a LOT of charity work in other countries so I really lucked out with him. His office and the nursing staff there were also wonderful.

It is scary to think how often some doctors or facilities do treat patients like a paycheck though. No real concern for the patient, just how much they will line the pockets of the large company that owns them. Fortunately for me, the two hospitals that I went to for my delivery and surgery were NOT corporate owned. The hosptial I went to which my cardiologist was affiliated WAS. Big shock there.