The elephant (how poorly RNs are treated) has been in the hospital room for decades. The Nurses’ Stress Survey merely validated what you and I already knew. Nurses are completely stressed out and hospitals are to blame for it.
I’ve been spending all of my time the last few weeks exposing this issue to the public. This is news people want to hear about.
Already this has been written up in the Huffington Post, Houston Business Journal, Medscape Medical News, and many Internet news sites.
I’ve been on national TV with Charles Payne on the FOX Business Network’s Varney & Co. show.
But all the exposure is meaningless unless hospitals stop ignoring this elephant in the room and start taking action to care for their RNs. Hospitals are making the very people who treat patients sick themselves. Here are some ways hospitals can help reduce the dangerous levels of stress and the harsh conditions under which RNs work:
1. Understand How Treatment of RNs Translates with Patient and Corporate Success… or Failure
Make work hours realistic and humane.
Provide a core staff and also back-up for vacations, sick days, etc. Nurses feel guilty if they do not go in when called. This adds to the stress.
Quit cutting ancillary staff and reassigning those duties to RNs. Nurses should not be expected to clean a patient’s room or clean the ice machine.
Provide a lifting team and/or lift equipment to prevent back injuries. Nurses are high risk for injuries on the job. Risk of injury increases stress.
Provide scheduled breaks and coverage on breaks. A break will only reduce stress if the RN is not worried about what is happening to her patients while on break.
Along with breaks, provide a retreat room on the unit that provides a tranquil space and a massage chair.
Provide access to nutritious meals and snacks.
2. Give RNs a Voice
Stop retaliating against RNs who speak up for patient rights.
Leverage the experience of long-time RNs. These same nurses save lives, but are not empowered with authority to get the job done and have their voice heard.
Set up shared governance and give RNs a seat at the management table. They are professionals and should be governing their own clinical practice like MDs, attorneys and other professionals do.
3. Stop Treating RNs Like a Commodity
Treat RNs with respect. A simple thank you goes a long way. RNs don’t expect extravagant gifts like a Rolex or huge bonuses.
Increase compensation and benefits.
Provide education and training for managers, so they can empower RNs to feel good about their jobs.
4. Treat RNs Like the Heroes They Truly Are
Take a step back and realize and recognize the many miracles RNs produce every day.
Change the culture. Instead of berating nurses, enforce a work environment of mutual trust and respect.
In order to improve our healthcare system for patients, doctors, hospitals AND nurses, it’s clear that reducing the stress levels of nurses should be a national priority.
7 thoughts on “What’s That Elephant Doing in the Hospital Room?”
Vickie:
Thank you for your empowering words and power to do something about it. You have hit the nail on the head – especially about breaks and lunches.
Is a break really a break when no one is covering your patient? The hospitals have been forced to account for us getting lunch, but breaks don’t matter. They think stopping to take a breath or going to the bathroom means you have nothing to do and therefore that is your break. Help us nurses to be able to be nurses again.
Stop giving us tasks that keep us from the bedside. Computer charting was supposed to be faster but in most cases it is not. Doing the job of the ancillary department has not saved money when the patients have to give up that time we were to spend with them. From monitors not being adequately monitored to patients getting less than optimal care, there is every reason to believe nurses are stressed. I have been a nurse going on 29 years and in the last couple years it has been decided that legally we are entitled to lunches. Breaks still haven’t been attested to.
A few years ago I hurt my back and the hospital administration made me jump through hoops literally to keep my job. I suffered in silence. By the way, how do you think I hurt my back? I for one was meant to be a nurse so I will carry on until retirement, but your words are inspirational and on a national level it is wonderful to see nurses getting a voice that is actually heard. Thanks again. Kathy Christianson.
Kathy, you are an awesome nurse. It is a wonder that nurses have not been known to die of botulism or choking from having to get our meals from the cafeteria and try and eat on the floor while tending to patients. Sure, we had to clock out for those unpaid meals, but I felt it was safer for the patients while I had to suffer when short staffed.
Some may think you are kidding about choking on cafeteria food. I once bit into a rubber band found baked into the lasagna. When I notified the cafeteria staff, they briefly looked at the remaining pan of lasagna, and continued to serve from it.
We are expected to be perfect in our jobs, work without error, and accomplish 100% patient satisfaction. Why is the rest of the hospital team exempt from this standard?
Ultimately, it’s the patients that suffer. Patient safety is usually put to the test every day when the nurses are overworked and underappreciated. Because we either love our job and our profession or we care too much or we fear retaliation and loss of income, we keep silent on this epidemic. If we do speak out, we put ourselves on the line, and it feels like going against the tide. Are we professionals or are we not? Are we patient’s advocate, educator, peer mentor or are we just a cog in a corporate wheel? It sometimes feels like working in an assembly line, the big difference is, we are dealing with human lives!
Vickie, it also needs to be asked why are we paying hospital CEOs 6 figure salaries when they have failed to address the obvious. I greatly admire the nurse managers I worked with over the years, as they tried (and they did try!) to have nursing workplace issues brought to the forefront. It is my sincerest hope that this survey will spur answers and accountability to hospitals and to Medicare for ensuring that nurse salaries are in line with the knowledge, skills, abilities, and work hours required of nurses today. We have a long way to go. Thank you doing your part to address the elephant in the room.
Vickie, thanks for your voice. The sad thing about medical facilities is the financial arrangements. Hospitals are cost centers with multi-tiered governance. In other words, nurses are labor force and no voice. MDs bring money to the table. I agree with you on shared governance, but it needs to be a lateral governance and a financial arrangement that is transparent and stable.
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Vickie:
Thank you for your empowering words and power to do something about it. You have hit the nail on the head – especially about breaks and lunches.
Is a break really a break when no one is covering your patient? The hospitals have been forced to account for us getting lunch, but breaks don’t matter. They think stopping to take a breath or going to the bathroom means you have nothing to do and therefore that is your break. Help us nurses to be able to be nurses again.
Stop giving us tasks that keep us from the bedside. Computer charting was supposed to be faster but in most cases it is not. Doing the job of the ancillary department has not saved money when the patients have to give up that time we were to spend with them. From monitors not being adequately monitored to patients getting less than optimal care, there is every reason to believe nurses are stressed. I have been a nurse going on 29 years and in the last couple years it has been decided that legally we are entitled to lunches. Breaks still haven’t been attested to.
A few years ago I hurt my back and the hospital administration made me jump through hoops literally to keep my job. I suffered in silence. By the way, how do you think I hurt my back? I for one was meant to be a nurse so I will carry on until retirement, but your words are inspirational and on a national level it is wonderful to see nurses getting a voice that is actually heard. Thanks again. Kathy Christianson.
Well said, Ms. Christianson!!
Bravo to you for nursing for 29 years !!
You are the real hero!
Kathy, you are an awesome nurse. It is a wonder that nurses have not been known to die of botulism or choking from having to get our meals from the cafeteria and try and eat on the floor while tending to patients. Sure, we had to clock out for those unpaid meals, but I felt it was safer for the patients while I had to suffer when short staffed.
Some may think you are kidding about choking on cafeteria food. I once bit into a rubber band found baked into the lasagna. When I notified the cafeteria staff, they briefly looked at the remaining pan of lasagna, and continued to serve from it.
We are expected to be perfect in our jobs, work without error, and accomplish 100% patient satisfaction. Why is the rest of the hospital team exempt from this standard?
Ultimately, it’s the patients that suffer. Patient safety is usually put to the test every day when the nurses are overworked and underappreciated. Because we either love our job and our profession or we care too much or we fear retaliation and loss of income, we keep silent on this epidemic. If we do speak out, we put ourselves on the line, and it feels like going against the tide. Are we professionals or are we not? Are we patient’s advocate, educator, peer mentor or are we just a cog in a corporate wheel? It sometimes feels like working in an assembly line, the big difference is, we are dealing with human lives!
Vickie, it also needs to be asked why are we paying hospital CEOs 6 figure salaries when they have failed to address the obvious. I greatly admire the nurse managers I worked with over the years, as they tried (and they did try!) to have nursing workplace issues brought to the forefront. It is my sincerest hope that this survey will spur answers and accountability to hospitals and to Medicare for ensuring that nurse salaries are in line with the knowledge, skills, abilities, and work hours required of nurses today. We have a long way to go. Thank you doing your part to address the elephant in the room.
Vickie, thanks for your voice. The sad thing about medical facilities is the financial arrangements. Hospitals are cost centers with multi-tiered governance. In other words, nurses are labor force and no voice. MDs bring money to the table. I agree with you on shared governance, but it needs to be a lateral governance and a financial arrangement that is transparent and stable.