Nurses are the backbone of healthcare

This is from the latest blog post that you can read on the blog as well.

This is all over the news - nurses are outraged, and a whole lot scared healthcare workers in an industry that is listed as "heroes". Who wants the title of a hero when they know this can happen to them.

I shared part of my story in a facility that put us at risk for years. Someone may ask 'why did you stay'? I was a single mother and this was the highest pay in my area, I was a homeowner and needed the income to take care of me and a little boy. I did. At the risk of something happening that could have been much worse.

I worked many days exhausted when I arrived to work on very little sleep with a small child. I was pulled to work on units that were not my normal work area all the time.

Short staff in a dangerous environment, no breaks on many shifts worked, and many requests denied for time off for hospital coverage including family deaths.

I have held my thoughts on the Nashville Vanderbilt Nurse RaDonda Vaught was found guilty of criminally negligent homicide and felony abuse of an impaired adult. She was facing a charge of reckless homicide, but the jury found her guilty of a lesser amount.

I could have been RaDonda.?I feel terrible for her, the family, and the situations around the whole event. Telling the truth put her in prison, not jail.

Any of my nurse friends could have been or can have become RaDonda.?

Nurses are the backbone of healthcare.?They care not only for their patients but also for the patient’s family and their colleagues. They advocate for their patients, provide education and bedside care to name just a few.

I was in the nursing field for over 33 years and retired 7 yrs ago to work my business at home. I was burnt out and had stress headaches every day going to work for the last five years.?

I came home exhausted no matter what happened at work and had to lay down for an hour to recoup for my family.

For 22 years, I worked on the units with the patients before working in the education department with the nurses. I can tell story after story of working in situations that were not safe for us.

For six months, we fought the shift change for the 7 PM to 8 AM shift (can you have worse hours for a night shift person) from being made to stay over to pass the 8 AM medications AFTER working all night. After 13 hours and staying up all night, being the one to give the most significant amount of drugs for the day in a psychic hospital was insanely stupid.?

I double-checked my medications before giving them and always was afraid I would give them to the wrong person due to exhaustion from a night shift. Several mornings I refused to be pulled to a new area to pass the morning medications because the staff on duty didn’t want to give them.

My supervisor threatened to take my three days work week and be forced to go back to 8-hour shifts 5 days a week for refusing. It was a constant fight, and most of the assignments were done to be mean and used as punishment.?

The understaffed assignments that happened so often became routine, and no one questioned the insane assignments. They were checked off as being ‘normal’.

In the first five years of employment, it was customary for one nurse supervisor to cover the house with one nurse per unit with one patient assistant to cover 20 patients. It was rare to work with three employees on one unit. It was even rare to get a break, and no one was allowed to put in an overtime slip for missed breaks until people as a group started complaining and calling for help outside the hospital.

It was a psychiatric hospital with patients with violent histories, and we worked with one or two staff per unit for many years.?I told many of the stories in my book?“The Nurses Voice”, you can find it on amazon.

The supervisors resorted to using fear to intimidate nurses already beleaguered with the burdens of inadequate staffing, violent patients, assimilating new and confusing technology, dealing with complex patients and physicians, and others.?

Which diverts the caregivers’ attention even further from their tasks, forcing them to focus on their own risk for criminal liability.?

I have a folder full of write-ups where something didn’t get done in a shift. One of the main things was laundry – yes, laundry. We would get 2-3 overfilled baskets to fold and put away. I would not get that done some nights because I was alone and didn’t want a patient to trap me in the corner.

I prioritized my patients, medications, and documentation. After listening to the case with RaDonda, I have reflected on the things the facility had us do, knowing they would not support you if anything happened.?

As a nurse, it is your primary job to CYA (cover your ass) constantly to make sure you and the patients are safe. The facility you work for is not going to protect you. They will blame you as if they had no part in the process.

After retiring, it took me some time to understand that I was one of the lucky ones who didn’t have anything significant happen to me or my patients in the years I worked. All nurses and doctors make errors, but you rarely hear about the doctors. They have terrible handwriting and expect someone to read their writing and not make mistakes transcribing them.?

On occasions, patients attacked the nurses; some were hurt, and 911 was called. Many of those employees were fired instead of ensuring they were ok from the attack. The facility knew they would not win if they got an attorney, nor could they afford one.?

My point of all of this is, as RaDonda said, she reported herself. She will always suffer from the harm she caused to the patient. She stood trial on her own with the facility being against her, and she lost everything.

Nurses are more defensive now than they have ever been, as they should be. Having a side business to cover your financial needs instead of working overtime makes sense.?

Nurses need to step away from the hospital settings on their days off and do something else. Allow the stress to decompress and have a new focus. Nurses are guilty of wanting to help and serve people. Their compassion can be the downfall.

I used to work one 13 hour shift a month for the ‘extra’ money, but it raised my income and no tax advantage, so I paid more there, trying to gain a little extra.

Nurses are seeking extra income and looking at the home business industry. The pandemic opened the doors for working at home. People saw the advantages. Working a job’s primary focus is to make money for your family. It’s a bonus if you enjoy your work.

Working a part-time business is a good tax benefit that many people never consider. Nurses love what they do. They study hard to get the opportunity to be in the profession. It can be taken away just as fast.?

Working overtime doesn’t have to be at the hospital to serve people still.?Let’s talk about something you can do to supplement your income. Fill out the application.?

I could be a RoDonda. You could be RoDonda.?

As a nurse, you can still use your knowledge to serve people working from home part-time.

Nurses are the true heroes of healthcare.

FYI: Zdogg made a great post about this event. <video one> & <video two>

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