[Tiredofthesystem]

Ok.. I am not a nurse but my girlfriend has been a nurse at an ICU wing for 4 years and the crap is really getting bad. Staff is power tripping, beaurocracys, too many patients, and all the Nurses are TOTALLY UNHAPPY ON HER FLOOR if not the whole hospital. There are alot of good people getting pissed on and im sick of it. I want to know why you guys dont form a Union and BE HAPPIER~? IS EVERYONE SCARED? WILL YOU GET THE CRAPPY SCHEDULE if you speak up for your rights? THIS IS OUT OF CONTROL and when she comes home my family pays for it dearly. Im sick of it. Someone needs to do something and NURSES need rights! There is no-one speaking for the nurses. How do unions get started and why are they not in Hospitals? Hell even Grociery baggers have unions..and Cosco employees make $17 per hour PLUS havew unions! Does anyone feel me out there?!!!!!

[cassioo]

The hospital I'm at really has a pretty low turnover. we're getting a 3% cost of living raise at the end of Sept. I'm really pretty happy there. Sure there are bad days and days when we could use more staff but we have a good unit manager. I don't know too much about bad shifts but there are people that have to work nights which I think is that bad shift but I had to do that too at one point and I still do a couple per year. In this area of the country we don't have Costco but the same type of store doesn't make ear $17 per hour here. I guess I'm just lucky. Could your girlfriend who isn't happy go someplace else nurses are mobile in their profession.

[hppygr8ful]

There are unions for nurses here in CA we have California Nurses Association
If you are trying to find union hospitals in your area do an internet search and with the name of the state keyword union keyword collective bargaing keyword nurses and see what you get. I work in a non-union hospital and am pretty happy there of course the 9% raise I got makes a big difference. It makes it easier to put up with the BS.


Peace and Namaste

Happygr8ful

[hsieh]

if she's not happy i strongly suggest she get another job. i didn't like my former job and got another and love my new job. why would one work in a job they don't like?

[Tiredofthesystem]

C'mon.. ....why does ANY nurse stay in it? Because they are modern day slaves. Got Bills. .baby needs milk .. etc............ Does anyone want to creat a voice? If so please instant message me . Lets do something about it!!!

[hsieh]

Originally Posted by Tiredofthesystem

C'mon.. ....why does ANY nurse stay in it? Because they are modern day slaves. Got Bills. .baby needs milk .. etc............ Does anyone want to creat a voice? If so please instant message me . Lets do something about it!!!

if you're doing it for the money then instead of complaining about work then why not think thank goodness i have this money i'm making? every worker is a modern day slave. i think it helps me as a nurse because i have done other jobs in life besides nursing so i can always say this is better than that. if you're making this great money and you're unhappy then obviously money is not what makes you happy. perhaps you're working a job you dislike for money becasue society has taught you money makes you happy. my parents were born in the 1940's and they were raised to think only "bad" people get divorced. so they spent several years in an unhappy marrage because of what society taught them.

[Tiredofthesystem]

Ok ..what the h*** ever.........EVERY worker is a modern day slave... then if you dont mind me saying..that makes us all chicken shi**! The way her administrators treat her has violated the perimetors of our family. .she is drained when she comes home.. pissed off because she doenst have a "voice" ..and not a damn person in that hospital is doing anything about it. If I have to stand out in the corridors of that hospital and hand out flyers I will. Nursing is nothing short of a concentration camp without the actual murders. Anyone ever see nthe nursing divorce rate? Wake up people! do something about the blind adherence! I have NEVER met a nurse that has said they are happy doing what they are doing.

[hsieh]

i'm sorry for your loved one's sad situation. i like my job although i'm not paid the greatest. sure i'd like to make more money but not at the expense of having a job i hate. have you guys thought of something radical like nursing in a place that greatly needs nurses like poor areas or overseas? as a bonus your kids would learn a lot from your experience doing so.

[nursinghumor]

Have you ever dated any other nurses? Lived with any other nurses?

I say, because I'm married to an ICU RN, and have been a nurse for eight years myself. Dated nurses for years before I married one.

When my wife gets home, it is requisite that she will "vent" for at least 20 min to an hour. When we first got together, it got me very upset. As time went on, I realized this is just what nurses do, and learned to listen and offer support.

Instead of trying to "fix" her and the environment you perceive her to be unhappy about, try focusing on her and how you can help her forget about the job when she's home.

It's probably a "guy" thing. Your significant other comes home upset, you get worked up wanting to do something about it, perfectly natural.

Could very well be, she wants to vent her frustrations in your direction, then get on with enjoying her time off. Don't take it personally.

From one who's been there.

Andrew Lopez, RN
Nursefriendly, Inc. A New Jersey Corporation
38 Tattersall Drive, Mantua New Jersey 08051
http://www.nursefriendly.com info@nursefriendly.com ICQ #6116137, AOL “nursefriendly”
856-415-9617, (fax) 415-9618

[cassioo]

if she's that unhappy maybe she should quit being a nurse and start her own business or go into something else. Sometimes people get into nursing for the wrong reasons and when the workplace turns out not to be what school was then it's not great anymore. I used to work in a factory and was in a union and hated it the whole time (not the people but the work and the policies) I don't think I've ever been mistreated in nursing and I've worked in a variety of settings with different types of bosses. You have to be able to roll with some of the punches in nursing.