Comments by "American Dissident" (@americandissident9062) on "Hospital Greed Is Destroying Our Nurses. Here’s Why. | NYT Opinion" video.

@davidxavi1848 Wrong. I work four days a week, 12 hour shifts, and no sleeping. My docs work 48 hours max in a week, most do 36, and they get to sleep when they have the chance. The schedule varies from hospital to hospital, and some docs or nurses work part time, some are full time, some are overtime, but one thing doesn’t vary at all: Docs can sleep, nurses can not.
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@davidxavi1848 Misinformed from my 14 years working in multiple fields of nursing in five states? I think you’re misinformed, and if you’re wanting to be “nuanced”, then how is it you’ve declared such a black and white statement like “doctors have it worse”? I guarantee you that the people who spend the most time with the patients are the ones having it worse. Patients are awful, and nurses spend way more time with them than anyone. If you had any experience in the medical field, you’d know firsthand that scheduling and breaks aren’t the worst thing. The patients are. And spending time with them is horrible, because they’re horrible. I think you have no frame of reference on this subject.
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@uria702 Maybe most of my patients should stop being addicted to drugs and making poor life decisions. Maybe they should listen when I tell them to stop pouring gallons of soda and stuffing pounds of fast food into their fat guts. Maybe you should feel sorry that I’m not being paid even more to deal with the likes of people like that. I suspect you resemble my description. Why you mad?
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Patients can’t do anything in the hospital about it. Call your reps and tell them you want laws that dictate higher pay and better staffing ratios.
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@dwkwb8 I work 12 hour shifts in the ER. In fact, almost all of my nursing jobs have been 12 hour shifts, and the doctors are often on 24 hour shifts.
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True. No matter who makes the mistake, if the nurse doesn’t catch it and correct it, the nurse will be punished for the entire thing.
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This video gives the idea that there are very few male nurses. There are many many more than what is shown in this video. And often times, we are seen as more than just a nurse, we are seen as security guards and are often given the meanest patients because we “can handle them”.
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@uria702 On full time, right. But I usually work 48-50 hours a week.
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@VincentAgueda-f3s 12 hour shifts are difficult, but being in that environment 5 days a week is equally as difficult mentally. The solution is to keep the 12 hour shift, but cut the nurse/patient ratio down by a lot. Six patients is too much. Five is manageable sometimes. Four is much more ideal. When I had six, I’m basically just treading water. Trying to make sure the meds go out on time, I don’t miss orders, and otherwise, everyone is still alive. You don’t want a nurse saying “everyone is still alive, so it was good.” You want them saying “my patients have gotten to heal up for the last 12 hours.” Not “they’re alive.” With five patients, it was work, but everything got done. I didn’t get to do anything extra, but everything was done. With four, I knew everything about my patients in and out. Every med was on time and explained in detail with each patient why they were being given that medication. I was able to provide education on how to do their dressing changes when they got discharged. I could SIT DOWN IN A CHAIR in the patient room and talk to them. To the family. With four patients, your snack and drink requests make it onto my priority list. When I have four patients, you will not wait for me to arrive in your room when you call. If I have four patients, I will pick up an extra shift when we are short handed on staff, because it’s not a problem. When I have four patients, I will fully explain care plans and direction of care to patients. I’ll explain the short term and long term goals. When I have four patients, I’ll even talk about patients’ hobbies with them and tell them about myself. I’ll ask the older people about their lives. I’ll ask the younger ones about their plans. That’s the difference. It’s not just the length of time. It’s the workload while I’m there. I was once given seven patients on a shift.
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You know what sucks? Our managers are all nurses. The CEO isn’t sitting up there dictating ratios and bedside policies. The chief nursing officers and directors of nursing are doing that. Nurses screwing over nurses.
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I’ve been a nurse for 11 years. I’m finishing my bachelors degree in May 2023. When I finish that, I’ll leave direct patient care forever. I will never take direct care of a patient again. And I can’t wait.
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