This is a rant.
I'm a nurse. Please stop calling me a hero. Please stop calling doctors, pharmacists, nursing assistants, and all other medical staff heroes. We don't want to be heroes. We just want a job but in reality we are all underpaid and overworked.
The only people who are getting “good pay” in the medical field are the managers, administrative staff, and CEOs… aka the people who don't give direct patient care and the same people who schedule ridiculous work hours and patient-to-nurse/staff ratio. These admins. work 8 hours a day or less; usually at their desk or BETTER… at our units harassing staff, assigning them more patients to care for, and then rushing you to work faster (but never 'safer').
After working 5 years by myself as a licensed nurse, and 4 extra years as a nursing student, I've been in the operating room, outpatient surgery centers, med-surg floors, post op floors, nursing homes, ICUs, etc. They are all the same in one way – high turn over rate and unsafe patient-to-nurse ratios. And when only 1 nurse calls out sick that shift, everything turns to a complete shit show. Forget not getting any pee breaks, you barely have time to do patient care and then document it (I feel extra bad for older nurses who didn't grow up with computers because they take so long to chart or I see them make critical charting errors when they are rushed).
I hate reading unfortunate news about another patient dying from malpractice, another preventable death during their hospital stay, another big mess up during surgery. I feel absolutely terrible for the affected patient and their family.
It is terrifying and it sucks. Medical staff are people too. We make mistakes. But I hate making mistakes that are preventable if we could have just an extra minute to review the medications, their dosages, the proposed treatments etc… but we don't. And when we “do” have time, we usually have to stay over time after our shift to complete the remaining work (and not all of us gets OT pay).
I know working conditions won't improve with this post but if you have a loved one in a hospital or you are a patient, please find out all the medications and the dosages you are given. Make sure you understand your treatment plan and the potential risks. PLEASE question your nurse or your doctor if you think something is off. Please help us catch our mistakes before it becomes fatal. Don't worry about being the “annoying patient” or “annoying family member.” Depending on your condition, we may not be able to save you but for sure none of us want to kill you.
TLDR; nurse 5-9 years – please don't hesitate to ask questions if you are a patient under care (ESPECIALLY in the hospital). All the medical staff I know have unsafe workloads and lack rest – double check our work if you suspect something is wrong.
Sigh.