For the Bedside NUrse’s Attitude

I am wondering, as I sit here with my bad attitude, are nurses drawn to bedside nursing because they have certain personality traits; or are certain attitude and personality traits created by being in nursing?

I don’t know the answer to that. My suspicion is that it is some of both.

If you went into nursing because you were a driven, idealistic, caregiver who wanted to make a difference in the lives of sick or injured people while using your smarts, then you are like me. If that drive and idealism has been used and abused by a healthcare system seemingly only into medicine for money then you are also like me. If you are now jaded, not so driven, pissed off at administration and appalled at the staffing situation and unsafe circumstances you find yourself in shift after shift, then you are like me.

So were we always this way, or have we become this way?

Hospital nursing has changed so much in the last twenty years. Back in the day we took care of sick OR injured OR surgical patients. Now patients are all of the above at the same time. Drug and alcohol abuse is so prevalent among our patients that we have to deal with that on top of sick and injured. Covid 19 added a whole realm of issues on top of all of that. We saw Covid 19 on every floor in the hospitals. ICU patients had (have) to be taken care of by non-critical care nurses; surgery patients were right next to Covid 19 positive patients; patients had to be double-roomed and placed in “rooms” freshly created for the massive over-flow. All of which has lead administrations across the country to say “well they did it when it was crisis time; they can keep on doing it that way.”

Personally, I am appalled at the state of healthcare in this country. When did it become big business? Hospitals are being run like factories where the employees are putting widgets together. This idea of healthcare as big business has become so blatantly obvious following the pandemic and now the glaring nursing shortage; that was there before, but is now exponentially worse. Hello!!! We are not putting widgets together. We are saving lives here.

If we continue to treat healthcare like just a business the end product will be just that. Budgets will be slashed because the product can be produced cheaper. Meaning supplies and staff will have to go or not he replaced. The business will be top-heavy with lots of bosses and bosses’ assistants making decisions for the worker-bees that don’t make sense because they are so far removed from the actual work. Big bosses will get big bonuses while worker-bees will see none of the profit. Those worker-bees will have to go to training that has nothing to do with their jobs. They will jump through hoops set up by management. Changes will be made to the front-line staff’s jobs and the delivery of them for no reason other than to justify some higher-up’s position. Which will all lead to a shoddy end product; which in this instance, is poor outcomes for our patients. Which in turn will lead to nurse burn-out and nurses leaving the profession all together.

I know for me, the one thing that has remained from my early days is my idealism. In an ideal healthcare world Senior Leadership is a small group that takes care of their nursing/healthcare team so that that team can take care of the patients. Simple. It doesn’t have so many layers of fat that the patient ends up being an after-thought and the healthcare team is not even on the radar. It does have the patient getting what they need in terms of care and it has a very supported healthy staff.

Because my heart still works in this idealistic world I am constantly being side-swiped by the reality of the hospital life/work today. My attitude is the one thing I am in control of. To say that my negativity has been created by outside influences is wrong. I have created my bad attitude by giving a dam. I give a dam about my fellow nurses’ working conditions. I give a dam about my patients. I give a dam about myself and my drive to deliver great care.

So have I always had these traits? Yes. Was I drawn to nursing because of them? Probably. Has nursing in 2021 influenced how I exhibit some traits over others? You’re dam right it has.

So here is to all you nurses who still care; who are driven to provide the best care; who are tough; opinionated; and RIGHT. Keep on keeping on.