Canadian speaking, wife is ICU RN. Everything you've said is spot on, but there's always more to add. Nurses get assaulted pretty much daily. It's such a problem, management basically said it's not worth reporting because nothing is going to be done.
The largest issue is the chronically understaffed units. The burnout that results from having double the normal patient load makes everyone cranky and the team atmosphere breaks down. In better managed units the nurses are all willing to pitch in, help with workload or take over so you can have a break. In units that are suffering, everyone starts looking out for #1 and that whole system breaks down. People start scheming and creating cliques among themselves so if you're not with the "in" crowd on a shift you can get royally screwed... the animosity just grows.
My wife has had coworkers commit suicide. There's been countless nurses straight up quitting, whether to retire or to take up contract work south of the border (the stories of how much they're making filter back through and more nurses start going that direction). Personally, my wife was forced to go on early mat leave because when she told management she will not be able to be primary on COVID patients. Management said goodbye... My assumption is the union would not allow nurses to create such demands (even with proper doctors notes and accommodation) but they would rather lose a nurse entirely than deal with accommodations in an unprecedented time.
I've spoken with her multiple times and ultimately I think a lot of their issues stem from being unable to shift their hiring/onboarding practices. As an Engineer, I start as Junior. I get jobs designated for Junior Engineers, and I work alongside the Seniors to pick up skills and craft.
As an RN she's fighting with people 25 years her senior for a position. She was out of school working casual shifts for 5 years before getting a temporary position, and longer after to get the permanent job. But even then, she's competing with the senior nurses for the same shifts. They aren't equal in skill, but they're treated that way, and the seniors gobble up everything they can until they run out and crash.
> > management basically said it's not worth reporting because nothing is going to be done.
> Just call the police directly.
If you call the police to tell them that a 78 year old man with dementia grabbed your boob while you were trying to fix his nasal canula they are gonna laugh at you and say there's nothing to be done.
For the patients who are chronic assaulters, MAYBE if you are lucky they will get transferred to another unit or another hospital. But it will take a LOT of really bad instances to make this happen... and all it does is turf out the issue somewhere else.
We once transferred and old man who masturbated and threw his semen on the nurse in the room. Buried in his paperwork about 180 pages back was a big note "DO NOT LET THIS PATIENT BE ATTENDED BY FEMALE STAFF." But nobody saw that until the incident already happened.
edit: Also, it's not that there are too many nurses on the market. It's the places only want to hire ones with floor experience. Nobody is willing to train new grads. A few places have new-grad specific programs, but they don't move fast enough or take enough new grads to help with the problem.
>Sounds like there's too much nurses on the market if that's what the job market looks like.
Uhhh... that's a weird take. I already talked about the chronically understaffed units.
The issue is the system doesn't hire enough nurses to cover the needs of our healthcare system. They'd prefer to run understaffed and burn out their workers than hire more nurses and overstaff the units so there's some cushion
The largest issue is the chronically understaffed units. The burnout that results from having double the normal patient load makes everyone cranky and the team atmosphere breaks down. In better managed units the nurses are all willing to pitch in, help with workload or take over so you can have a break. In units that are suffering, everyone starts looking out for #1 and that whole system breaks down. People start scheming and creating cliques among themselves so if you're not with the "in" crowd on a shift you can get royally screwed... the animosity just grows.
My wife has had coworkers commit suicide. There's been countless nurses straight up quitting, whether to retire or to take up contract work south of the border (the stories of how much they're making filter back through and more nurses start going that direction). Personally, my wife was forced to go on early mat leave because when she told management she will not be able to be primary on COVID patients. Management said goodbye... My assumption is the union would not allow nurses to create such demands (even with proper doctors notes and accommodation) but they would rather lose a nurse entirely than deal with accommodations in an unprecedented time.
I've spoken with her multiple times and ultimately I think a lot of their issues stem from being unable to shift their hiring/onboarding practices. As an Engineer, I start as Junior. I get jobs designated for Junior Engineers, and I work alongside the Seniors to pick up skills and craft.
As an RN she's fighting with people 25 years her senior for a position. She was out of school working casual shifts for 5 years before getting a temporary position, and longer after to get the permanent job. But even then, she's competing with the senior nurses for the same shifts. They aren't equal in skill, but they're treated that way, and the seniors gobble up everything they can until they run out and crash.
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