Do you Care who ADVOCATES 4 U??? Is Nursing killing you?

Is your nursing job killing you? Many would say slowly, and surely...
Is it the hours? The always safe (NOT) staffing? The increasingly entitled and demanding patients? Along with the patients who are truly sick and do need to come not only into the ER but need to be admitted? The increasing demands with little to no compensation?
You can always expect to have more work and more often than not, No increased staffing or reduction in responsibilities when new ones are added...:-) what could I be thinking.
An article I read recently suggested that Yoga could be the answer for the stressed out nurse, again I laugh at this answer, just thinking about it...
I do truly believe that to have a massage or yoga session that can reduce stress is a Great idea, but nevertheless, it will never fix the problem. 
One part of the article notes that nurses are afraid to have a voice, afraid to lose the job that could very well be leading to their own demise... 
What I say?? Does it take to get nurses involved in their own advocacy???
The standard answer I hear is that they (hospitals, administrations, etc.) Will NEVER change..
Well it is time to be your own voice and change them...There is not enough lubricant in the world to just keep bending over and taking IT...
Nursing shoulders are huge, but We ARE NOT ATLAS, and should not keep being expected to add more and more changes and procedures and lack of staffing without having a voice in the decisions made that effect our work and safe practice. We cannot carry the weight of the world on our shoulders. We need to be the MAIN ingredient in the change process for Healthcare.


NO One has paid my mortgage or bought me a car, yet more and more taxes are coming out of my paycheck. And more and more responsibilities are added, sometimes on a monthly if not weekly basis in my work situation.


Here is a NOVEL concept, if doctors and other care providers can charge for each procedure, Why are nurses not charging for every level of their care? Why are we still just part of the HOSPITAL Cost? We do more and more, from bedpans, to Swan-Ganz catheter and drip management. And so many more life-saving and death preventing measures that are intrinsic to nursing. Let's change the way we are not only treated but change the way we deliver care.


We are professionals that deserve the proper compensation..How much autonomy and ownership of our practice could this idea provide????


See one of my first Blogs for the nursing retirement proposal.