A Nurses' Week Sonnet:

I do not like these nurses' weeks,
I think your cheap cold pizza reeks,
I do not need a free lunch box,
I do not think you give two fox,
I want more money and if you laugh,
I hear traveling pays three times what you do so who's laughing now motherfuckers?

Happy (belated) Nurses' Week!

What happens after you die? Well, if you're in a hospital, we bring you back to life. Hopefully. 

You know that feeling in your body after working three in a row? That pained, backed up, congested yuck feeling? That's workstipation and I'm here to talk all about it. 

Raise your hand if you've never, in your nursing career, been yelled at by a physician.

Zero hands detected.

When every nurse you know has a story about being dressed down by a doc, it stops being anecdote; it's endemic.

References from this episode:

Women are seven times more likely to be misdiagnosed during a heart attack

90% of female docs have experienced sexism at work

One woman recorded her surgery and it was pretty bad

An anonymous admission of doctors behaving badly (Our Family Secrets)

77% of nurses and physicians have witnessed disruptive doctor behavior

The Joint Commission stats on workplace bullying in healthcare

NYT article in which a nurse recounts instances of doctors behaving badly

The Guardian article in which a doctor recounts exclusively nurses' experiences

Being a nurse means having to perform in high stress, high stakes situations. Being a human means sometimes that stress makes you a real asshole (and by you I mean me). 

Content Warning: suicide. Being nurses places us at increased risk for a number of things, not the least of which is a lifetime of mental health struggles that have a direct link to the work that we do. Let's talk about it.

Resources:
- National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 1-800-273-TALK(8255);
- Safe Call Now: 206-459-3020 (crisis referral for public safety employees, emergency services personnel and their families);
- Disaster Distress Helpline: 1-800-985-5990 or text TalkWithUs to 66746. (This is a hotline staffed with crisis counselors for those in emotional distress over natural or human-caused disasters).

In this ranty, slightly unhinged episode we're going to discuss the Nurses' Hierarchy of Needs, which is to say that if I have had no water, no pee break, no green top tubes and no respect from my patients I am probably not doing bedside shift report. Who can relate?

On this episode I'm talking about what I make as a bedside RN in the Emergency Department because when we don't talk about our pay the only people who benefit are not us. Talk about what you make, negotiate for a higher rate with every new job offer and listen to this episode for more. 

References:

It is illegal for employers to forbid you from talking about your pay: https://www.nlrb.gov/about-nlrb/rights-we-protect/the-law/jurisdictional-standards

Union workers are paid more than their nonunion counterparts: https://www.epi.org/press/union-workers-are-paid-11-2-more-and-have-greater-access-to-health-insurance-and-paid-sick-days-than-their-nonunion-counterparts-policymakers-must-strengthen-workers-ability-to-form-unions/

What Registered Nurses make according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics: https://www.bls.gov/ooh/healthcare/registered-nurses.htm

It's time to talk about workplace violence and the fact that, as nurses, we are four times more likely to experience it than any other profession. You don't need a bunch of statistics to tell you how dangerous our work is, but I brought them anyway (links to receipts are below).  

References:

OSHA guidelines for preventing workplace violence: https://www.osha.gov/sites/default/files/publications/osha3148.pdf

Workplace violence in healthcare report (OSHA): https://www.osha.gov/sites/default/files/OSHA3826.pdf

2021 study of workplace violence and underreporting in the pandemic: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/21650799211031233

TJC workplace violence standards and requirements: https://www.jointcommission.org/-/media/tjc/documents/standards/r3-reports/wpvp-r3_20210618.pdf

National Nurses United workplace violence page: https://www.nationalnursesunited.org/workplace-violence

#SilentNoMore Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/healthcareworkersprotectionact

Being the new kid is hard; you're slower at everything, you don't know where things are and you're held to a level of scrutiny that is probably not sustainable. It sucks and it won't last.