My Hospital Work Memories

As I heard the automatic doors of the hospital close behind me, I became the calm professional nurse that everyone expects to see when they enter a hospital for whatever their reasons. Either they come as a patient, or they are here visiting someone. Conversely, they are like me and work in the hospital trying their best to give the care to your loved ones that they deserve. Which by the way is not an easy task.

We are expected to work as long as its necessary, be it eight hours or twelve hours per shift. Sometimes we have to forgo lunch or work extra as a result of an emergency or to catch up on our charting. On the other hand, we need to talk with a patients family, maybe a patients Dr. comes in unannounced, or we are short on staff. There are a number of reasons for the long hours.

Don't get me wrong we love our work! However, we need more nurses to assist with the patients and the nurses are getting scarce. I have seen hospitals hire new nurses just graduating promising them 24.00 per hour, no week-ends. Then when they are hired us older nurses making top out pay of 15.00 dollars per hour, after being at the same hospital for twenty odd years are expected to train these newbies, oversee them, be responsible for them and workweek ends that they don't have to!
If they make a mistake it's our job which is on the line, and we carry the patient load, they don't. It's like this if you have 8 patients to be responsible for and your getting 15.00 per hour the newbie is getting 24.00 per hour with no responsibility!

Shouldn't the more experienced nurse which is taking all the responsibility make more money, have week-ends off and not carry such a heavy case load? Then we would have more time to train these new young people without feeling slighted over the pay differential and perks.