We knew that going into the profession. Unfortunately, the health care situation is not good, but I'm determined not to allow the peripheral things to distract me from nursing. Nurses need to focus on why they were called to the profession. The peripheral things Rater-man refers to include staffing shortages that leave small numbers of RNs responsible for large numbers of patients and a pay scale which she believes should be on par with other professions that require similar levels of education and expertise. But compensation appears secondary to the discontent among many nurses who proudly remain in the profession today.
Satisfaction comes with providing high-quality care.
Frustration comes when the nurse believes she's not able to give high-quality care. Nursing care is required 24 hours a day, seven days a week. It's tremendously labor-intensive in terms of the number of people required to give the care. Such realities have not escaped the notice of Ruth Hey, a student in the nursing program at Wright State University who will graduate with a BSN in December. She was referring to the chain of command that places the registered nurse in a high level of authority and responsibility over an array of unlicensed ancillary health care workers that perform a full range of duties and procedures.