I was reading a story on the Mails website about the family of a pensioner who they accused of badly treating her in hospital, as she was dying of terminal cancer. I looked at some of Mailwatch's comments on the story, and the thread on the Mail vs the NHS (the right wing press love a bit of nurse bashing. And I use the word "bit" liberally.) I eventually discovered a link to the Militant Medical Nurse blog , written by a graduate nurse who goes by the name of "Nurse Anne." It is a passionate and extremely heartfelt rebuttal to all the popular misconceptions about nurses and nursing the right wing press like to put out. It is an angry blog, but angry in a good way, as only a passionate response to the endless lies and shit spread about a career the blogs author loves with a passion. It is simply one of the most compelling blogs I have ever read. I've virtually read most of it already. I was just disappointed there wasn't an infinite number of posts! Like all good insider exposes into a well known but badly understood vocation, we learn that what we thought we knew about [in this case] nursing was wrong, and the muckslingers know even less (but it wouldn't be fun then.) The blog utterly demolishes the old nursing tropes trotted out by journos who have never bothered to look in to how stuff actually works. Firstly we learn that nurses with degrees in the subject is a good thing. Nursing is a valued profession (corrected;- it should be.) recognition of this would help the public understand a nurses role for one. For another, a nurse is responsible for lives. For checking that those drugs are right, that that tachycardia won't lead to an arrest. Compassion must be married to experience and practical application. Being nice alone, won't save lives. Indeed, subjectively reacting to situations, without an awareness of the whole, is likely to be more harmful.
More disturbingly we learn that NHS business managers are in favour of using fewer qualified nurses and more health care assistants and cadets (teenage temps looking for paid work experience.) Both of these (and nurse Anne says so) do admirable work, but they have two drawbacks. Neither are qualified to any extent like nurses, and are not registered (so can't carry the can if someone dies) The latter are also not protected terms (this can be really frustrating if patients / visitors see them as equally qualified), so you can get a lot off chaff with the wheat. The duty nurses have to worry about poorly trained staff, and cadets who are just there cause it pays more than McDonald's. They are constantly having to monitor them (you have to, if you can get blackballed for something they did wrong.), and can't delegate them tasks with greater autonomy. It is also difficult when patients / visitors have little distinction between the roles of nurses /other ward staff, and see cadets as qualified nurses, and nurses as cadets.
The last point is perhaps the most devastating one of all. The reduction of qualified nurses, and inflation of auxiliary staff has had a terrible effect on curtailing nurses valuable rationed time. The patient to nurse ratio has increased drastically. This has resulted in the reduction of time a nurse can spend with patients (holistic care. How?), and enormous demands on a nurses workload. When a nurse is responsible for perhaps 15 patients a shift, every second is precious. Preparing pills can take all morning, literally any delay can result in backlog, and then more backlog. The stories of dirty hospitals, and pensioners being left in their shit are not down to wilful cruelty or neglect [on the nurses part]. They simply cannot be everywhere at once, all the time. Something has to give; and are going to fall by the wayside. The post where she says nurses are now too tied up to rigid schedules, that they sometimes have to avoid eye contact with patients / visitors, lest they fall behind even more, as time [literally] costs lives - is truly heartbreaking (the article "Nurse Anne's pamphlet for patients" should be required reading for all. It doesn't sound half as harsh in context to the articles.) The ghost of Florence Nightingale herself couldn't do better. This cost cutting deflation of qualified nurses on wards is downright dangerous, and it is insulting to say that they don't care. They do! They just need more resources, more time and more support. (more nurses.) God knows if it is just down to bean counters in management blinded by their narrow specialisms?
More disturbingly we learn that NHS business managers are in favour of using fewer qualified nurses and more health care assistants and cadets (teenage temps looking for paid work experience.) Both of these (and nurse Anne says so) do admirable work, but they have two drawbacks. Neither are qualified to any extent like nurses, and are not registered (so can't carry the can if someone dies) The latter are also not protected terms (this can be really frustrating if patients / visitors see them as equally qualified), so you can get a lot off chaff with the wheat. The duty nurses have to worry about poorly trained staff, and cadets who are just there cause it pays more than McDonald's. They are constantly having to monitor them (you have to, if you can get blackballed for something they did wrong.), and can't delegate them tasks with greater autonomy. It is also difficult when patients / visitors have little distinction between the roles of nurses /other ward staff, and see cadets as qualified nurses, and nurses as cadets.
The last point is perhaps the most devastating one of all. The reduction of qualified nurses, and inflation of auxiliary staff has had a terrible effect on curtailing nurses valuable rationed time. The patient to nurse ratio has increased drastically. This has resulted in the reduction of time a nurse can spend with patients (holistic care. How?), and enormous demands on a nurses workload. When a nurse is responsible for perhaps 15 patients a shift, every second is precious. Preparing pills can take all morning, literally any delay can result in backlog, and then more backlog. The stories of dirty hospitals, and pensioners being left in their shit are not down to wilful cruelty or neglect [on the nurses part]. They simply cannot be everywhere at once, all the time. Something has to give; and are going to fall by the wayside. The post where she says nurses are now too tied up to rigid schedules, that they sometimes have to avoid eye contact with patients / visitors, lest they fall behind even more, as time [literally] costs lives - is truly heartbreaking (the article "Nurse Anne's pamphlet for patients" should be required reading for all. It doesn't sound half as harsh in context to the articles.) The ghost of Florence Nightingale herself couldn't do better. This cost cutting deflation of qualified nurses on wards is downright dangerous, and it is insulting to say that they don't care. They do! They just need more resources, more time and more support. (more nurses.) God knows if it is just down to bean counters in management blinded by their narrow specialisms?
So check out Militant Medical Nurse. You'll never be able to stop yourself from flinching when you hear another pundit mouthing off about "too posh to wash, and too mean to clean." nurses. Especially nurses who have been out of the loop for 25 years (a lot has changed apparently.) I know I might end up punching my computer screen sometime soon.
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