Everyone is certainly aware of nursing in the press at the moment (unless you've been on mars for the past 2 months) and I started thinking about the profession losing its way and the pressures on us to change. I hear the profession being scalded for allowing poor standards of care in the midst of the mid staffordshire "scandal". Why did the profession not speak out against poor care? Where did it all go so badly wrong from a nursing point of view? Quite simply...fear, and fear being a very powerful thing. I've familiarised myself with some of the cases involving mid staffordshire at the NMC and I feel so sad that these nurses went so badly wrong and so angry at them for letting us all down so badly. it is one of the occasions where I feel ashamed and embarrassed for them. The only thing I can think about at the moment is the deep origin of the wrong-doing. I often feel the pressure will wear people down over time and they will grow to resent their responsibilities over time. I often feel guilty of this myself sometimes, the pressure to get care and documentation completed within a short timeframe with what appears to be less and less staff and resources...no wonder people feel we don't have time for them!When we work day in and day out in this fashion, I often stop to think about our values as a profession and not only within our profession but the wider healthcare environment. We are usually encouraged to believe that our employers are working hard to promote a culture of mutual respect and regard to one another's viewpoint, this being one important value in multi-professional working. But on a day to day basis I sometimes find, this simply does not happen. An example being our recent pay rise of 1%, this alone can represent the value the government puts on us as a profession (despite inflation being higher).
Quite often I feel that although there are unions speaking out on our behalf, we often seem to just accept what we are given. We maybe a profession of care, but to what extent do we care enough about ourselves to take action? We do little about it except talk and yet when it comes to speaking out on patient care, we spoke and once again, we're not listen to and accept criticism from government, the public and even our colleagues. Its get extremely demoralising and bluntly put, it hurts (after working 13 hours days and missed breaks).
I quite often feel that other professions need to get their own house in order before they criticise other professions in the NHS, the medical profession is by no means perfect and according to the Francis report, the management certainly is not. The key difference for me is the lack of self defence for the good nurses out there. sometimes a thank you is all it takes to make someone feel valued in there work. Sometimes all a person has to do is hint that they appreciate the effort a colleague has gone to for them. I often find that can be forgotten. I would encourage any nurse who is unhappy and feeling taken for granted to say so, believe me I am extremely vocal when is comes to defending the younger generation if nurses. However, I think we as a profession need to be more vocal about defending ourselves and our actions and don't simply "take it lying down" so to speak and stop attacking each other! I often feel let down by the NHS management and government in not recognising our hard work and effort.
We may be made an example of by the public for poor nursing, but I find that an antidote to all the negativity is to set your own gold standard to aim for, it allows you think about where you can achieve more and stop torturing yourself at the end of the day (we've all done it, and there is only so many hours in the day). I know the vast majority of us aim for excellent care and can fall short of this on occasions, but I know you all do a damn good job 98% of the time. Promote that for yourselves and don't be afraid to say to your seniors if you don't feel valued, others may feel the same. You give up and then...worst case...another mid-staffordshire.
How much value do you put on you? As Peter Carter Once said "Be the kind of nurse you know your patient needs you to be"
