Code Green

I am reading an interesting book titled Code Green Money driven hospitals and the dismantling of nursing. The writer did this study as her PhD after being a patient in a hospital and noting the frustration and stress of the nurses. It is very interesting to go back thru my 30 year career as a front line nurse and revisit all the things that occurred. It was also a little sad to realize that out of my 30 years I have only felt valued for 8 of them and the battles we fought for even those 8 years. So here I am in yet another down economy watching hours and hard fought staff increases disappearing. My facility going for magnet status which is truly a joke in my mind while the familiar refrain of more with less comes from on high. I don't in any way disagree with cost cutting and working to keep your business functioning in tough times but if you are "all about the patients" there are other things to cut like 2 cases of coffee a week or sending people to conferences. As a professional I expect to see to my own continuing education. So we work with less and then if things quiet down for 30 minutes I am expected to send even more people home resulting in more rushing around. An ED cannot cut to bare bones as we cannot turn away patients. This differs from inpatient units as when all the beds are filled they are done. I am glad this is ending.