'I've been a nurse for 30 years, and I understand why so many of us can't do it anymore.'

[csziggy]

36. Nurses are the best - and we need to pay them better

I've had fourteen major operations in the last 19 years - some outpatient, but a number of them in hospital. Twice I spent recovery time in a rehab facility. The nurses, LPNs, CNAs, and other personnel were pretty much all fantastic (the one head nurse who was a terrible administrator was a glaring exception).

My mother was a RN, served as a Navy Nurse during WWII, and worked as a RN (head nurse of the pediatric ward in the local community hospital) for a number of years when I was a kid, so I grew up knowing that the work nurses do is essential.

With my more recent hospital stays most of the nurses were immigrants and they were as or more dedicated than the US born nurses. There is a nurses training program at the local college and they have set up the campus between the two local hospitals. There are always trainees so it means the hospitals are better staffed than average.

The biggest problem I have seen is understaffing - the rehab facility had one nursing staff member for every 10-12 patients. When they have to deal with everything from knee and hip replacements to patients waiting to be transferred to long term or hospice care during to terminal conditions or advance dementia, a low patient load is essential to good care. Since most of the patients needed assistance to the bathroom or for other basic care issues, the staff of the rehab facility was vastly overworked. My husband came daily and helped me get my shower, get to the toilet, and other tasks that the aides had to take care of the rest of the time.

My caregivers were both male and female and they all did everything possible to care for me and to treat me with respect. In return I tried to keep my demands low and be pleasant, even when I was frustrated (more at my condition than at the staff).

Nurses and aides at all levels need better pay and there need to be more of them at most healthcare facilities. And they need the respect they are due for doing such essential and demanding jobs.