Okayyyyy doctor!!!! Not you featuring me in your video 🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩!!!! Thank you so much, I appreciate your feedback and the time you took to dissect my video ❤❤❤❤

Medicine should have never became a corporation. That was the first problem.

I'm a RN with a laundry list of certs. I took a massive pay cut to be cashier. My mental health thanks me. Something's got to give.

Nurses are leaving because they are understaffed, overworked, underpaid and definitely under appreciated.

The reason for having less walkie-talkie patients is that medicine has advanced to the point that Doctors can do more interventions to prolong life but the quality of life is poor. People are optimistic about living after devastating medical conditions but they need alot of physical help and hospitals are not trying to staff with this in mind.

My wife is a RN. She made sure none of our daughters chose nursing as a profession.

I love science which is one of the reasons I chose the profession. As a RN, I don’t use most of the science I’ve learned. The most important skill is “running like a chicken” which they didn’t teach in nursing school. 🙄

Patients are getting sicker, acuity is higher, and the amount of experienced nurses leaving the bedside now vs pre Covid is worsening. All we ask for is better pay that’ll lead to better staffing but nope! Everyone gets a pizza party while admin sends a “we’re in this together” email in their c-suite

30 yrs in the ER as medic/RN. Retired in 2016. First, there was a drastic drop in public respect for nurses including assaults. Secondly, administrators who didn't care about patient care, just Press Ganey scores - including the abdominal pain patient who states that their care was terrible because they weren't immediately fed upon arrival.

I'm a new nurse. I worked in one of the busiest O.R.'s in Los Angeles and I left after 8 months. I don't think I'm going back to hospitals.

I was randomly recommended this vid, but being a former elementary school teacher (7 years, this was my final year) I see so many parallels between nursing and teaching. Underpaid, unappreciated, and the girlies are indeed NOT choosing to be teachers and I completely understand why. Kudos to all nurses and all teachers. I see you all. 💗

As an RN, I'm always short on CNAs. There's a period I took a break from nursing and drove Lyft and delivered pizza.

As an IM resident at a quarternary center , the past medical history stuff she mentioned is 100% accurate. It’s a cognitive burden for the doctors too!

I did hospital security for a year. Never again!! The nurses get assaulted, and even if we call the police, we can't deny them if they are in the hospital with mental health. Yet, we can keep homeless people off property unless it's life or death. Nurses got spit on, hit, had hot coffee thrown on them, verbally abused, the nurses get each other in trouble, we had a homeless guy who emptied his entire bowl on the floor and ran out of the hospital leaving a trail, families assault hospital employees when their loved ones die, we had to babysit the crazy.. There's too many patients per one nurse. The nurses abuse the CNA's so they quit.... The hospital is a crazy and VERY stressful place to work. I'd only work in a hospital if I had no other option..... Oh, and the pay is NOT worth the stress. Law enforcement and hospital policies don't protect hospital workers of any kind from patient abuse. And if you defend yourself, you'll be fired and lose your license. No thank you.

I was a nurse for 32 years and nothing has changed. It was is and always will be profit over people. Med surg ratios have not changed. A lot of the younger nurses gravitate towards NP school and nurse managers are useless. Seasoned nurses don’t readily jump to huge sign on bonuses knowing it could land them in the same boat. What needs To happen are mandatory staffing ratios that are based on safety studies. In other words what is the most Patients a nurse can take on before the safety and well-being of the patient is at risk? Obviously the number would be different depending on what floor the nurse works on. Secondly Parents need to start young and teach their children that McCrap and Burger Krap do not sell real food. Last but not least nursing school should be hospital based and not university based so that the students and help alleviate the staffing shortages while still learning.

After graduating from nursing school, I did 7 months in Medsurg/Telemetry & was already tired of it... then came an opportunity and went to psych....well it's been 3 yrs & I DON'T miss bedside nursing & all the fake titles of ICU, ER, PEDS, OB & CLEAN ASSES

The reason that every patient is total care now is that you have to be that sick to get Inpatient care now for insurance to pay. After my total knee replacement I was out the door less than 2 hours after waking up from anesthesia. Even this kind of surgery, that a few years ago warranted a couple of days inpatient care, does not even get any post op monitoring after post anesthesia recovery.

Nurse for 10 yrs here. I’ve seen the decline. Patients are built different now. I’ve always put 100% into my work. But these latter years I found myself giving the hospital most of my time energy and compassion, while leaving my family with the scraps of me. I walked away. One of the best things I’ve done.

The political and pay is one reason Nurses don’t want to be Nurses not to mention patients are rude and ungrateful.

Some hospitals in California especially the Bay Area, have really strong nursing unions that mandate breaks, ratios, staffing. Some cardiac units (non-ICU) even have 2-3 patients per nurse. The nurses there are also well paid, with experienced nurses making up to 250K or more (differentials, clinical level, etc). Unions are necessary to balance the way healthcare corps are trying to run the business. These should model how nursing is in the US to prevent burnout. Take a look at their nurses union contracts (CRONA (Stanford Hospital), CNA (Kaiser Hospitals), UCSF Med

I am a male CNA and she is spitting facts!!! Hospital Upper management doesn’t care about you, or the patients for that matter. Nursing facilities are darn right disgusting and it’s very sad knowing what these elderly patients go through on a daily basis with lack of family support and unfortunately people taking care of them who are disinterested in their job, but if I’m being honest I don’t blame them because it’s a hard frustrating job. I use to want to be a nurse sooo damn bad, but after 2 1/2 years as a CNA in the hospital setting, I am going the medicine route and choosing PA, specifically because I realize I enjoy science and anatomy a lot, but not the MD/DO route because I want to enjoy my life and not live at the hospital and not go half a million in debt. Nurses go through so much and have to deal with so much BS, it’s disheartening to experience and see new grads with so much joy and love and literally a month in you can see the disparity and sadness in their eyes.

I am a former hospital chaplain in a 750 bed hospital in West Texas. Part of my job was to emotionally and spiritually care for the nurses, as well as the support staff, so that they would be happy, stay at their job, and not complain to the leaders. I saw a lot of these same problems 25 to 30 years ago, which is why I left that form of ministry. Back then if a woman had a baby she was given one or two days in the hospital after giving birth. When I was a Chaplin there had already started shipping the women out within 24 hours of giving birth. I am now a licensed professional counselor. I see some of these same problems at the out-patient mental health clinic level. I assess that the entire system is break down under it's own weight. Patients are NOT getting the care they need and they are often having to wait months to get the care they do get!!!

I am a RN, I work in a big hospital system in PA and I work on med surg. I can confirm that our ratio is 1:7 but they "try to cap us at 1:6". It is insane. What she said in the video is absolutely true. We don't have enough techs, we are trying to do our own jobs and everyone else's jobs too. And tbe patients treat us like absolute crap. We get hit, kicked, slapped, spit at, cursed out, etc etc etc and very few patients show understanding of what we have to do. My unit is a newer unit, it's a 14 bed unit, we have 2 nurses and 1 tech. That's it. It's so dangerous. Not only that, but we don't even get relieved for breaks. I have to beg staffing to have someone cover us for breaks half the time. How are we working 12 hours and don't don't get a break? We are in a constant fight of flight kind of elevated stressful state, for 12 hours straight. And I never get out at 7. I have to stay and chart sometimes till 9. It's absolutely true that we feel guilty that we aren't able to give the level of care that we WANT to give, because we don't have the staff and we don't have the time. It's incredibly hard. Also, the patients seem to think that at hospitals, they are in a 5 star hotel and they demand that the nurses are their personal chefs, housekeepers, maids, everything. They are incredibly demanding and most family members don't help, they will legit sit there and watch you struggle. I hope it gets better, because honestly I don't think I could do this for another 20+ years. Something needs to change

I worked Long term care for over 10yrs and ITS EVEN WORSE!! My last Shift in December 2023 I had 32!!! 32 PATIENT'S AKA Residents 12 were Diabetic with insulin, dressing changes, Skin assessments/ dressing changes including having to pass Meds to half of them all while answering the phone and watching the fax machine for Dr orders/Lab results and pharmacy deliveries!! I left that day and may NEVER go back to that way of Nursing again!! Of course I loved my Residents and Nursing itself but I just cannot handle that anymore 😢!! Being a Nurse is Hard !!

I Love Kendra RN, she gives you realistic expectations in what is happening in the Healthcare profession. You can see her passion for what she does exude and the love for future Nurses and her patients ❤️

My mom was a CNA/STNA and she retired. She couldn’t believed her old employer called her back to work last week. That’s terrifying to think they desperately need a 63 year old woman.

I’ve been a nurse for 10yrs. The burn out is real. I work in the ICU and being tripled is the norm. My back, feet and knees by the end of the shift is done. Having four days off is nothing. I was just telling a colleague this the other day. Family members need to do more than just sit there looking. They don’t ask is there anything that they can do to assist. They should be embarrassed and ashamed. I plan on exiting the bedside in a few months. It’s just too much.

As on older Gen Z RN, what she says is true. I got my BSN right after i turned 21, did 1 year of bedside of a mix of step down and ICU….hated every minute of my life. You are a glorified servant to EVERYONE in the hospital with admin harassing you throughout the day to do nonsense charting that has no direct impact to patient outcomes. Instead of telling me to chart my patient care plans (endless list of redundant bullet points that the patient “needs” to be educated on) while i am in the process of wiping someone’s ass, maybe offer a helping hand?! Went to outpatient urgent care and i started to enjoy life a little bit more. How these older nurses have been doing bedside their whole careers is beyond me. They have no self respect at all is the only conclusion i can come to. Pure passion for nursing cant make you stay that long with our current healthcare system

Took a 3k/mo pay reduction to go from the ED to orientate to CVICU. Worth it. Doing US Army USAGPAN for CRNA. Full-time pay and benefits while in school with the school years counting towards retirement. I'm entering my late 30s and this is my last move in nursing. It's this or I'm out. I have a degree and experience in another field, don't need to be here.

I retired early due to being overworked, crazy hours, too much micromanagement and not being able to take care of our patients properly due to the overload of patient ratio to one nurse. I don't care how much money they pay, there is no amount of money that anyone could pay me to keep my sanity and health. When I started crying in the parking lot before and after work, I decided it was time to quit, so I did.

Thank you for choosing Kendra's video!! She is one of my favorite youtubers. She focuses on the issue, not herself.

Am a nurse too and all what she said is true. The worse of it all is when a typical day work load is great and you are trying to finished a 12 hrs job but you are still finishing all your paper work at 10 pm and the bosses thinks you want overtime, and gets written up for that’s, that’s bulling.

Yeah this seems to be across the board. Stretching people thin is part of the business model, and the results are proving increasingly deadly. You see this in engineering as well.

Imagine one nurse to 28 to 32 patients! Not sustainable.

Professional patient over here. Been sick since birth and so thankful for all of our nurses. A nurse literally saved my life after a doctor missed something and then refused to admit it. I have so many friends with other chronic illnesses and we know that we’d all be dead if not for the doctors and nurses, but we know the nurses are the ones who care for us especially since the doctors well can’t, not with the 15minute rules and other demands. You are all amazing and I am Pursing nursing because of my experiences, good and bad ones. Although it is terrible now and I fully expect it to collapse soon (maybe the NHS will go first) I want to be here to help rebuild and in the meantime help patients as much as I can despite knowing that it will be hell on earth sometimes. Hopefully one day we will be able to let the medical staff help and not withhold due to a piece of green paper

Inpatient acutely is higher today. I’m the past patients stayed in the hospital several days after surgery. Today they have surgery, are up walking within hours and sent home same day.

Been a nurse 5 years before I enrolled into medical school, totally agree unsafe ratio’s, patients are only getting sicker and sicker and that combination just creates mistakes.. I think she’s right, there’s gonna be a major shortage in the future it’s already happening in the country I’m from and I feel like management is not taking it seriously because it has ebbed and flowed in the past, but this time it’s different: the pro’s of working outside of hospitals (or typical medsurg departments) are just now majorly outweighing the cons more and more dramatically, and the generation of “proud workhorses” that are content working themselves to an early grave is also becoming less. I feel like this generation (myself included) is a lot more health conscious/looking for balance, and that’s a good thing. Also not against capitalism, but it totally needs to be regulated.

I love Kendra. She tells it like it is

New grad here, never working in acute care, I work outpatient care and I make twice as much for half the labor. the problem is hospitals are not paying enough for the labor

As a nurse I agree 100% about everything she said. She couldn't have been more on point. It's as if she was doing the talking for me word for word.

Crazy how you have so many people trying to nursing school and not enough teachers. No one sees that log jam of a pipeline and than when you see so many nurses leaving, it’s like the deadliest cycle. No more nurses at the bedside and none to replace them as we have no one to educate the students.

Nurse/patient ratio. Administration took away my help when I begged them not to. They left me alone with 25 to 30 patients. When I had another nurse I could keep up with patient assessments, IV therapy, and documentation. I knew the acuity level of my patients. I told them that a patient was going to fall through the crack because I couldn't keep up with the many medications and patient assessment too. That's exactly what happened. Needless to say that I eventually quit. The Physician in charge also quit. The patient load was absolutely too much.

Yeah when my dad was dying after he had a stroke and aphasia plus the loss of the right side of his body, I would come in and cut his hair, I would cut his nails I would bring him the kind of food that he likes, I would put lotion on his body, I would massage him a little bit. They can't do everything. My dad needed a lot of help and I did what I could. Not to mention not all insurance pays a lot of money some of these rates at the insurance company has are so low that the private pay patients are really paying majority of it

Totally agree with a lot of young people not looking as CNA and RNA as life long professions. I worked as a CNA at an ER and loved taking care of patients, but most days I was the only CNA supporting 3 to 4 RNs and their 4 patients each. Most days we were understaffed so I was also running around helping hallway patients and with codes. We had a good RN to patient ratio, but the complexity of illness and injury we would see would overwhelm us. These conditions led to high turnover rate. Over the one year I was there I saw so many colleagues leave. We lost so many experienced CNAs and the new CNAs and the ER suffered from the loss of expertise. I loved my job and loved what I could do for patients, but the lack of support and not being able to give patients the best care I could was disheartening. Just like she said, I am not looking to go into nursing, being a CNA for me was a way to get experience and save money for med school, but there are better and more physically sustainable ways to make an income. I feel people are realizing that the pay and prestige of bedside nursing or other healthcare jobs are not worth the toll on their health.

I ve been a nurse for 45 years...still working full time. NOT bedside nursing....surely cannot do that anymore. I work as a pre-admit nurse. Interviewing pts before they have surgery, getting their "history" from them. I have to teach them how to prepare for surgery , give instructions, tell them what meds to take the day of surgery and then go over lab results, notify MDs if the results are abnormal, do the EKGs, do a set of vital signs, collect urine specimens, get their consents signed and witnessed, and document what transpiredwhile the pt was with you. Oh "they" give you 45 minutes to one hour to get this done, no matter how incoherent or coherent the patient is. If they know their medications or forgot their list , the nurse must find out !

If profit over patient is the primary goal, then none of this will change. It will only get worse.

With regard to nursing the juice (pay) isn't worth the squeeze (stress). Only exception is if you're doing traveling nursing or float pool at your hospital.

My dad retired as a doctor in 98 and he did not encourage any of his kids to get into the medical proffession cause he saw were it was heading

KendraRN giving accurate insider current event news for future nurses and people who have the power to make a change

I've been a nurse for 25 years, and I have to agree! It's changed over the years and not for the best. Pay is extremely low (the big 3) benefits suck.

In India, you have to bring a family member to get you food, to get your medicine, the nurses will administration, but you have to pay for it at the pharmacy and your family brings it into the nurse.

I talked my youngest daughter out of being a nurse. I am an RN and have been working as an RN for over 25 years. Things have changed so much in the last 8-10 years. I have left the hospital.(I worked L&D and Mother/Baby and Women’s post op mostly) and now work for much less money in an ONGYN office. She is right. Something has to change.

Unhealthy lifestyle is the main problem. Almost all the patient i see are diabetics & on insulin.Imagine you have one CNA or 2 ,1 already sitter 1:1 for behavioral patient on med surg .You have hundread things to chart ,constant call bell ringing,be yelled at etc

Add to all of this the extraordinary debt burden most in the medical field have after college. Stress on stress.

After 45 years, an RN, masters degree, nurse educator, ER, ICU trained, multiple certifications . I quit. My life is so much better. I make a lot less money but my happiness and stress free life is priceless.

I really enjoyed this video. It’s a topic that needs to be discussed, but I feel as if nothing will get done until it’s too late.

At one point in my career I worked both adult medsurg and ICU at the same time, I was a tech for a few years before I became a nurse on the medsurg floor I worked...in that short time the patients we were caring for on the floor were the patients we would have sent to CCU or ICU a few years before. The 5 to 9 patients of the late 90s were not the same as the patients in the early to mid 2000s when I moved away from medsurg to live in the ICU. Many of the administrators who talk about "I was a nurse I understand " in fact don't they didn't have EMR, higher acuity, hotel mindset of patients/familes, nor the meteics we have now. Also, CNAs were plentiful at one point and many were really good and helpful and worthy of so much respect.

Thank you for covering this topic.

In North Dakota, you are required to have a CNA for nursing school. I am on my third day of clinicals! It is backbreaking work. I cannot do It! I will stick to my current profession as a massage therapist. More pay and less stress.

Got my AA in nursing and then my bachelors for MLS . So glad I became a medical lab scientist. I love science but the demand of patients and the treatment was just something I was not willing to accept. I’m so happy I changed roles and I am so much happier with my career.

I worked in admitting and other clerical jobs in healthcare for almost 9 years. I was making $16 an hour in 2010. In 2024 they are offering us 20$ for the same job. I could work at McDonald’s and make more. I quit healthcare during covid to go to barber school and it’s so much more relaxing and I’m more comfortable

TBH it sounds like pt load has increased across the board for healthcare, I’m an OP therapist and I have seen up to 25 pt in a 8hr workday and its absolute burnout, I was burnt-out already in my 2nd year.. and then comes the existential crisis 🤦🏾

As a nurse I have to agree with her. I have been a nurse for 7 years and I'm ready to go. I Graduate NP school next year. The patients are sicker. Plus them and their families sometimes treat nurses so bad. I've been hit and called N**** and B****. I've been threatened. I'm also a teachers assistant for a college in NJ and I do tell the students to be honest with them and try to prepare them for what's ahead

I love nurse Kendra!! I appreciate this video, Dr.!! Thank you!!

Former anaesthesiology resident here. The worsening condition of patients is not only this nurse's experience. I have anaesthetized old people with severe diseases daily. Anticoagulants, artificial valves and atrial fibrillation were a daily discussion among anaesthesiologists. In specialists' opinion it wasn't the case some years ago, those comorbidites were more rare. It's the medicine's "improvement", that allows us qualify more sick patients for multiple surgeries. I witnessed death or complications from those surgeries daily, while I have been already burnt out after covid pandemic on ICU, which is a whole another story. I am completely burnt out, I have left without looking back. Note: I am not from USA, I worked in public healthcare in a country with a whole public healthcare available for everyone. Hear me out - public healthcare is not a solution. Patients don't care. The most demoralized people will get million dollars worth intensive care after years of alcoholism, DAILY. WITH MY HANDS. While my young athletic colleagues AND FAMILY couldn't get a primary care, EVEN I, A DOCTOR, I couldn't get public healthcare on time in little problems when I needed it. I always paid for my physiotherapy and next day I would grab some 120 kg old lady with my 60kg ass and my 60 kg nurse to treat this big lady's disease for public money. I'm sorry, but I have my regrets. Now I hear that it's getting worse in glorified western countries. Well, we're doomed, I'm leaving the hell outta this business

Im not sure about the older generation, but i think that the younger generation is probably the most health conscious than ever. I see many people trying to excercise and eat healthy (especially excercise). They are also worrying about mental health but it is hard to do all tbose things when we need to do school work or having a normal job. Also, on her point of patients getting worse, i think that it is mostly because the hospital doesnt want seemingly healthy patients in there. For example, an OBGYN doc talked about how back then they kept mothers underwatch in the hospital after they gave birth, but now the hospital tries to get mothers out ASAP

Love Kendra! She always keeps it real

Thank you for making this video. it is well said, the details are all true! I'm a CNA.

What breaks i use to skip breaks, did not have time for it. i am a NP now and take my work home with, now i work 24/7 and no off days; unless i go on vacation.

This is a good video, Now I don't feel alone. I am a nursing assistant, a patient care technician. I recently left bedside as a tech from a hospital in Scottsdale AZ because I would either be assigned 28 patients by myself on a shift or 16 patients during a 12 hour shift. Nurses were assigned 4 to 5 patients only. The Patient care techs are always given a higher ratio. I left bedside care because I was overwhelmed. I would drive home crying with back pain, painful feet, and pain in my hips. One night I was assigned 16 patients. I had more than 4 calling me to go to the bathroom I could only take 1 at a time. One patient couldn't wait for me any longer to go to the bathroom, they got up on their own, fell, busted their head open and died. The hospital stated the patient died from a heart issue but that was not true, the patient died from the fall. Although the patient was in the unit for a cardiac related condition it was not how they died and I didn't feel safe working as a patient care technician at this facility. It was just heart breaking. :(

Yess Dr. We love @KendraRN! She is spot on.

Good looking out! Thanks for helping bring this to the public consciousness. I am a neurology nurse. I am going into psychiatric mental health advanced nursing practice. After doing Neurology stepdown for going on 8 years, I am pretty much done with bedside nursing. I am the 2nd most senior nurse on nights in my unit and have seen tons of nurses come and go within a year or less. It's a difficult and thankless job at baseline, but COVID really changed things for the worse. Apart from the pandemic itself, the aftermath is not much better. Sicker patients with higher incidences of stroke and heart attacks. The pay raises are negligible and the hospital is cutting costs at every turn. Despite the lack of decent pay raises we are expected to learn and practice more and more advanced skills and procedures. As a neurology nurse, I run cardiac drips, TNK (clot buster infusions), antibody infusions, heparin drips, high flow oxygen, complex wound care and wound vac maintenance, bladder irrigation, trach care, ostomy care, drug and alcohol withdrawal, and so much more. We have 6-1 ratios and are frequently understaffed. Not to mention having some of the most combative patients in the hospital. A week doesn't go by without one of us getting hit, kicked, scratched, bitten, grabbed, or spit at. Then there is just the bone-crushing sadness of the job. Nurses are leaving the bedside at massive rates. My wife is a nurse anesthetist, the biggest reason I stuck it out this long is to get her through school. I worry about what the next few years will bring if something isn't done to turn this around. Respect your nurses, CNAs, and patient care techs. You don't want to imagine a world where we aren't around.

Its pretty bad as a nurse of 20+ years that I feel like I can give better nursing care in a Medium Security Prison than I ever could working in a hospital. That is even on my worst shift I feel like I give better care in the Jails/Prisons. That and this is honestly the safest job and best kept secret in nursing. I would not still be in the profession if I was in a traditional medical setting. I just decided to make the jump to grad school after being in the profession for over 25 years. We need to get big business out of health care and put those bodies on the floor.

4:11 same when i was a CNA in dementia unit. Our facility (and caregiver:patient ratios) was set-up for "walkie-talkie" folks but now our census is mostly folks who cannot perform independent tasks. Yet we have the same ratio, one caregiver per 30 patients at night! Someone will be trying to punch you or throwing feces around while a patient down the hall is falling or choking. You are responsible for everyone and you are completely alone! It is horrible! Takes dignity away from our caregivers and also the elderly, who deserve quality care at end of life.. Just for some extra profits?

As an ex-critical care nurse who LOVED the ICU. Felt right at home. Worked in the ICU as a tech for years first and I still loved it. . . I NEVER recommend anyone to follow in my footsteps. I have since left the bedside after the pandemic with scars some you can see and a lot you can’t see. I took a MASSIVE pay cut for my sanity. Totally worth it. My new career doesn’t require an RN license however my extra skills are a bonus. I don’t identify as a nurse anymore. I never worked med-surg. I don’t know how those nurses do it!! Bless them all! We need to take care of the backbone of the medical system: the nurses who are the largest professional group in healthcare worldwide

I nursed for over 40 years. Kendra speaks the truth. ❤️🇨🇦

Thanks for sharing her post. This was very eye opening

I’m a nurse as well I’ve been a nurse for 2 years I’m burnt out. I’m ready to leave planning an exit as we speak!

Special recognition to this nurse who had the courage to speak up and speak for us nurses. We are overloaded, underpaid, and overworked causing burnout sooner and forcing early retirement or a complete change in careers entirely. Truth!

I watched Kendra’s video when it was posted and everything she said was spot on. I am a new grad RN on med/surg; barely coming up on my 6th month mark and I am TIRED!

My thoughts on why the patient load is heavier in the hospital now is perhaps because of improved technology--- the less-sick patients can more safely be cared for outpatient rather than in the hospital, and the more sicker patients are all in the hospital. Also, patients who normally would have passed away are able to be kept alive longer, albeit, sicker, and in the hospital. I've had older nursing school instructors tell me that our telemetry patients are what their ICU patients used to be, and our ICU patients typically wouldn't be living

I think I know that lady from the last time I was in the hospital. I noticed 2 things while I was there in the new hospital center in Maryland. As I told several people who worked there, it seemed like there was a gross lack of communication between different elements in the hospital. When it's that glaring that a patient notices it, it's bad; but when the staff agrees with the patient, it's really bad. The other thing I noticed was that for 95% of the staff (unscientific field observation), English was their second language, and that the vast majority of them came from places overseas. There's absolutely nothing wrong with that, but when you have poor communication in the med center to start with - they lost track of me 3 different times, is only the biggest example - and a staff that has a difficult time communicating with one another, let alone patients, something bad is bound to happen, sooner rather than later. I'm a Boomer - not the oldest, not the youngest. Despite having ACD, Type II, high BP, I'm in I would say, relatively decent health. I was in for an accident I had when I was 65 (soon to be 68). I feel like my job is to be a good patient. I go out of my way to engage my providers, to show the same kind of concern about them as they're at least supposed to show me. And it works. I've always been that way. It's enjoyable making someone else's day, to coax them out of their shell of a bad day, or feeling inadequate due to language barriers, and so on like that. Oh, and I consider myself a classic introvert, corrupted by living in an extrovert world. So there.

Thanks for sharing this real talk… I identify with your concerns!

I retired as a bedside nurse for a lot of reasons and I didn’t regret it and you are totally right my dear !!!

I’ve been a LPN for 16 years taking care of geriatric patients, hospice patients with terminal diseases. She said it right, the work of a nurse is currently burdensome everywhere in the USA. Money is being made by the healthcare facilities in detriment of patients’ health. That’s really sad.

Hi I am a LPN, a pediatric nurse. I do private duties because my back is not so great. As we speak, I started taking my prerequisites to become a Pharmacist. Not only I want to leave nursing, I want to stay far away from this profession. If nursing is for you go for it, but I don’t want to have to work 72 to 84 hours some week just to make minimum wage in this day and age. For me to be able to pay my bills and some debt, I must work at least 6 days or nights to be able to make it. No good quality life for me.

Love Kendra! She's my fellow nurse sister from the DMV in my head 🥰

I'm an Rn and got assaulted in the Ed. A patient literally stomped on my foot like a child, because we were understaffed and they wanted to be seen "RIGHT NOW". My toe was broken and I had to have surgery. These hospital systems are for profit, patients or staff do not matter. Plus there is a new breed of patient after covid, who think they know everything, they are entitled, and also don't trust science. It is hard to deal with these types. It's only when they think they're dying that they listen. A lot of nurses care, but they're so overwhelmed😢

AMAZING VIDEO. I’m entered nursing right at the beginning of the pandemic and it was HELL: brand new, no real skills and no support. I suffered every single day and YES, no help from admin so valid point in criticizing that factor of healthcare. Like you I believe in Capitalism BUT healthcare should not be a business. We need to take care of ourselves AND support healthy work environments, especially for nurses. It is inhumane to suffer through the unrealistic workloads and she didn’t even mention the verbal and physical abuse we are exposed to as well. Code grays were an hourly occurrence where I worked. Thanks for giving space to this very important topic.

I spent the first 14 years in the trenches (medsurg). I'm in psych now. I left the trenches in 2020. I feel like when most families are at the bedside, I've gained extra patients.

Also, I love me some Kendra, RN! I went ICU after working Med/Surg, and even in California with strict 1:5 patient ratios, I am grateful every single day for that decision. Med/surg today is TOUGH!

Thanks for sharing. I'm applying to nursing school but i knew that this was an issue so i have a plan even before applying.

Cookie cutter medicine, not individual. Bad bad bad. I could never encourage anyone to be a nurse after my 26 years. RUN AWAY!

I have a MA friend whose office is cutting downthe time for people to be seen. A new intake only get 20min. A med recertify only gets 15min. If you have multiple things going on you have to come back on a new visit for each one! At this point they want everyone dead but get their money in the process. There is no way a full assessment can be done in 15 to 20 minutes. Some ones bag of pillls might take the allotted time. Does this mean they cant be seen everytime they come to an appointment. This is ridiculous!

It's sad that instead of trying to improve working conditions for our nurses to reduce burnout, hospital executives will likely increase their dependence on new international nursing staff who are too green to realise their being taken for granted, or who are willing to put up with substandard conditions for a chance at permanent residence.

I was 44 years at the bedside and you are absolutely correct in that no one wants to do that anymore.

In today's society I can't be the kind of nurse I am. I can't do this with no time to care

Well if we are short of nurses again , they will actively hire nurses from the Philippines again .

In Chicago, at least pre-COVID, to be a CNA, my babysitter had to do an unpaid internship for about six months before she'd be eligible to be paid. She wound up doing reception in a doctor's office instead, getting full benes, and making 38K out the gate without six months of no salary.

I really liked this video. I feel a new sense of focusing on my health because I don't like the idea of burdening.