Thoughts From a Nurse
After 15 years of dedication to HSC ER, SICU, and LifeFlight, all that was said when I resigned was “ok.” My commitment to my colleagues and to the community I serve would have normally outweighed my courage for change, but I knew in that moment that my decision to leave was the right one.
I am honoured to have worked alongside some of the best and brightest in Emergency Nursing and you’d be hard pressed to find a team that gives so much of themselves to continue to provide an exceptional level of care, in spite of the challenges they are repeatedly presented with. I often think this specific resiliency might be why nurses are in the position we’re in with bargaining and the media and the overarching public opinion.
Why worry? The nurses will figure it out, stretch themselves thin, and get the work done.
While I’m not so sure I believe in the “calling” to be a nurse, I can say that nurses are an oddly specific and unique bunch that collectively commit to ensuring patient care is completed. Not providing care simply isn’t an option for nurses. It is perhaps this niche resiliency that - while admirable - lends to the repeated failing of our nurses.
The situation is dire, and here’s why.
Nurses will continue to show up until they simply cannot. They’ll clock in every shift, pick up additional shifts to support their colleagues, extend their shifts, skip breaks, allow themselves to be verbally abused and physically threatened… until they simply cannot. If you weren’t aware - the level of violence and aggression levelled at health care workers is appalling.
Add to the list: unsafe staffing ratios, lack of mentorship, limited availability of supplies and equipment, lack of patient flow and feelings of inadequacy and hopelessness in a crumbling healthcare system.
But.
Targeting travel nurses who have gone to private agencies isn’t the answer. I take umbrage with the politics and divisive nature of people in leadership roles who are trying to pit staff nurses against travel nurses. We are ALL nurses, and we are capable, willing, and prepared to provide care. We should be celebrating every nurse who chooses to carry on in the profession in spite of the challenges.
It was never about the money.
It was time for an adventure. It was time for me to feel physically safe in my workplace - and in Grande Prairie, Alberta - I have finally found this. It was the perfect time to bid farewell to a workplace, a health care system, and a culture that has fallen below the line. It was time for me to choose my mental health and wellbeing.
And if a nurse wants to choose adventure and wants to build her schedule around her life, instead of her life around her schedule, what harm is there? (None. The answer is NONE.)
The second most asked question is…
Whether I will come back to nurse in Manitoba. The answer is always “yes, if…” and SAFETY is at the very top of my list of non-negotiables.
