I wore my khaki pants today. They're actually the pants I used for work at the hospital. I had on my navy sweatshirt and realized I looked like I did a lot of days at work...khaki pants, navy shirt. My first thought was of my former co-workers. I worked with some really good nurses and nursing aids and I miss them a lot. Then I thought about the time before that uniform. For a long time we could all wear whatever scrubs we wanted. Then, someone decided there needed to be more distinction between the different staff positions. That's when I ended up wearing the standard Walmart uniform for my job as a unit secretary. It left something to be desired, but no one mistook me for a nurse anymore. I really like wearing fun scrubs when it was allowed. I would make my own tops and buy the pants. When I worked at the children's hospital in Michigan, I made them out of cartoon fabrics. When I started working at Del Webb in AZ, I made them out of pretty fabric...and some fun fabric, too.
Making the change from fun scrubs to required uniform was the first big change I saw in my work in he medical field. That was sort of a cosmetic change. Most of the other changes I saw had much more affect on people...so much so that I was glad when we decided I could quit. I saw nurses and nursing aids stretched beyond what seemed reasonable...caring for 6 patients per nurse and many times 20 patients per aid....in most cases, that's not what those people signed up for. The constant pressure to create a good patient experience, constant documentation, not enough help...I've seen too many nurses burn out. They want so much to help people, but the hospital setting is so different now, many are leaving to find ways to do that without so much pressure. And who can blame them? It's just so sad that the corporate powers that be have decided that the dollar is what medicine has become rather that serving the public in the best way possible.
Okay...I'll step off my soap box now. Thanks for "listening".
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