[Rozzie]

Peachie, I understand your frustration. I've had family members in the hospital too, it ain't a picnic. Not only it ain't a picnic, it's downright scary. I would never leave a family member of mine alone in a hospital.

But I also TOTALLY see where Karen83 is coming from, and I am sure she didn't mean any harm by what she said. I think she was referring to is how hospitals are driven by a unspoken voice that says forget staffing! We want Plasma's in the rooms. Forget patient safety! We want 5 star dining by phone available in the rooms. That is where budgets are made these days, each hospital trying to "out-hotel" each other. As a nurse, you don't know whether to scream or cry, or just leave the profession.

I personally knew a RN that left the hospital setting after she was punished by not delivering a hot cup of coffee within so many minutes---what was she doing? Administering life saving measures to a patient in distress. I don't blame her. We are RNs, not waitresses. Sure, I love to pamper my patients, calm their fears, sit and chat with them. That's the good stuff, but I still have a job to do. And more and more I am doing the work of 3 people. People wonder why people are leaving the Nursing profession in record numbers....well for starters, I know I have been punched, kicked, spit on, puked on, threatened with my life, hair pulled, scratched. We can handle that, but to be confronted with a administration that values hardwood floors, room service, plasma's rather than adequate safe staffing ratio's--well that is almost more than you can bear. It's because I know patients are at risk with these decisions.

Okay, off my soap box once again. Peachie, it sounds like you had a horrible experience in a hospital--I hope you went to administration and voiced your concerns about the staffing situation. I truly am sorry you had to experience the reality of where hospitals are going.