Pros
I loved the patients. I loved my role. Very scientific, complex, stimulating, challenging, and really let me use the skills a Registered Nurse was taught to practice, opposed to other nursing titles. Such as advocacy, which includes basic "manager" of their care and protection of it (even from thier doctors), delegating and monitoring follow through for safety, collaborating with social services, nutritionists, care managers, and facility administrators and ( favorite) critical thinking on the spot.
Cons
Unsafe. Unfair. Unreasonable. 48 pts with only 2 RNs per shift with no backup assist, no breaks, and the pt turn-around happens all at once with the expectations by the required by the company - for example complete all charting on time without having to fib - for it to be within state compiance in case of audit is impossible, and every nurse I've worked with there has said that exact same thing. ADD THE FACT that if a patient bleeds out, strokes out, goes into seizures, or codes, (which happened often with OUR particular pt population), and the othe nurse has to assist you... that leaves 47 other patients without a nurse. Being this a fortune 500 company, the people running the numbers and monitoring statisics to stay within legal guidelines and trying to make their dollar spread as thin as they can get away with, do not even entirely know the job. And in addition they are the people costing themselves a lot more money than they think because employee turn over is so high because nurses aren't willing to jeopardize their nursing license and break their backs to do it just to satisfy the company's bottom dollar.
