Congestion

Bursting at the seams. Overflowing, overcrowded, and congested. That is how one would describe my work environment during the past few months. Working as an emergency nurse is a stressful, fast paced, and often thankless job. But in normal emergency settings, I love my job! But trying to do this job with the overcrowding and congestion we are faced with on a daily basis is nearly impossible. We are drowning. My hospital is not unique to this problem. It is happening everywhere. The sad part is there is no end in site.

It is frustrating, overwhelming, and maddening to work in this environment day in and day out. It also leaves me and my coworkers with a lot of moral distress when we are not able to provide the level of care and dignity to our patients that we feel is needed. We are trying to care for your loved ones in cramped hallways with inadequate lighting, privacy, and supplies. But we do it. And we do it all day, every day.

I wish I had an easy solution. There isn't one. But there are solutions, hard ones, but no one seems to listen to those of us who are in the trenches dealing with the issues constantly. But we also have to be careful what we say. We can lose our jobs if we "speak out" and if we become the "whistle blower" in our job site. That is not what this post is about. This post is about expressing the frustration of working in a health care system that is failing and wishing I could fix things. My employer is not to blame. There is no one place to lay blame, and we need to stop pointing fingers and start fixing things.

We will continue to provide our patients with the best care that we can even in these terrible times of congestion because we care, we truly do.  And please know, that we are as upset and frustrated as you are about the conditions, and if we could change it, we would.