Hospital exec says employees are walking off the job • Hacker News Board

Re: Hospital exec says employees are walking off the job

#91

Post by xadhominemx » Thu, Aug 05, 2021, 3:17 PM UTC

armchairhacker wrote: post #28

I've never worked as a nurse or doctor but it's hard to imagine what they go through. Every day they deal with people in serious pain, people with traumatic injuries, rude people, rude people with traumatic injuries, screaming children and babies. Apparently nurses in particular are also routinely disrespected by higher-ups, put in danger by higher-ups, and don't get paid much. In college I heard insane stories from…

> Apparently going on shifts working 72+ hours non-stop is the norm.

Absolutely not and it’s insane to even think that could be true.

Re: Hospital exec says employees are walking off the job

#92

Post by mrtranscendence » Thu, Aug 05, 2021, 3:17 PM UTC

DamnYuppie wrote: post #55

planet-and-halo wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is very reductive and I assume means you've never worked somewhere with an actually decent culture. I understand your cynicism: there are indeed a lot of bullshitters out there. But there are some good places to work here and there, places where the bosses listen and respect the humanity and autonomy of the people around them. Frequently this occurs at a local level rather than across an entire company, but it d…

I have worked for places with amazing culture and benefits. I still left and went somewhere else for a 50% pay increase. At the end of the day I look at the extra amount I am saving and what it does to my retirement account. The place I left to was by no means horrible but was not at the same level in terms of culture/vacation. Also I did end up returning to that company after 4 years and was able to get an even bigg…

It's one thing to move from amazing to not bad for 50% more pay. It's another to move from a good work culture to one that abuses your off time, expects you never to take time off, or forces frequent overtime.

I just recently moved from a place with very good culture and benefits to a contracting company with much worse benefits. Just going from five weeks vacation to two weeks alone really stings. And my pay only went up 10% ... it wasn't only the money, it was because I wanted something new, but I still have a growing sense of regret.

Re: Hospital exec says employees are walking off the job

#93

Post by exo-pla-net » Thu, Aug 05, 2021, 3:17 PM UTC

Alupis wrote: post #29

goodells wrote: post #7

I am an EMT and talk to a lot of nurses, PAs, and physicians in various circles. This wave is worse for a few reasons. - Healthcare staff have great animosity towards the unvaccinated patients. They aren't victims here, they did this to themselves. Nobody can muster any more compassion, especially for these people. Patients and people at large, not even just the total-nutjob anti-vaxxers, are tired of restrictions. "…

Vaccination rates are extremely poor among Nurses and other healthcare staff[1], poorer than the general population you seem to imply they despise for lack of vaccination. [1] https://www.forbes.com/sites/judystone/2021/06/28/covid19-va...

This is false.

"Among practicing physicians, 96% have been vaccinated. The rate drops to Arkansas, where this story is taking place, has only a 37% vaccination rate among the general population.

Re: Hospital exec says employees are walking off the job

#94

Post by TheFreim » Thu, Aug 05, 2021, 3:18 PM UTC

goodells wrote: post #7

I am an EMT and talk to a lot of nurses, PAs, and physicians in various circles. This wave is worse for a few reasons. - Healthcare staff have great animosity towards the unvaccinated patients. They aren't victims here, they did this to themselves. Nobody can muster any more compassion, especially for these people. Patients and people at large, not even just the total-nutjob anti-vaxxers, are tired of restrictions. "…

> Healthcare staff have great animosity towards the unvaccinated patients. They aren't victims here, they did this to themselves.

That seems strange to me considering there are TONS of diseases that are completely the victims fault. Diabetes, heart diseases, lung issues, etc can all be caused because someone chose to make unfortunate decisions. Why would you get into a profession where you're in contact with this kind of person in a daily basis and then get upset that you come into contact with them?

Re: Hospital exec says employees are walking off the job

#95

Post by varelse » Thu, Aug 05, 2021, 3:18 PM UTC

I suspect one could go a long way towards solving this by announcing that unvaccinated covid cases will get zero health insurance coverage. Make exceptions for those that truly cannot be vaccinated but to hell with everyone else.

Going further, make society difficult to navigate for people unwilling to be vaccinated or wear masks and our frontline workers will have much better lives.

Why are we compromising our quality of life, national security, and economic well-being to cater to these sorts? Just the economic damage alone from an indefinite pandemic seems like more than enough of a free market incentive to eliminate their negative impact on everything around them.

Re: Hospital exec says employees are walking off the job

#96

Post by jaywalk » Thu, Aug 05, 2021, 3:18 PM UTC

schaefer wrote: post #23

Maxburn wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yup, news reports about "hospitals are 90% capacity" or whatever is a business decision by design. They might have a couple more floors available but no staff for them because they aren't scheduled, because patients aren't there. They proactively cut staff wherever possible and then try to react.

There are not enough nurses, and aren't enough doctors sitting idle right now to hire up in the way that you're suggesting... and if you thought spinning up a chip fab in Texas is taking too long, wait until you try to solve the problem of spinning up more doctors. the residency program that takes up years of their schooling relies on having other doctors mentor them.

We should just put new doctors into an emergency six month fast track program.

Re: Hospital exec says employees are walking off the job

#97

Post by nwellinghoff » Thu, Aug 05, 2021, 3:18 PM UTC

bigmattystyles wrote: post #79

pavel_lishin wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think you're underplaying non-financial incentives. I would rather have a job that pays $X but offers flexible work hours and vacation time that allows me to be a better parent, than a job that pays $1.5X but won't let me take a day or afternoon off to (e.g.) take my kid to the doctor, etc. Granted, that probably applies more to WFH desk jobs than front-line nurses.

An RN I know in New Orleans makes a paltry $28 / hour. Insidiously, they gave her 10k upfront for a 3 year contract. If she leaves, she has to give it back. She put it straight to her student loans so now she’s stuck there. I agree with op, we say we love our front line workers, but that’s just talk. I’m not sure but there’s not much of a union for them down there.

News flash. There is no way they can get that money back. She can walk at anytime

Re: Hospital exec says employees are walking off the job

#98

Post by syshum » Thu, Aug 05, 2021, 3:20 PM UTC

psychometry wrote: post #73

_brnu wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think it's notable that there is substantial resistance to vaccines even among health care workers. https://www.webmd.com/vaccines/covid-19-vaccine/news/2021062...

Most people who fall under "health care workers" don't have a medical degree. Many, including techs and nursing assistants, don't have a bachelor's degree either. So, that population isn't really all that different from the general U.S. population in many ways. Among physicians and medical researchers with PhDs, though, you'll find very little resistance to vaccines.

So we are down the rabbit hole of the credentials fallacy, no one can be creditable or have valid concerns / issues unless they have a MD or PhD?

Re: Hospital exec says employees are walking off the job

#99

Post by TheFreim » Thu, Aug 05, 2021, 3:20 PM UTC

MattGaiser wrote: post #9

goodells wrote: post #7

I am an EMT and talk to a lot of nurses, PAs, and physicians in various circles. This wave is worse for a few reasons. - Healthcare staff have great animosity towards the unvaccinated patients. They aren't victims here, they did this to themselves. Nobody can muster any more compassion, especially for these people. Patients and people at large, not even just the total-nutjob anti-vaxxers, are tired of restrictions. "…

Any corporate culture messaging is a scam really. A company cares with its money (and this can be shown in working you less too, so not just cash comp). No money, they don't care about you.

I could get payed a decent bit more and have decent benefits elsewhere but how nice and flexible my boss is makes it worth staying. I don't see how that's a "scam", I like it here.

Re: Hospital exec says employees are walking off the job

#100

Post by mumblemumble » Thu, Aug 05, 2021, 3:20 PM UTC

RhodesianHunter wrote: post #49

schaefer wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are not enough nurses, and aren't enough doctors sitting idle right now to hire up in the way that you're suggesting... and if you thought spinning up a chip fab in Texas is taking too long, wait until you try to solve the problem of spinning up more doctors. the residency program that takes up years of their schooling relies on having other doctors mentor them.

There's actually an enormous abundance of nurses in the US. One in 100 people is a registered nurse. The nursing shortages are entirely due to the fact that these nurses have left bedside care due to the BS they have to deal with from understaffing, poor compensation, terrible shifts/hours, to abusive management and patients. The "nursing shortage" is as much a myth as the current labor shortage. There's only a short…

And I think that this is very much a result of a market failure. In a lot of metro areas, the health care networks have been consolidating, so that a single company dominates the market. That creates a double problem. It's not just that they don't have to pay a reasonable market rate for staff. It's also that they don't have to maintain a reasonable staffing level, because dissatisfied and poorly-treated patients don't necessarily have anywhere else to go.